Courtesy of Gaga/NFL/PepsiThe Super Bowl halftime show normally features the biggest names in music, and this year, it certainly has one in Lady Gaga. In fact, the NFL claims that she’s the first artist who’s ever gone from singing the national anthem at the game to performing at halftime the very next year.
The Super Bowl was last held in Houston in 2004, the year Janet Jackson‘s notorious “wardrobe malfunction” scandal led the NFL to turn to “safe” classic rock acts as halftime performers. In addition to the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty, we also saw The Who, U2 and Paul McCartney take the stage.
Contemporary pop returned to the scene in 2011, when the Black Eyed Peas performed; no wardrobe malfunctions ensued. Lady Gaga has assured reporters that there won’t be any on Sunday, either.
But believe it or not, the trend of having current big-name music stars appear at the Super Bowl halftime show only dates back to 1991, when New Kids on the Block performed. Before that, halftime consisted of marching bands, older stars like Chubby Checker and Ella Fitzgerald, or the G-rated vocal troupe Up with People. That’s because initially, the halftime show was designed to entertain the audience in the stands, not those viewing at home. As The New York Times puts it, “It was decades before the N.F.L. realized that the halftime show plays not to the stadium but to the camera.”
But after ’91, it was all stars, all the time, especially in 1993, when Michael Jackson, the reigning King of Pop, sang “Heal the World” with thousands of children. Writes the Times, “It was [the] template for the Super Bowl shows that eventually followed: a superstar, big hits, a cast of thousands and graphics for blimps to photograph from above.”
Here’s a reminder of who’s played Super Bowl halftime shows in the modern era:
1991 — New Kids on the Block
1992 — Gloria Estefan
1993 — Michael Jackson, performing with 3,500 children
1994 — Country stars Clint Black, Tanya Tucker, Travis Tritt, Wynonna, and Naomi Judd
1995 — Patti Labelle, Miami Sound Machine & Tony Bennett
1996 — Diana Ross
1997 — ZZ Top, James Brown, the Blues Brothers featuring Dan Aykroyd, John Goodman and James Belushi
1998 — Boyz II Men, Smokey Robinson, Martha Reeves, the Temptations, Queen Latifah
1999 — Stevie Wonder, Gloria Estefan, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
2000 — Phil Collins, Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias, Toni Braxton
2001 — Aerosmith, ‘N Sync, Britney Spears, Nelly, Mary J. Blige
2002 — U2
2003 — Shania Twain, No Doubt, Sting
2004 — Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Nelly, Kid Rock, P. Diddy
2005 — Paul McCartney
2006 — The Rolling Stones
2007 — Prince
2008 — Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
2009 — Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
2010 — The Who
2011 — Black Eyed Peas
2012 — Madonna
2013 — Beyonce (and Destiny’s Child, briefly)
2014 — Bruno Mars feat. Red Hot Chili Peppers
2015 — Katy Perry, Lenny Kravitz & Missy Elliott
2016 — Coldplay, Beyonce and Bruno Mars
2017 — Lady Gaga
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