“Gabrielle! Come sit down! It’s about to start!” My mother calls from the family room as the rest of the family piles onto the couch. It’s early February 2012, just a week and change away from my 13th birthday. Suddenly, I sit in front of the TV as we hear, “The National Football League presents the Bridgestone Super Bowl XLVI Halftime show.” On our screen is Madonna being carried in this Ancient Roman-style chariot, pulled by dancers dressed in Roman soldier-like attire, and the music to “Vogue” begins to play.
I’ve never not known what it’s like to anticipate any of the Super Bowl halftime shows. For me, especially as a young girl, that’s what the first Sunday in February was all about. What set list they chose, how they choreographed the number, who the guest performers would be, etc. But it wasn’t always like this. Since the inception of the Super Bowl in 1967, the standard of performance we expect for those 15 minutes has changed substantially. So, let’s break it down.
Marching Bands and Americana
When the Big Game was founded in the late sixties, the halftime show was meant to act more as a placeholder with a strong emphasis on wholesome Americana. The focus was meant to be squarely on the two teams fighting it out for the world title. So, during those 15 minutes, people could anticipate traditional marching bands, the first set being from the University of Arizona and Grambling State University. In between the performances, there would be novelty acts. In 1967, they were the Anaheim High School Drill Team and Al Hirt (a renowned jazz trumpeter of the era best known for his song “Java”).
This basic structure would continue for years. Marching bands and novelty acts focused on America. Unlike today, the halftime show was a break to grab snacks, run to the bathroom, or discuss the first half of the game, with little attention paid to the performance.
As you might imagine, many viewers tuning in from home would grab their TV clicker and switch the channel away from CBS’s halftime show, losing viewership. This would be considered a problem for most networks.
Fast-forward past the Big Band era of the 1960s and we move to the first inclinations of star power. It started strong in the 1970s and 1980s, with Ella Fitzgerald and Carol Channing taking the stage together in 1972. Fun Fact: Carol Channing is also credited with performing during the 1970 halftime show, but there is no record of her performing. She’s not in the taped performance, mentioned in any news clipping the day after, or present in any photo taken during the show.
But then Channing and Fitzgerald were followed by a few appearances of Mickey Mouse and his perky Mousketeers, a game-delaying fight between a float and a goalpost in 1978, and an Elvis-impersonating magician named “Elvis Presto” in 1989 (not a joke). It was all big marching bands and wholesome G-rated entertainment as far as the eye could see.
That all began to change in 1992 when Fox decided they also wanted to play ball.
Fox Challenges the NFL
Let’s set the stage a little bit.
Washington is leading the Buffalo Bills 17-0. CBS and the NFL had marketed the halftime performance as full of Winter Magic. People were excited. But as the less than enthusiastic announcer introduces the performance, two figure skaters appear over giant plastic snowflakes in the middle of the field, and Gloria Estefan—a natural combination. Estefan, armed with a medley of her greatest hits and a couple of salsa dancers, tried her best to save the day, but to say it was underwhelming and outdated is kind.
Fox decided to try to lure viewers away from CBS. So, they aired a new episode of their incredibly popular sitcom, “In Living Color,” at the same time. Fox made the decision very easy for Superbowl viewers as over 20 million sets of eyes clicked away from the game, away from the NFL, for the entire half hour.
Nothing inspires innovation quite like a loss of that magnitude.
Michael Jackson Revolutionizes the Halftime Show
In 1993, the Superbowl halftime show we know today was born as Michael Joseph Jackson took the stage. It was the first time in the NFL’s history that viewership increased during the halftime show and surpassed the ratings for the actual game. Jackson’s halftime performance set a record that still holds today—133.4 million U.S. viewers. For comparison, second place goes to Usher with 123.4 million U.S. viewers.
But it wasn’t just Jackson’s name that prompted such a cultural shift. It was his level of production from beginning to end.
For example, instead of the monotone performance from the presenter the year prior, the voice of Darth Vader, James Earl Jones, introduced Jackson. Using body doubles, “Jackson” appeared above the stadium, on top of the two jumbotrons. Then the real MJ popped out of the center stage on the field and held still for two minutes as people rushed down, and he did what he did best: command attention.
The camera panned around his statue-like appearance and people clapped and cheered, growing louder when he slowly removed his signature aviators, and his band began to play. As Jennifer Batten’s guitar wailed, and costumes changed, Jackson’s performance redefined what the halftime show was or could be. It closed with a choir of around 3,500 kids and teens joining him on the field to sing a medley of “We Are the World” and “Heal the World” as an inflatable globe filled the stage.
Throughout the ten years that followed Jackson’s performance, headliners slowly began to chase those 12-15 minutes of undivided attention. From Diana Ross, Boyz II Men, Smokey Robinson, Temptations, Queen Latifah, Stevie Wonder, Gloria Estefan (with more success), Christina Aguilera, Aerosmith, N’SYNC, Britney Spears, to U2, Shania Twain, and Sting.
(Fun Fact: A mishap in the 2004 halftime show between Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake is why the phrase “wardrobe malfunction” exists today.)
The Business of the Halftime Show: Exposure Over Payment
Jackson and the following performers’ effect on the Halftime Show has been so profound that the NFL has since been able to argue that the exposure on their stage is “payment” enough. And as delusional as this might sound, it makes a bit of sense. Every performer who headlines the Halftime Show experiences a massive surge in sales in the following days.
Some examples include:
- Lady Gaga experienced a staggering sales surge of over 1,000% after her 2017 Super Bowl Halftime Show.
- After Justin Timberlake’s second appearance in 2018, he experienced a 534% sales gain in the U.S. alone.
- In 2019, after Maroon 5 took the Super Bowl stage, they had a 434% sales gain in the U.S.
It’s hard to imagine when the Halftime Show was considered a built-in bathroom break rather than that chore being reserved for the last two minutes of the second quarter. But thanks to Fox’s attempt at getting the best of the NFL and the league responding with their version of a “Hail Mary”—Michael Jackson—we’ve been able to go from marching bands to Beyoncé.
For Super Bowl LIX, you can bet that I will be seated in front of the TV just like when I was 13 to watch how Kendrick Lamar will make his mark on the Halftime Show.
