The guess here is that Madonna's halftime show will thankfully put an end to her 50-plus generation of Super Bowl superstar halftime performers, though Elton John and Rod Stewart have somehow managed to avoid what has become production spectacle over substance, and could still conceivably be tapped.
But Madonna's already getting such a bad rap--"Is Madonna the Worst Choice Ever for a Super Bowl Halftime Show?" wonders today's Ad Age--that Super Bowl producers are bound to change their way of thinking for next year.
Maybe they already are.
The Ad Age article quotes The Guardian in suggesting that Madonna, who is now 53, will be accompanied during halftime by Nicki Minaj and MIA (who are on her new single "Gimme All Your Luvin'") as a means of "bridging any generation gap between headliner and target demographic." It also pointed to research indicating that Foo Fighters are at the front of the line for future Super Bowl halftime shows.
And after Foo Fighters, figure Green Day, and the obvious Katy Perry, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, etc. That and the predictable pyro, of course.
Why not go back to the beginning? Super Bowl I, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1967, starred the University of Arizona and Grambling State University Marching Bands, the University of Michigan Marching Band, Al Hirt, and Arcadia High School Drill Team. Other college marching bands, or family fare like Up With People, Andy Williams, and The Rockettes, were central to the halftime shows pretty much up through Super Bowl XXV, when New Kids On The Block performed at Tampa Stadium, and Super Bowl XXVII, when Michael Jackson truly ushered in the superstar halftime focus at the Rose Bowl.
Or better yet, why not have an annual competition of high school marching bands, culminating in the winner's Super Bowl halftime performance? Rather than continuing to inculcate kids with soulless showbiz values--not to mention the antisocial, sociopathic behavior of so many pro footballers today--how about returning them to real, unamplified and unembellished instrumental music, while rewarding them for the kind of teamwork that the Super Bowl winner is supposed to exemplify?
And as a bonus, high school marching bands would satisfy the ad age urge for serving that younger target demographic!
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