Ever since the Janet Jackson ‘wardrobe malfunction’ incident in 2004, Super Bowl officials have gone “old school” for their halftime acts.
And we applaud them for it.
Despite their, ahem, advanced age, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend put on a tremendous show at halftime of Sunday’s Super Bowl. They sounded, and looked, great.
Beginning in 2005, Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Prince, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band and now The Who have rocked the halftime show.
Prior to that, Aerosmith (2001) and U2 (’02) played the break.
So, who does that leave in the “Classic Rock” genre who could have such mass appeal?
Here are a few options going forward: Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, AC/DC and The Dave Matthews Band.
The DMB was the top grossing North American act of the 2000s; the Eagles were No. 8; the Mac No. 33; and AC/DC No. 35.
Having seen AC/DC twice in the last year or so, I can personally attest to the fact that no band on earth — not U2, not The Who, not Van Halen — brings it as hard and heavy as these guys. I’m not sure they have the mass appeal to excite a billion Super Bowl watchers, but they certainly would be loud.
Fleetwood Mac and The Eagles would be safer bets, and would likely play it right down the middle.
While rumors abound that Sammy Hagar may join Aerosmith and Steven Tyler tried out for Led Zeppelin, I’m still holding out hope that Robert Plant pulls it together and reunites with his old mates.
But, alas, I’m not sure that will ever happen…
Of course, there’s always Anvil…
Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter.
Hoopcat / February 9, 2010
I was wondering beforehand if they were going to play the Claritin commercial, the Toyota commercial, or the theme intro to CSI. I was pretty sure they weren’t gonna play the JC Penney commercial since “Let My Love Open the Door” was Townshend solo and not The Who. Let me put it another way. If Pete Townshend has so little respect for his music/songs that he’s willing to give ’em up to anyone who writes a big enough check, then why should I have any respect for it? And on a related note, why hasn’t any rock journalist called him out on it and at least asked him why the “show me the money” approach to all these songs that at one time had at least a fair amount of meaning for onetime kids like myself? I could understand it a little better if he said, “I got divorced 8 times”, or “I snorted it all up my nose”, or “I invested in the wrong Nigerian oil and gas venture”, and so I’m broke and need the dough. Meanwhile, John Mellencamp gets absolutely vilified for the “This is Our Country” Chevy campaign. At least he had the guts to stand up and say that he felt he couldn’t get any airplay in this day and age and this was another avenue through which to get his music heard. The Who are a joke and have been since their first “farewell tour”. Too bad it wasn’t. And next time I hear the trumpet flourishes from “Tommy” announcing how Claritin can help me, I think I’ll quickly change the channel and hum a line or 2 from “Won’t Get Fooled Again”.
/
Pirate4Ever / February 9, 2010
Yo Hoopcat, It’s only rock n’ roll, and I like it!
/