When you think about it, the Super Bowl halftime show hasn’t boasted too many “Where were you when …” moments over the years. For instance, young kids don’t rush up to their parents with eyes of wonder and ask, “Mom, Dad, where were you when Carol Channing performed her tribute to Mardi Gras at Super Bowl IV in New Orleans?”
There probably aren’t too many spirited discussions in music circles to commemorate the anniversary of the Southeast Missouri State band’s energetic showing at Super Bowl V. And the fact that “Up With People” performed at halftime of four Super Bowls is memorable only because of the fact that, after the first gig, the cloyingly effervescent group managed to get booked three more times.
Meanwhile, Bruce Springsteen is the Johnny Appleseed of “Where were you when …” moments. I have several, but the one that stands out occurred on Thanksgiving night, in either 1980 or ’81, I forget which.
I was working my first newspaper job in New Jersey and had a ticket to see The Boss on Thanksgiving night. I got stuck working during the day — thereby missing my mother’s Thanksgiving feast — but the plan was that a group of my burnout friends would swing by to pick me up to drive to the train station, where we would zip into the city to see Bruce at Madison Square Garden. The most important task entrusted to my mates: Stop by my house and pick up a take-out Thanksgiving dinner, prepared by my mom.
Springsteen will be the halftime entertainment at Sunday’s Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa. It definitely will qualify as a “Where were you when …” moment, but it also suggests a “What the heck took so long?” discussion.
To fully appreciate having Springsteen, it’s important to look back at what we’ve had as a Super Bowl audience. And those previous acts can be separated into “Square” and “Cool.”
Marching bands and ‘A Small World’
Under “Square” — and if you still use the word “square,” you might just test positive for squareness yourself — there is a cornucopia of corn that includes the aforementioned “Up With People”; the University of Texas band with Judy Mallett (Miss Texas 1973) on fiddle; “Tops in Blue” performing something called “A World of Children’s Dreams”; and Disney’s production of “It’s a Small World” with the Los Angeles Unified All-City Band, complete with audience card stunt.
“It’s a Small World” took place at halftime of Super Bowl XI, in 1977, about a year and a half after Springsteen’s “Born to Run” was released, making him an international rock and roll star. It was, at least to that point in time, the most glaring example of the vast chasm that existed between Super Bowl organizers and the musical taste of Americans.
Somewhere around the late 1980s and early 1990s, “Cool” began to seep into the Super Bowl halftime consciousness. It was a primordial ooze of cultural shifts, but slowly it happened. Where once there was George Burns and Mickey Rooney in a salute to Hollywood’s 100th anniversary, soon there would be Gloria Estefan. OK, so she wasn’t exactly The Clash. At least it was a start.
Since then, New Kids on the Block, Michael Jackson, ZZ Top, James Brown, Phil Collins, Clint Black, Tanya Tucker, Travis Tritt and the Judds, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears and Mary J. Blige, et al., have played halftime.
But still, no Springsteen.
Here come the superstars
It wasn’t until Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans that halftime became a true superstar’s showcase. U2 played that year. After that came Paul McCartney; Shania Twain, No Doubt and Sting; the Rolling Stones; Prince; and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, a steady string of major recording acts with vast followings that was marred only by the Janet Jackson-Justin Timberlake wardrobe malfunction fiasco in 2004, which forever branded us as a nation of the breast-adverse.
But why did it take so long? There doesn’t seem to be an answer, other than scheduling and the fact that, since the Janet Jackson incident, the NFL has gone with relatively safe mainstream rock acts. Within that short time span, Springsteen was an obvious short-lister whose time would eventually come. His label, Columbia Records, had no comment.
Halftime at the Super Bowl traditionally is the time when players and coaches hunker down in their respective locker rooms to discuss strategy while the rest of the world goes to the bathroom. But the right act could alter those habits.
Someday, when a grandchild asks, “Where were you when The Boss finally played the Super Bowl?” the answer you don’t want to give is, “On the throne.”
Me? I’ll be sitting smack dab in front of the TV, waiting, with a big turkey sandwich.
Michael Ventre lives in Los Angeles and is a regular contributor to msnbc.com.