Most Memorable Super Bowl Halftime Shows

We've got another Super Bowl and Super Bowl Halftime Show in the books. This year featured Coldplay, Beyonce & Bruno Mars in what was an okay performance. It wasn't outstanding, it wasn't terrible. The best part was when the three joined together for a "Fix You"/"Up&Up" performance that showed clips of previous Halftime shows (which for some reason left off Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake...hmm). Overall though, it just felt like something you'd watch at the VMA's or Grammy's.

So what are the most memorable Super Bowl halftime shows ever?

U2 (2002) - U2 were tasked with performing just a few months following the 9/11 attacks. And really, no band is better to handle that sort of moment. They were the first band to resume concerts in New York City with some shows at Madison Square Garden just a few weeks after the attacks. They delivered in a big way at the Super Bowl. It started out with an upbeat performance of "Beautiful Day." That led into the more somber "MLK," which is when the giant screen of the names of every victim scrolled upwards to the top of the Superdome. That led into "Where The Streets Have No Name," which picked up the pace again and left viewers feeling hopeful for the future. It culminated in Bono revealing an American flag on the inside of his jacket, a visual that still resonates. U2 were able to take viewers along for a ride through so many different emotions, which might never be possible again.

Prince (2007) - If any word could be used to describe Prince's Halftime show, it would be: electric. It was a rainy night in Miami, but that didn't stop him from putting on an energetic show, utilizing the weather to his advantage, even featuring simulated lightning on top of the stadium. He featured numerous cover songs that surprised and delighted people: "We Will Rock You," "Proud Mary," "All Along The Watchtower," and the more recent Foo Fighters hit "Best of You." He ended the night by playing "Purple Rain" in the rain, which became the signature moment that people remember. Since then the NFL has basically forced Miami to put a canopy over the seats for them to host future Super Bowls in the Dolphins' stadium, in case it were to rain. I guess the rich folks insanely spending hundreds-thousands of dollars on tickets can't handle a little water. Prince, however, went out there and showed that a little rain never hurt anyone.

Diana Ross Leaves in a Helicopter

Diana Ross (1996) - Diana Ross ran through a string of her Motown hits, but the memorable part was at the end when she declared that her ride was there. A helicopter came down onto the field and whisked her out of the stadium, in what is clearly the most memorable exit from the Super Bowl halftime of all time. The show left such an impression that the NFL went for a Motown/1960s theme in the a few of the shows after this one.

Michael Jackson (1993) - This was the first halftime show that truly went for being a major event in itself, something that would become talked about alongside the game in the following days. Jackson memorably walked out and basically just stood there to a roaring crowd for a while. He then performed some of his biggest hits ("Billie Jean," "Black or White") in a large scale spectacle that hadn't been done at any of the previous halftime shows. The set ended a bit cheesy with "Heal the World", but overall it kicked off the Halftime show as we know it today.

Janet Jackson featuring Justin Timberlake (2004) - This one doesn't even need an explanation. Its memorable for Nipplegate, and we've all heard the story. Of course, the whole reaction was overblown and showcased how ridiculous the FCC is.

Paul McCartney (2005) - Let's be real: if the NFL went by without ever having one of the Beatles play the Halftime show, something would be missing from its lore. Paul delivered a stellar set as he always does, and the show featured a healthy amount of crowd participation, ending with "Hey Jude" that featured the whole crowd singing along.

Bruno Mars featuring the Red Hot Chili Peppers (2014) - Bruno Mars was one of the younger performers, as they usually get someone with a large back catalog of hits. Bruno rose to the occasion though, including a memorable drum solo, which probably gave him a number of new fans. The show made for a good mix of slower moments with high energy, while the Red Hot Chili Peppers proved to make a solid pairing with Bruno and his band.

The Rolling Stones (2006) - The Stones did what they did best, rocked the house with a rollicking performance that could probably put people half their age to shame. What was memorable about this is how the NFL & ABC aired it on a five second delay and turned off Mick Jagger's microphone for two songs with lyrics that were too "sexually explicit." The band agreed to that beforehand so it wasn't a surprise, but it just goes to show how worried networks had become about live TV after Nipplegate in 2004.

Aerosmith, Britney Spears, 'N Sync, Mary J. Blige, Nelly (2001) - This one isn't really memorable for the performances aside from when they were all on stage to join together and play "Walk This Way." It perfectly encapsulated the pop culture landscape of 1999-2001, while having something for everyone. It was an odd mashup, but one that actually worked.

And a shout out to Katy Perry, Missy Elliott, and Lenny Kravitz. While the jury is out, it did feature a few possible memorable moments: Left Shark, Missy Elliott returning to the public eye unexpectedly, and Katy Perry on a platform that "flew" around on a wire, which made for quite a stunt.

Ozzy Osbourne & the 2014 Grammy Awards

Ozzy Osbourne came out with his fellow Black Sabbath members to introduce the Ringo Starr performance. He flubbed his lines while reading the teleprompter, causing Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi to laugh. Afterwards while talking to reporters Ozzy had the best response, "I completely fucked it up." And we love you no matter what Ozzy!

Some other highlights included Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr performing Paul's new song "Queenie Eye" together. Half of The Beatles is still better than no Beatles. It featured a memorable moment with Yoko Ono & Sean Lennon dancing around to it. Sean, by the way, looked eerily like his dad John Lennon, circa 1969 and the Abbey Road era. The performance came ahead of CBS' 50th Anniversary Celebration (February 9th, 2014) of the Beatles' first performance in America. It happened back on February 9th, 1964 on the Ed Sullivan Show, which was watched by over 73 Million people and kicked off Beatlemania and the "British Invasion".

Macklemore performed an emotional and powerful "Same Love" with Mary Lambert and Madonna. Queen Latifah walked out and married 33 diverse couples. Gay, lesbian, straight, interracial, etc. It made for quite the memorable and moving moment that will stand the test of time. Normally a mass marriage gathering would be creepy and cult-ish, but in the context was a nice touch.

The biggest stars of the night were possibly the hats. It seemed half of the people were wearing some type of hat. Pharrell's Indiana Jones style hat may have stolen the show. It's better than the star of the show being a foam finger though, that's for sure. Daft Punk of course took it a step further from hats with their helmets, decked out in enough white plastic to make the Storm Troopers from Star Wars jealous. 

John Lennon & Paul McCartney: "Imagine The Band"

While there can never be a Beatles reunion, there are ways you can fill an appetite for some new-ish material. "Imagine" by John Lennon from 1971 & "Band on the Run" by Paul McCartney & Wings from 1974 have been mashed together to create an interesting new take on both songs by Go Home Productions, called "Imagine the Band". And yes, you can imagine if this is what The Beatles may have sounded like had they continued past 1970. 

John Lennon's piano playing on "Imagine" is sped up with the vocals removed, while Paul McCartney & Wings' "Band on the Run" is slowed down to match the two classic songs together as one quite nicely. It goes to show that even when the two former Beatles were writing completely different songs, they can sound so absolutely perfect together. 

'Mad Men' Season 6 Premiere

The Two-Hour Season 6 premiere of AMC's Mad Men, 'The Doorway', has come and gone, bringing us to Christmas 1967 & New Year's Eve, leaving us in January 1968. The tumultuous year will be the focus this season, no doubt creating quite the backdrop for what should be an explosive season. Here are some musings:

1 . Sally Draper (Kieran Shipka) had the line of the night, "She acts like she's 25 because she uses tampons."  Teenage Sally is just as fun as pre-teen brat Sally. And I'm now fully convinced she'll be on her way to Woodstock next season.

2. Sideburns have exploded since the Summer of '67. Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) wins the award for the best ones. We're also seeing more and more moustaches & beards. Just wait until The Beatles' "White Album" comes out!

3. Nobody turns their Christmas trees off no matter how late at night it is. And this was way before LED lights, so they must have great smoke detectors. But they look nice, so I don't mind.

4. January Jones still has a fat suit, though its slightly smaller. So I guess "Fat Betty" is still around! By the end of the episode she dyes her hair black after a visit to some sketchy community apartment in an increasingly dangerous Manhattan. She's there looking for Sally's runaway friend, and gets an earful from a homeless guy about her bottled up existence in Rye, NY. So basically this is her version of turning goth. "Fat Betty" is now "Goth Betty". Earlier in the episode she gave us some seriously psycho humor, teasing Henry (Christopher Stanley) that if he wanted Sally's 15-year-old friend, she would hold her down for him. Maybe the new "Goth Betty" will stop being jealous of teenage girls?

5. Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) is basically the Don Draper (Jon Hamm) of her new office. Quite the workaholic, she expertly solves a crisis for their upcoming Super Bowl ad. Yet she is also a hard ass, making people work on New Year's Eve.

6. Roger Sterling (John Slattery) can't shed a tear when his 91-year-old mother dies, but balls like a baby when his shoeshine-guy dies. Don't ever change, Roger.

7. Megan (Jessica Pare) is now a soap opera star, and Don is now obsessed with death and finds heaven morbid. Megan has gotten him into smoking marijuana, but he is still the opposite of Roger, who took LSD and became more of a free spirit with it. Oh, and the question from the end of last season has been answered. Don has begun to cheat on her, and with the wife of his new doctor friend. She is Sylvia Rosen, and is played by Linda Cardellini, who you know from "ER", "Freaks & Geeks" and "Grandma's Boy". Between this and in Season 3 when he slept with Sally's teacher, he sure likes to pick dangerous ones. We do see regret though, which we didn't see when he cheated on Betty. Baby steps. He is clearly in a crappy state right now though.

8. Alex Mack (Larisa Oleynik) and Rory Gilmore (Alexis Bledel) were not in this episode. I can't remember their characters' names so we'll go with those. And its more fun that way.

9. We didn't see much of Joan Harris (Christina Hendricks) apart from when they had to take portraits. Fear not though, now that she is a partner our favorite wisecracking redhead will be featured more soon.

10. Vietnam is starting to become heavily referenced, as it should now that they've entered 1968.

'Mad Men' Season 6

The sixth and penultimate season of Mad Men begins this Sunday, April 7th, a week after the season finale of The Walking Dead. Yes, AMC gets to follow up one hit show with another. Good decision to have it begin a week after The Walking Dead, and a sincere thank you to AMC because it will help hold us over until our favorite zombies/walkers return in the fall. 

One of the big questions is always "what time-frame will Mad Men pick up in?" Season 5 ended in 1967, and we famously got a dose of an actual Beatles song, "Tomorrow Never Knows" from their 1966 album Revolver. In a video interview with Jon Hamm posted on the Rolling Stone website, Hamm explains he prefers The Rolling Stones to The Beatles. Mad Men also featured The Rolling Stones' "I Can't Get No (Satisfaction)" in Season 4. Maybe this time we'll get a song from both bands at the same time? Other musicians who could start to be played in episodes are Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Doors, and Aretha Franklin.

Christina Hendricks as Joan Harris

AMC also just released 10 photos from Sunday's two-hour premiere, and some of the photos feature Christmas decorations and a tree, so we can assume Season 6 picks up in November/December 1967. Most of the season will take place in 1968 that means, and should be heavily influenced by the civil rights movement and the escalating protests of the Vietnam War.

The seventh and final season should take us into 1969, with the moon landing and Woodstock. I'm looking for an episode called "Sally Goes to Woodstock". Just hopes she stays away from the brown acid. I was hoping that we'd get a few seasons that take place in the 1970s, for some leisure suit and bell-bottom fun, but it looks like that may not happen. Unless the end of Season 7 takes us there.

12-12-12 Concert Rocks the Garden

The 121212 Concert rocked Madison Square Garden last night, as well as maybe 2 billion people watching around the world.

- As expected there was the fusion of The Beatles and Nirvana, when Paul McCartney teamed up with Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear to perform a rocking new song called "Cut Me Some Slack". The song was written in just one day, and it sounded a bit like a cross between The Beatles' "Helter Skelter", which Paul opened with, and Nirvana's "Breed". It was definitely a great moment to watch. And you could hear Dave Grohl comment after while leaving the stage, "that was fucking awesome!" We all agree! McCartney had the set of the night, and is still trending on twitter as I write this. Definitely some unexpected songs thrown in.

- McCartney brought out a bunch of the heroes of Hurricane Sandy and then Alicia Keys performed "Empire State of Mind" with all of them on stage, which was a perfect way to cap off the excellent show. Keys also provided the "lighter moment" of the night during her earlier set, only with cell phones instead of lighters of course. Loved seeing MSG glowing all around her.

- Chris Martin of Coldplay had the joke of the night, saying "I know you wanted One Direction but its way past their bedtime, so that's why you get one quarter of Coldplay." He also brought out Michael Stipe of R.E.M.

- Kanye West wore a leather skirt. Maybe he borrowed it from Kim Kardashian's closet?

- The Rolling Stones had a quick two song set, though they were added at the last minute, and have another show on their tour tonight. Mick Jagger must have made people watching who are 30 years younger feel bad about themselves for not being able to move as good as he can. He certainly showed what the "moves like Jagger" really are.

-New Jersey's own Bruce Springsteen of course, with Bon Jovi a couple sets after. Jon joined Springsteen during his set, and Bruce joined Bon Jovi during theirs much to the delight of the crowd. Billy Joel also got one of the biggest reactions of the night.

-Howard Stern fans rejoice, It wouldn't be a New York show without a "Baba Booey!" shout making it through, which happened during Billy Crystal's speech.

-Roger Waters and Eddie Vedder did a fine job performing some Pink Floyd classics. The Who also performed a long set, and sounded much better than they did at the Super Bowl a few years ago.

You can pre-order the live album on iTunes or wait for it to come out on CD everywhere. All proceeds go to the Robin Hood Foundation.

2012 Grammy Awards Thoughts

The 2012 Grammy Awards are in the books, and here are the Best Performances (By the way, the awards now take a backseat to the performances, it's basically a long concert now):

Adele - Recovering from throat surgery, she gave an amazing performance of "Rolling in the Deep." She swept the night, and deserved it for saving the music industry. 2011 was the first time since 2004 that sales increased, and she was the reason. Without her album, they would have decreased again. And she may have spurred people into actually buying other albums as well. 21 has currently sold 6.5 Million Copies (the biggest sales total since 2004), and is on its way to 7 million, and possibly even 8 million before 2013.

Bruno Mars - It was like a mix between Elvis with his moves and Prince with his sound, and I was surprised how good it was. I didn't know much about him before the show, besides "Grenade", but I may have to download "Runaway Baby."

Paul McCartney - He ended the night with an outstanding performance of the "Golden Slumbers Medley" (joined by Bruce Springsteen & Dave Grohl) from the epic 16 minute Abbey Road Medley, which is the ending to The Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road. Music lovers should own Abbey Road already, if you don't, well what are you waiting for?

Jennifer Hudson - Performed Whitney Houston's classic "I Will Always Love You." She really did the song justice, one of the few who can, and it was a fitting tribute to Whitney and all the musicians lost in the past year. Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt also did a wonderful job performing a tribute to Etta James. And none of them needed auto-tune or lip syncing, which brings me to the worst...

Worst performance of the night: Chris Brown. I just don't get him. After beating Rihanna he did another thing that irked me, allegedly, when he performed a tribute to Michael Jackson in 2009 and its rumored someone saw him use eye drops to make tears. Trying to use a death to your advantage? Not the way to go. Jennifer Hudson showed how it is done.

WTF? - Nicki Minaj. She performed that seemed based on 1975 horror classic The Exorcist. It was strange even for Lady GaGa. And the song was weak. She would have been better off performing "Super Bass" and bringing Sophia Grace and Rosie on stage. It would have been a feel good moment that still had people talking.

The Foo Fighters also gave two killer performances, and The Beach Boys reunited. The Beach Boys don't sound quite as good, but it was still nice to hear some classic songs. They forgot to call Uncle Jesse aka John Stamos.

Beatles 1 Compilation on iTunes

The best selling album of the 2000s with over 31 million worldwide and close to 12 million in the US, The Beatles' 1, is now on iTunes. It will also be re-released in a digipak CD with the remastered audio from the 2009 remasters on September 13th.

The set is on sale at iTunes for only $9.99 for a limited time. For anyone who has yet to own any Beatles music, what are you waiting for? The album contains all 27 US & UK Number One songs by the group. You really can't beat 27 amazing songs for just $10. No wonder the set has fittingly shot to Number 1 on iTunes in most countries around the world. For those yet to really listen to The Beatles, it's the perfect time to meet John, Paul, George and Ringo.

Like the other digital Beatles albums, this is also in the iTunes LP format with a digital booklet. The CD version which is packaged like the 2009 Remastered CD's is available for pre-order as well. When the album was first released in November 2000, it was Beatlemania all over again. It became the fastest selling album in history, and shot to Number 1 around the world. In the US, it spent Eight weeks on top of the Billboard 200 at #1 from 2000 into 2001. The Beatles are always getting new fans with their timeless music, so it's no surprise. Even though the Beatles are the biggest music act of all time, it still has to be impressive that a band that broke up in 1970 can have the best selling album of the 2000s.

Ranking The Beatles Albums: Part Three

Ranking The Beatles albums is always a difficult task. How can you choose one as a top album when so many could fit there? Everyone has their favorite Beatles album, and I will try to make my list of them. It's always tough when you get into the Top 5 especially. Abbey Road seems to be their most popular in the general public, but will it top my list? I will be including the Past Masters with the original 12 studio albums. All albums can be bought in digitally remastered form on CD, or downloaded on iTunes. I prefer CD's. (Album cover images belong to Apple/EMI.) These albums are so hard to rank because they all seem so equal. How would you rank them?
Click Here for Part One & Here for Part Two

5. The Beatles (The White Album) (1968) - Their self titled double album obviously has the most material on it, and is quite the collection of outstanding songs. Probably the best double album of all time. Tensions may have been high between them during recording, but they were still able to create amazing music during a time when they were wanting to do solo material. They reach such a wide variety of styles on this album, and make it all sound great together. Even the avant-garde "Revolution 9" is interesting, for being unique. There really is something on this The White Album for everyone.

4. Abbey Road (1969) - This is their most popular album with today's audience and for good reason. It's full of hits like "Something," "Come Together," "Here Comes the Sun" and the flawless Abbey Road Medley. The Medley helps separate the album from the others and always leaves you wanting more. George Harrison really stands out on this album, and makes a good preview of his first solo album. The iconic album cover is so simple but was pure genius and will be replicated forever, with fans going there to recreate it. The street even has it's own live webcam just for that.

3. Revolver (1966) - Psychedelic. Revolver launched the psychedelic era into the mainstream with songs like "Tomorrow Never Knows," "I'm Only Sleeping" and "She Said, She Said." It's not all about psychedelic music though, but the rest of the songs still manage to sound so much different than any of the others that came before them. "Eleanor Rigby" and "Yellow Submarine" still seem like songs that don't fit any category, they're just great. All the tape loops, backwards vocals, Indian influenced sounds and feedback make this album special, and groundbreaking when it was released.

2. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) - The groundbreaking production from Revolver was expanded even further on Sgt. Pepper's, and listening to this album through some good headphones really make you appreciate all of the details in the songs. The colorful cover is just as detailed. No singles were released from the album, it didn't need any to sell millions like it has. It was all about the album from one song to the next. It's an album to get lost in, very visual like a kaleidoscope. A personal favorite is "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite." I just love the carnival sounds that bring the song together and make it so unique.

1. Magical Mystery Tour (1967) - It usually isn't #1 in Beatles rankings, but love the whole package of it. The songs are great and the album comes with it's own comic in the booklet. The title track as well as "I Am The Walrus," "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Penny Lane," "Baby, You're a Rich Man" and "All You Need is Love" are some of the most well known songs and can all be found here. "Blue Jay Way" is one of the more hypnotic songs you can find. I think the album is underrated since it was originally just an EP in Europe, excluding some of the popular singles that were added to it in the American release, which is now the standard version around the world. John Lennon also stated that this was his favorite Beatles album, "because it's so weird." Weird and amazing.

Ranking The Beatles Albums: Part Two

Ranking The Beatles albums is always a difficult task. How can you choose one as a top album when so many could fit there? Everyone has their favorite Beatles album, and I will try to make my list of them. It's always tough when you get into the Top 5 especially. Abbey Road seems to be their most popular in the general public, but will it top my list? I will be including the Past Masters with the original 12 studio albums. All albums can be bought in digitally remastered form on CD, or downloaded on iTunes. I prefer CD's. (Album cover images belong to Apple/EMI.) Click Here for Part One. Here is part two:

9. Past Masters (1988) - During their career they released many singles that were not on any original studio album, feeling it was better value for people as opposed to having a bunch of singles people already owned on the albums. This was released in 1988 to collect all those singles and B-Sides. Classic songs like "She Loves You", "I Feel Fine", "Rain", "Hey Jude", "Revolution", and "Don't Let Me Down." However, I didn't want to rank it any higher than this because it's not an original studio album, more of a compilation. But still, those classic songs aren't on any of the studio albums, so this fits in perfectly with the standardized catalog. 

8. Help! (1965) - This album features some influence by Bob Dylan ("You've Got To Hide Your Love Away). This was a preview of things to come with the group, while still retaining the fun rock-n-roll of previous albums. The songs here all fit together nicely, with a bunch of stand outs, "Ticket to Ride", "Help!", and "You're Going to Lose That Girl." This accompanies their film of the same name.

7. Let It Be (1970) - Their final album released has perhaps one of their top 10 songs of all time on it, the title track. The album is interesting, and while the Phil Spector wall of sound is sometimes criticized, I don't think it is too bad. It sounds especially good on "I Me Mine." Also worth giving a shout out to Let It Be... Naked (2003) which was released without any of Spector's overdubs, and includes "Don't Let Me Down", which the 1970 original version left off. Paul McCartney prefers the Naked version, but both are solid. The songs on the naked version sound more like the ones played on the famous Apple rooftop concert.

6. Rubber Soul (1965) - This is The Beatles album that completely moved them to a more mature place. It also featured completely original material, no covers as with most previous albums. The sitar made its first appearance here as well on "Norwegian Wood", and would be used further on their next few psychedelic albums.  This is where it becomes difficult to rank the albums, because they are all excellent masterpieces. They began their experimentation with music here, and would expand it on further albums. 

*Special Shout-out* - Love (2006) - While not part of the list, the Love mash-up album which accompanies the Vegas show is definitely worth owning. The songs sound fresh and give you a whole new perspective. They did a great job mixing different tracks together, and they give you interesting info in the album (or iTunes LP) on how they did it. It's like listening to The Beatles all over again for the first time.