Black Eyed Peas To Headline Super Bowl Halftime Show

Added on Dec 12, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

Super Bowl

In the past twenty years the Super Bowl halftime show has been transformed from a usually forgettable spectacle into one of the more high profile gigs in the world. Since the infamous 2004 Janet Jackson ‘wardrobe malfunction’, however, the NFL has opted on the side of safety and booked older acts that are presumably (and thankfully) less likely to bare their skin or otherwise offend ‘flyover country’ sensibilities. That trend reached its nadir in 2010 with a halftime performance The Who–a great band that was well past their prime a decade ago and that hadn’t released a listenable studio album since 1982′s ‘It’s Hard’.

In the wake of criticism that they need to appeal to a younger audience with their Super Bowl halftime entertainment the NFL has listened. Well, sort of. They’re not exactly serving up a Slayer/Megadeth double bill, instead opting for a performance by the pop/hip hop group The Black Eyed Peas. They may be slightly edgier than the Jonas Brothers, but are really a tamer choice than Prince who performed during the 2007 halftime. Here’s what the New York Times had to say about it:

Seven years after Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” at the Super Bowl, is the National Football League finally ready to return to somewhat racy halftime shows by people under 40?

The Black Eyed Peas will be the halftime band for Super Bowl XLV, scheduled for Feb. 6 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Tex., the N.F.L. announced during the New Orleans Saints-Dallas Cowboys game on Thursday. It’s a coup for the band: Last year’s halftime show, featuring the Who, was seen by more than 153 million people, according to the league. It is good timing, too: the Black Eyed Peas will release a new album, “The Beginning,” on Tuesday.)

It is also an apparent change in the N.F.L.’s recent booking policy for Super Bowl halftime entertainment. Since Ms. Jackson’s appearance in 2004, when her breast was briefly exposed, the game featured performers who are much older and presumably less likely to bare their flesh, like Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen, all well over 50. (The youngest in recent years has been Prince, who was 48 when he played in 2007.)

By contrast, the four members of the Black Eyed Peas are mere pups at 35 (one will turn 36 on Sunday).

Ms. Jackson was 37 when she performed at the Super Bowl with Justin Timberlake. The Federal Communications Commission fined CBS, which broadcast that game, $550,000 for indecency. The fine was overturned on appeal in 2008, but the following year the Supreme Court set aside that ruling and asked the lower court to give the case “further consideration.”

Seven years after Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” at the Super Bowl, is the National Football League finally ready to return to somewhat racy halftime shows by people under 40?

The Black Eyed Peas will be the halftime band for Super Bowl XLV, scheduled for Feb. 6 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Tex., the N.F.L. announced during the New Orleans Saints-Dallas Cowboys game on Thursday. It’s a coup for the band: Last year’s halftime show, featuring the Who, was seen by more than 153 million people, according to the league. It is good timing, too: the Black Eyed Peas will release a new album, “The Beginning,” on Tuesday.)

It is also an apparent change in the N.F.L.’s recent booking policy for Super Bowl halftime entertainment. Since Ms. Jackson’s appearance in 2004, when her breast was briefly exposed, the game featured performers who are much older and presumably less likely to bare their flesh, like Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen, all well over 50. (The youngest in recent years has been Prince, who was 48 when he played in 2007.)

By contrast, the four members of the Black Eyed Peas are mere pups at 35 (one will turn 36 on Sunday).

The Black Eyed Peas probably won’t offend anyone and even your grandma will likely enjoy their high energy set. On the other hand, they’re not exactly going to bring younger viewers who aren’t really in to football to the TV set either. Much like their crackdown on ‘helmet to helmet’ hits, its really hard to figure out what the NFL is trying to do here. In theory, the effort to attract a younger demographic to the halftime show via the musical act makes sense on a variety of levels but their execution is definitely lacking. I’ve got no real gripe with The Black Eyed Peas, but the NFL is coming off like your slightly senile aunt who wanted to seem ‘with it’ and bought your Christmas gift at the record store. Invariably, she’d ask the clerk what was ‘popular with teenagers’ and she’d come away with a New Kids on The Block album or other abomination. You’d then have to smile and be polite while concealing your disgust knowing that as soon as you had the chance the album would be doused with gasoline and set on fire as an offer to Iron Maiden.

OK, OK–that may be a bit of a stretch and The Black Eyed Peas don’t evoke that kind of reaction in anyone. In fact, their ‘lowest common denominator’ inoffensiveness may be the point–they’re superficially ‘more edgy’ but not really. Ultimately, we should just be thankful that the NFL no longer subjects viewers to the unctuous ‘Up With People’ as they did during several Super Bowls in the 70′s and 80′s.