The “wardrobe malfunction” seen ’round the world.Donald Miralle/Getty Images
While the Super Bowl halftime show is the most-watched event on television every year, it wasn’t always the massive institution it once was.
Until the 1990s, the show was pretty lame. The NFL just booked a local marching band or some other kind of wholesome entertainment. There’s a lot of Elvis Impersonators and trombones in halftime history.
But in the current era, the event is so big that the NFL has enough leverage to make performers pay to be there. And with scale comes a lot of uncontrollable factors. Year after year, the NFL struggles to entertain tens of millions of people and make a gigantic 12-minute show run smoothly.
The most famous Super Bowl performance is from 2004, where an “indecent exposure” from Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson changed the direction of the show forever. But it’s not the only halftime show controversy.
Here are the 15 most controversial Super Bowl halftime show performances of all time.
15: The Who was aggressively mediocre in 2010.
The Who’s Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend at the 2010 Super Bowl halftime show.AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
For whatever reason, the NFL hired a way-past-their-prime The Who to perform. The whole time, they seemed nearly bewildered to be onstage and were seemingly unprepared. The band never managed to connect to the audience, mumbled through a medley of some of their old songs, and Pete Townshend’s stomach was visible for much of the show.
14: The Rolling Stones played some old stuff in 2006.
Mick Jagger performing with the Rolling Stones at the 2006 halftime show.AP Photo/David J. Phillip
In the wake of the Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson fiasco of 2004, the NFl instituted a five-second tape delay that allowed them to censor phrases like “you made a dead man come.”
For the most part, the Rolling Stones show was a mixed affair, with just three songs — one of them a new one, so no one could sing along. It was also a strange choice for the NFL not to have any black artists given that the game was set in Detroit.
13: The New Kids on the Block were so tepid that they were bumped till after the show in 1991.
New Kid on the Block performing at the 1991 Super Bowl.YouTube.com
In the early days of the glitzy halftime show tradition, boy band New Kids on the Block put on some slow songs, draining the room of all its energy, and performed “It’s a Small World (After All),” making approximately the entire the stadium roll their eyes. ABC News opted to give a news report on the Gulf War instead of airing their entire show live, bumping it to after the game.
12: The Black Eyed Peas were bad even for the standards of people who enjoy the Black Eyed Peas in 2011.
Fergie and Slash, dressed as what seems to be a glammed-up version of The Babadook.REUTERS/Brian Snyder
The Black Eyed Peas brought plenty of energy to their 2011 performance, but they were an incongruous match with Slash and Usher, who performed with them, and the tech-leather costumes were more bizarre than fun. Rolling Stone likened it to “witnessing something magical and special — like seeing a unicorn cough up blood.”
It’s also responsible for our pop-heavy era of Super Bowl halftime shows.
10: Aerosmith, Britney Spears, N’Sync, Nelly, and Mary J. Blige all sang together in an incoherent mess in 2001.
Britney Spears and Aerosmith’s Steve Tyler performing at the 2001 show.Mike Segar/Reuters
9: Olympic figure skaters took over in 1992.
Gloria Estefan of the Miami Sound Machine at the 1992 show.AP Photo/Bill Sikes
You know who’s a pretty good choice for a Super Bowl halftime performer in 1992? Gloria Estefan. You know who’s a bizarre choice? A bunch of Olympic figure skaters and people in hideous winter-themed costumes. We all love our Olympians, but the final result was just cringe-worthy.
7: Red Hot Chili Peppers did the rock version of lip-syncing in 2014.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers performing at the 2014 Super Bowl.Jamie Squire/Getty
When the band joined Bruno Mars onstage, fans noticed their instruments were unplugged. They played over a recording of their own song.
“I understand the NFL’s stance on this, given they only have a few minutes to set up the stage, there a zillion things that could go wrong and ruin the sound for the folks watching in the stadium and the TV viewers,” the bassist, Flea, wrote on the band’s website. “There was not any room for argument on this, the NFL does not want to risk their show being botched by bad sound, period.”
6: The NFL picked a Blues Brothers theme for some reason in 1997.
Jim Belushi performing as one of the Blues Brothers during the 1997 show.AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi
The “Saturday Night Live” joke blues band, The Blues Brothers, headlined the night. Since one of the members, John Belushi, was dead, he was replaced by his brother Jim. It was weird. James Brown, the master of soul music, also showed up but got shamefully little stage time.
5: The halftime show had a cheesy “Disney Millennium Performance” in 2000.
Toni Braxton surrounded by performing in the “Tapestry Of Nations” at the 2000 show.Brian Bahr/Getty Images
Since Disney owns ABC, which broadcasted the Super Bowl, they used the halftime show to advertise their “Disney Millennium Performance” costume and dance show. It’s kind of cool — even though it invoked cultish-sounding phrases like “the gate of time” and “the great millennium walk” — but no one really wanted it.
The show also swallowed up the musical performers. Phil Collins, Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias, and Toni Braxton all performed original songs, so no one could sing along.
3: Beyoncé stole the show in 2016.
Beyoncé performing “Formation” at the 2016 Super Bowl.Matt Cowan/Getty Images
Beyoncé has given Super Bowl shows enormous extravaganzas multiple times, but her Black Panther-invoking 2016 show is her most significant. Her performance of the politically charged “Formation” led to a firestorm of criticism from law enforcement groups and right-wing pundits. While Coldplay was that year’s headliner, Beyoncé’s brief part was all anyone was talking about.
2: M.I.A. gave everyone the middle finger and got sued for more than $16 million in 2012.
M.I.A. flipping the bird in front of millions of people.Christopher Polk/Getty Images
In the middle of an otherwise excellent performance from Madonna, LMFAO, Nicki Minaj, and Cee Lo Green, the rapper M.I.A. gave the middle finger during her dance moves. The NFL sued her for $16.6 million and eventually settled for an undisclosed amount. The FCC didn’t seek any fines.
After news of the lawsuit became public, MIA asked Madonna for help.
“@madonna ummm …. can I borrow 16 million?” she tweeted.
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