Music Monday Feb 13: Super Bowl Music

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There is a radio show on CBC here in Canada that occasionally does a feature called SYNTH: Songs You Need To Hear.

Now, I can’t say to someone, “You’ll like this song” (or book for that matter) because I can’t presume that others will share my taste in music (or books), so it is safer to say, “You might like this” and if they don’t like it, so be it. Maybe you will find a new favorite.

CBC MUSIC, Central · Mornings with CBC Music

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I know what you are wondering: What was the best Super Bowl commercial? But I’m wondering: Who all has played the Super Bowl Halftime shows? This is Music Monday, you know.

Wonder no more. You will notice that for the first 20 years, the music was provided by marching bands, which makes sense because of the predominance of marching bands at college football games.

Until …

The league figures out that more popular music makes more $$$.

1	1967	Universities of Arizona and Grambling University Bands
2	1968	“Old Man Winter Takes a Vacation in Miami” featuring seven local Miami-area high school bands
3	1969	“America Thanks” with Florida A&M University
4	1970	Carol Channing
5	1971	Florida A&M Band
6	1972	“Salute to Louis Armstrong” with Ella Fitzgerald, Carol Channing, Al Hirt and U.S. Marine Corps Drill Team
7	1973	“Happiness Is…” with University of Michigan Band and Woody Herman
8	1974	“A Musical America” with University of Texas Band
9	1975	“Tribute to Duke Ellington” with Mercer Ellington and Grambling University Bands
10	1976	“200 Years and Just a Baby” Tribute to America’s Bicentennial
11	1977	“It’s a Small World” including crowd participation for first time with spectators waving colored placard on cue
12	1978	“From Paris to the Paris of America” with Tyler Apache Belles, Pete Fountain and Al Hirt
13	1979	“Super Bowl XIII Carnival” Salute to the Caribbean with Ken Hamilton and various Caribbean bands
14	1980	“A Salute to the Big Band Era” with Up with People
15	1981	“A Mardi Gras Festival”
16	1982	“A Salute to the 60’s and Motown”
17	1983	“KaleidoSUPERscope” (a kaleidoscope of color and sound)
18	1984	“Super Bowl XVIII’s Salute to the Superstars of the Silver Screen”
19	1985	“A World of Children’s Dreams”
20	1986	“Beat of the Future”
21	1987	“Salute to Hollywood’s 100th Anniversary”
22	1988	“Something Grand” featuring 88 grand pianos, the Rockettes and Chubby Checker
23	1989	“Be Bop Bamboozled” featuring 3-D effects
24	1990	“Salute to New Orleans” and 40th Anniversary of Peanuts’ characters, featuring trumpeter Pete Fountain, Doug Kershaw and Irma Thomas
25	1991	“A Small World Salute to 25 Years of the Super Bowl” featuring New Kids on the Block
26	1992	“Winter Magic” including a salute to the winter season and the winter Olympics featuring Gloria Estefan, Brian Boitano and Dorothy Hamill
27	1993	“Heal the World” featuring Michael Jackson
28	1994	“Rockin Country Sunday” featuring Clint Black, Tanya Tucker, Travis Tritt, Wynonna and Naomi Judd
29	1995	“Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye” featuring Tony Bennett, Patti LaBelle, Arturo Sandoval and Miami Sound Machine
30	1996	Diana Ross
31	1997	“Blues Brothers Bash” featuring Dan Aykroyd, John Goodman, James Belushi, James Brown and ZZ Top
32	1998	“A Tribute to Motown’s 40th Anniversary” including Boyz II Men, Smokey Robinson, Queen Latifah, Martha Reeves and The Temptations
33	1999	“Celebration of Soul, Salsa and Swing” featuring Stevie Wonder, Gloria Estefan, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Savion Glover
34	2000	“A Tapestry of Nations” featuring Phil Collins, Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias, and Toni Braxton
35	2001	“The Kings of Rock and Pop” featuring Aerosmith, *N’SYNC, Britney Spears, Mary J. Blige and Nelly
36	2002	U2
37	2003	Shania Twain, No Doubt and Sting
38	2004	Janet Jackson, Kid Rock, P. Diddy, Nelly and Justin Timberlake
39	2005	Paul McCartney
40	2006	The Rolling Stones
41	2007	Prince
42	2008	Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
43	2009	Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
44	2010	The Who
45	2011	The Black Eyed Peas, Usher and Slash
46	2012	Madonna with guests Cee Lo Green, LMFAO, M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj
47	2013	Beyonce with guests Destiny’s Child
48	2014	Bruno Mars with guests Red Hot Chili Peppers
49	2015	Katy Perry with guests Missy Elliott and Lenny Kravitz
50	2016	Coldplay with guests Beyonce and Bruno Mars
51	2017	Lady Gaga
52	2018	Justin Timberlake
53	2019	Maroon 5 with guests Travis Scott and Big Boi
54	2020	Jennifer Lopez and Shakira
55	2021	The Weeknd
56	2022	Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar and Mary J. Blige
57	2023	Rihanna

Which one was the best? That’s a tough one.

-Leon

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-Leon

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

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