The MTV wing of our pop-culture is nothing but a big sewer. The talent is mediocre and the artistry is banal. It adds nothing but vulgarity and it has no place whatsoever in the Super Bowl. No, it's not that the Big Game is all that pure, it's just that MTV is _that_ filthy.
Rythym Nation was 1989 (as in 15 years ago). I find it interesting that people have a beef with her playing "old" music, but didn't complain about James Brown playing 20 and 30 year old stuff a few years ago. I would certainly prefer James Brown, but I think this is a case of a generation realizing that a song they remember coming out is now being billed as a "classic".
Boston sports radio was going on and on this morning about how bad the halftime show was and how great the pregame show was. They even called that hippie guy wearing a scarf in Houston a "crooner", and wondered why a "good" band like Bruce Stringsteen didn't do the half-time show.
I find the claim that the Super Bowl is family entertainment kind of weak. So we've got 200-300 pound men choking each other and slamming each other into the ground so hard they need to wear pads, and that's the wholesome part?
Eric, interesting points. Though I think there are some reasons why Janet Jackson will not be regarded in 15 years time in the same way James Brown is now. (Musically speaking I mean, not jail-wise...)
The wholesomeness comes in terms of football's place in American culture, from Pop Warner on up. And what, you got something against 200-300 pound men? (Though "Xenophobe's Guide to the Americans" points out that, especially compared to rugby, it's a little funny that these big tough men won't go out to play without, effectively, full body armor...)
I feel the need to weigh in on only one point: I do believe that was a pasty involved with Ms. Jackson's nipple. That would be a hell of a nipple ring. I'm not even sure how it would work.
definitely a nipple ring! albeit a very interesting and intricate one.. you know those big pins used to clasp celtic cloaks? basically a big ring with a pin through the center? well imagine that sized to fit around (and through) the nipple! the close up on drudge shows it pretty clearly. such a great piece of body jewelry was meant to be seen by someone!
Hey Kirk, from down here in Winston-Salem, NC, I can tell you the cover of the local paper had one word in large print: DANG!
A pretty southern swear. I was invited to the mother of all Super Bowl parties, with a projector showing the game on a wall, 9'x9', tons of food, including the prerequiset cake with the Panthers logo sprayed on in edible colors. I had to leave at the start of the 4th quarter though; I knew I wanted the Pats to win and I couldn't be in a room of depressed people when that happened!