Best super bowl halftime show ever

ByBrian Boone

The first Super Bowl halftime show in 1967 featured performances by two college marching bands.

That set the tone for the mid-game showcase for decades to come, with similarly old-fashioned parade-style entertainments occupying the slot.

List of super bowl halftime shows

As the NFL grew in popularity around the U.S. and the world, the big game became the centerpiece of an annual secular holiday. Hundreds of millions of viewers tuned in not just for a professional football championship, but to see some of the best Super Bowl commercials and the halftime show.

The NFL and its broadcast partners had a massive audience already in place for the halftime show, and in the '80s and '90s, it started booking giant spectacles and major musical acts.

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But moving up a level brings with it more problems and potential for failure.

With so much pressure and eyeballs on performers, they're expected to do their best work, or at least entertain as many people as possible for their specific brand of artistic expression. There