BLACK HISTORY MONTH: February 15, 2023 – Where does Prince’s halftime performance rank TODAY?

Many of us who have grown up in the modern era of great halftime shows don’t realize; the original concept of the halftime show was NOTHING like it is today.  The first ones featured marching bands, drill squads, and plenty of semi-cheesy performances in the late 70s and early 80s from groups like Up With People (yuck).  After a few 50s and 60s-era performers like Chubby Checker in the late 1980s, the performances first amped up a BIG notch in 1991 in Tampa when New Kids On The Block took the stage.  They were at the HEIGHT of their fandom, and propelled the art form of the halftime show into a NEW era.

Since then, we’ve seen big names of the classic era – Paul McCartney, Diana Ross, Bruce Springsteen and The Who – and some of today’s hottest performers – Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, and many more, all don the BIG NIGHT between two halves of football.

Here at Throwback Nation Radio, we love our PRINCE performance from 2007, of course.  Purple Rain, in the rain?  EPIC.

One of the greatest halftime shows EVER.@prince's #SBXLI performance in Miami was legendary. ☔️🎸

📺: #SBLIV | 6:30pm ET on FOX
📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app pic.twitter.com/5mdbbckbL5

— NFL (@NFL) February 2, 2020

And what’s exciting to see is, according to ESPN, Prince’s performance is STILL beloved among the top halftimes of all time.  ESPN’s data shows that the Prince performance was still the fifth most googled prior to the game – and that’s a good place to be!