Unbelievably, there was a time when the Super Bowl halftime show was not a gigantic source of controversy. In fact, there was a string of years when halftime was the purview of Classic Rock. Between 2001 and 2011, headliners included Aerosmith, U2, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Prince, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, and The Who.
Let’s be real. Those days are over, and I am not here to pine for them to come back.
That doesn’t mean, however, Classic Rock is no longer present in the biggest television event of the year. In fact, the staying power of the music was evident throughout the broadcast.
It started with the Green Day pre-game show. Not a traditional core Classic Rock artist, but among the top thirty most-played acts in the format last year. They looked great and sounded amazing. A nice start for Classic Rock on the big day.
During the team introductions, the Patriots came out to Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion,” and the Seahawks’ soundtrack was Alice in Chains’ “Man in the Box.” Both songs ranked in the Top 100 most-played last year. Then the broadcast moved on to Ozzy’s “Crazy Train,” which the Patriots have been using in-stadium for years. More great presence for Classic Rock.
Then came the commercials. Fred Jacobs recently covered some of this in his blog. According to his research, forty percent of the spots in the Super Bowl prominently featured music. Of those, half featured a Classic Rock or Classic/Adult Hits title. That’s a great ratio, once again proving the general appeal of the music.
But how did those spots do? Remember, lots of Super Bowl spots air once and are never heard from again. Here’s a look at some winners and losers and, in some cases, a thought about how the song is being rotated at radio stations.
Winners:
Budweiser “American Icons” featuring Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird”: This seems to be the biggest winner of the night. It was ranked number one by voters in a USA Today poll and still had people talking the next day. Grade A+
Pepsi Zero “You Deserve Pepsi” featuring Queen’s “I Want to Break Free”: This got a lot of attention because of Pepsi stealing Coke’s polar bear. It ranked number three on USA Today, but unfortunately the song is not a staple of station playlists. Maybe following the spot’s success, it should be. Grade B-
Michelob Ultra “The Ultra Instructor” featuring Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger”: Hard to beat Kurt Russell making a guest appearance, and Michelob Ultra is a big enough advertiser that this spot will likely have more life after the Big Game than many. USA Today ranked it as the fifth-best spot of the game. Grade A-
Unsure:
State Farm “Stop Living on a Prayer” featuring Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer”: This spot, more than some others, gave strong prominence to the Bon Jovi song and even included a guest appearance from the man himself. I thought it was clever and attention-getting, plus State Farm will likely run it to death for the foreseeable future. That said, USA Today ranked it the thirteenth-best spot, which is good but not as strong as I thought. Grade B — I guess.
Losers:
Svedka “Shake Your Bars Off” featuring Rick James’ “Super Freak”: This spot has been getting panned all around for its use of AI. The response has been so bad, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Svedka pull it completely going forward, cutting down exposure of the iconic Rick James hit. Grade F
Xfinity “Jurassic Park” featuring Rupert Holmes’ “The Piña Colada Song”: This is another one that received strong votes, ranking sixth in the USA Today poll. However, it sure seems like that has more to do with the premise — fixing Jurassic Park’s Wi-Fi — than the music. Even though it scored high, I doubt it’s because of Rupert Holmes. Grade C-
A few others worth noting:
• The latest trailer for Supergirl features Blondie’s “Call Me.” Considering that will be running for a few months until the release, it might be worth checking what rotation you have the song in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydqvWEeJpdk
• A spot for Absolut Tabasco features Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side.” Either I was getting a snack at the wrong time, or this didn’t air. If it starts getting heavy rotation post-Super Bowl, it might be time to look at how much you are spinning this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FBVEfTIGVg
Overall, it’s encouraging to see the amount of Classic Rock still being chosen by marketers when they make decisions for what best represents their product. That said, Green Day and Alice in Chains were in the broadcast, there were two different advertisements featuring the Backstreet Boys, Limp Bizkit appeared in a Bud Light spot, and House of Pain’s “Jump Around” was featured in a Volkswagen ad.
You can see the 1990s starting to make their mark. Much like the musical analysis I did for each format at the end of last year, those artists’ days as nostalgia for a generation are coming, and we’re going to need to deal with it.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. Sign up for our newsletters to stay updated and get the latest information right in your inbox.
Mike Stern is a Classic Rock columnist and Features writer for Barrett Media. He has been with Jacobs Media consulting stations in the Classic Rock, Rock, Alternative and AAA world for more than a decade. Prior to that he programmed stations in Chicago, Detroit, Denver Las Vegas and other markets. He also worked as News/Talk Editor for Radio and Records, wrote about Top 40 Radio for Billboard Magazine and had his own radio talent coaching business called Talent Mechanic.
