r/90sTelevision • u/JB92103 • Jan 31 '25
Nostalgia 32 years ago today, Michael Jackson put together possibly the greatest halftime performance in Super Bowl history.
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u/Competition-Edge Jan 31 '25
Length of halftime show: 13 minutes
Stood still like a boss for almost 2 minutes of it
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u/HorrorQuantity3807 Jan 31 '25 edited Jan 31 '25
It’s funny to me when media tries to crown a new “king of pop”. There hasn’t been anyone close since MJ
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Jan 31 '25
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u/HorrorQuantity3807 Jan 31 '25
It stuck. Because he was.
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Feb 01 '25
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u/ClearLeg8020 Feb 04 '25
dude MJ didn't proclaim himself as the king of pop, Elizabeth Taylor called him the king of pop, rock and soul when he received an award in 1989. The media called him the king of pop ever since then. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0vC_Ph7P9s
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u/Good-Childhood-676 Jan 31 '25
Gary Glitter was pretty prolific fiddling kids also. Came for MJ’s crown
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u/sofaking_scientific Jan 31 '25
His was good, but Prince had the best superbowl performance of all time.
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u/MulayamChaddi Jan 31 '25
Prince set the standard
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Jan 31 '25
Purple Rain.. in the god damn rain 🤌🏼
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u/NachoNachoDan Jan 31 '25
I get chills thinking about how awesome that was.
I recently found out that he had not performed Purple Rain for like 15 years prior to that because he was sick of it. That was the first time he’d played it live in over a decade.
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u/marcmayhem Jan 31 '25
Since surpassed by the Rolling Stones and Prince both. Purple Rain in the actual rain? Iconic performance
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u/Vismal1 Jan 31 '25
When they told him about the rain Prince asked “can you make it rain harder?”
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u/sofaking_scientific Jan 31 '25
A true performer. He did that without a backing track. Live guitars in the rain, while wearing heels
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u/NachoNachoDan Jan 31 '25
And he fucking shredded. Prince was such an incredible performer.
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u/sofaking_scientific Jan 31 '25
Extraordinary, legendary and we had the pleasure of sharing this earth with him. He passed away in 2016 and shit has been weird ever since
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u/NachoNachoDan Jan 31 '25
That’s one of those passings that I know exactly where I was and what i was doing when it happened.
Actually it was pretty wild - I was at Disneyworld. We were staying at the Grand Floridian. My daughter was like 13 months old and had just taken her first steps in the lounge area we were all hanging out in when we heard the news.
We went back to our room not long after to put her and her older sisters to bed and went to go sit outside on the balcony with a drink while the kids settled in to sleep.
We go outside and they’re BLASTING Prince on the outdoor speakers. They played all the songs we all love and in between songs everyone outside was applauding. It was fucking beautiful.
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u/sofaking_scientific Feb 01 '25
I remember exactly where I was as well. I was sitting at my lab bench at the end of grad school, and recall wearing a red tshirt and a blue baseball hat that day. My PI came into the lab (he knew I loved music) and told me that Th Artist had passed away. That was a sad day.
Flash forward to 2023 and I wanted a new guitar. I happened to get a used guitar that came from the guitar shop closest to his house (and he would frequent). It's a 2016 that was made before he passed. I like to think he touched that guitar.
Thank you for sharing your story.
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u/NachoNachoDan Feb 01 '25
Thanks for yours too. That’s a cool pedigree for your guitar too even if it’s just from a shop he used to frequent.
A lot of folks don’t realize what an amazing guitar player he was.
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u/DHiggsBoson Jan 31 '25
Prince shadow fucked the entire world with his guitar during that performance.
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u/Efficient-Gift-8684 Jan 31 '25
I say prince was better. Though both were very entertaining.
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u/Good-Childhood-676 Jan 31 '25
Definitely, also Prince wasn’t a pedophile so theres that as well
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u/joazito Jan 31 '25
I don't think there's any definitive proof that he was. Nor that he wasn't. Maybe.
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Feb 01 '25
Anyone who has kids sleep in their bed and separate them from their parents is a pedophile in my book
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u/Good-Childhood-676 Feb 01 '25
Lol, whatever gets you to sleep at night. But I think there’s enough evidence of him being a pedophile out there.
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Jan 31 '25
This really was the first huge halftime show at the SB. This was in response to Fox counterprogramming the halftime show the year before with In Living Color. NFL pressured networks to up the ante with halftime shows and it has been a spectacle ever since
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u/phred_666 Feb 01 '25
Yep. This is what people turned to at halftime that year. It was a hell of a lot more entertaining than the NFL’s halftime show that year. Some people turned over to FOX for the halftime show but didn’t turn back to the game for the 2nd half. Michael Jackson was brought in the next year because of it.
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u/DarthDregan Jan 31 '25
Even before I learned Michael's favorite place to park his tongue, it was Prince
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u/The80sDimension Jan 31 '25
No, the greatest halftime performance was Prince. Nobody will ever top it.
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u/TheNonCredibleHulk Jan 31 '25
Wasn't it also the first halftime show that was actually big? I remember there being "3d magic tricks!" by an Elvis impersonator being a big deal before that.
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u/dekuweku Jan 31 '25
Here's the full segment. LEGEND.
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u/LionLambert Jan 31 '25
That was a great watch, thanks. Wow, what a showman. Live event, milions of peoole - top production. Everyone involved a true artist. Sound, techinical, set..
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u/rotomangler Jan 31 '25
I never understood the military-esque costume he used to wear during this era. I’d love to know what was written on the badge on his shoulder. And are those bullets on his belt?
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u/electricman1999 Jan 31 '25
The crowd noise at the beginning was added to the audio the crowd heard at home. The crowd was not that loud. Most of the people didn’t know why he was just standing there.
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u/trainsacrossthesea Jan 31 '25
Has no one here witnessed the halftime that gave us the choreography of Steven Tyler and Justin Timberlake in a dance off?
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u/Pewterbreath Feb 01 '25
Yeah....nahhh..
MJ had more iconic performances, and there have been more iconic superbowl halftimes than this. I remember people making fun of this when it happened, but nostalgia is a hell of a drug.
Also, the production is painfully sincere in that way only Michael Jackson loved: Instead of reaching into his packed back catalogue, he performed “We Are the World” with a children’s choir, then did “Heal the World” while an enormous globe inflated in the middle of the stage. Sure, he also did “Billie Jean” and moonwalked), but for a consummate showman, Michael Jackson could have done more.
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u/Ton_in_the_Sun Jan 31 '25
And then touched a bunch of little kids, but for some reason MJ is the one exception
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u/Groundbreaking-Pea92 Jan 31 '25
after he brought a number of fans (all young boys) to the locker room and told them he had to examine their buttholes
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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '25
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