Comments on: Why were the Super Bowl ads so dull?

Why were the Super Bowl ads so dull?

fred_ashmore — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 08:31:48 -0800

Why were the Super Bowl ads so dull? Was it lack of money, lack of creativity, or something else?

By: jonson

jonson — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 08:35:35 -0800

Fear of wasting 2.1 million dollars (not including the cost of making the ad) on something edgy or interesting.

By: xmutex

xmutex — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 08:44:30 -0800

phew, that write up was almost as 'existentially depressing' as the MJ vs MJ commercial.

By: Tacodog

Tacodog — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 08:46:29 -0800

Ad critic is pay-per-view, or per month anyway, so where can the proletariat see these commericals online?

By: machaus

machaus — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 08:51:16 -0800

Hmmm, brinkmanship abroad and dullsville stateside. We are reliving the Eisenhower era.

By: bondcliff

bondcliff — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 08:51:43 -0800

Perhaps with the way the commercials are hyped every year we're just expecting too much from them? After all, they're just commericals. My favorite was the anti-marijuana one with the "youngest grandparents in town." It's good to encourage kids to not do drugs. We wouldn't want them to do anything that might cloud their judgement. And hey, how about all those beer ads!

By: jonson

jonson — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 08:52:19 -0800

TacoDog - USA Today's website, I believe.

By: ecrivain

ecrivain — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 08:55:16 -0800

SuperSpots. It seems a bit slow-loading right now. They're realplayer format.

By: jonson

jonson — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 08:57:00 -0800

Also, here is the link from the aforementioned USA Today. Not sure how fast it's running, but I'd imagine the servers have deep pockets buying their bandwidth. The pages certainly loaded quickly. Also, I was mildly amused by the closing line of the Budweiser clown spot.

By: Durwood

Durwood — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 08:59:49 -0800

When was it decided that that all Super Bowl ads needed to be creative or interesting? I recall that for years Master Lock spent its entire television ad budget on one ad that ran during the Super Bowl. There was nothing flashy about the ad, but it contained the memorable image of its lock remaining in place, even after being the target of a high-power gunshot. To me, that type of ad is more effective in conveying a message than a hundred silly Bud Light ads. Of course, it's no fun to talk about on Monday.

By: mosch

mosch — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 09:02:50 -0800

I think it was the lack of the commentator's ability to allow himself to enjoy the ads. Personally, I liked a lot of the ads. I loved the Budweiser ad that had the zebra acting as the referee during a football game between the famous clydesdales. I thought that the Monster ad, featuring the driverless 18-wheeler was a really funny and memorable way to get the word out that blue collar jobs are also available on monster.com. The Jordan versus Jordan ad was also amazing to me, not because there was some computer wizardry involved, but because the younger Jordan didn't just look like a younger Jordan, he played like the Jordan of the Bulls dynasty. Maybe I'm not disappointed with the ads because I was watching for the football, not the ads and the halftime show. Maybe I'm just a bourgeois fool. Either way, I liked watching the game and the ads.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 09:05:12 -0800

I thought that review was spot on. This year's commercials were a steaming pile of crap.

By: Skot

Skot — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 09:05:23 -0800

Wow, an article that sneers about the lameness of television commercials. How edgy. For my part, a whole bunch of us yelled happily over the previews of The Matrix and The Hulk, and hurled peanuts at the screen when the predictably awful "drug users support terrorism" ads appeared. Interactive, baby.

By: xmutex

xmutex — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 09:10:10 -0800

also, we got a good laugh out of the Rebook ad featuring one of the TB linemen slamming down various office workers. good one, that was.

By: xmutex

xmutex — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 09:12:52 -0800

although... no ads were as funny as rich gannon throwing 5 picks, including two for TDs, including one with :04 remaining. hoo hoo hoo!

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 09:13:45 -0800

I was glad to see that moveon.com managed to get the last minute cash to run their ad. Other than that I'm with Matt, steaming crap pile! The only ads that caught your attention were the anti-drug spot and the clown ass, virtually everything else lacked the usual excitement we've come to expect from Super Bowl Sunday. The Oz-monds spot was dreadful!

By: konolia

konolia — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 09:29:32 -0800

That was two Michael Jordans? *smacks head with hand*

By: norm

norm — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 09:32:22 -0800

Sounds like my first ever fully Tivo-ized Super Bowl was well worth it. Although I stopped to check out the Matrix and Hulk ads.

By: lazaruslong

lazaruslong — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 09:35:40 -0800

The Super Bowl was yesterday?

By: donovan

donovan — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 09:36:47 -0800

Hmmm, brinkmanship abroad and dullsville stateside. We are reliving the Eisenhower era. I guess that makes it official. We will be going to war with Korea.

By: Skot

Skot — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 09:38:34 -0800

The Super Bowl was yesterday? I post to threads I don't care about?

By: KnitWit

KnitWit — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 09:43:03 -0800

I've heard you can find the ads here but as of this moment it's pretty slashdotted. In general it seemed like the whole event (Production and funness) was pretty low. As much as I dispised the bubblegum-pop of Britney et. al last year, at least there was a level of showmanship above Shania Twain lip-synching a 5 year old song. And I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about Sting and Gwen Stefani singing Message in a Bottle, but I'm begining to lean towards 'violently ill' at this point.

By: boomchicka

boomchicka — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 09:50:32 -0800

I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about Sting and Gwen Stefani singing Message in a Bottle, but I'm begining to lean towards 'violently ill' I think Sting probably shares your sentiments (as do I), and I bet he's feeling a mite dirty this a.m. for ever having consented to whoring himself out to that atrocious display. At least I hope that's the case, so that I may retain one shred of respect for him.

By: quonsar

quonsar — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 09:51:35 -0800

what's a superbowl?

By: Stan Chin

Stan Chin — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 09:54:18 -0800

Sting has been a (I hate to use this word, but for lack of a better term..) sell-out whore for decades. Need I remind you a Video Music Awards performance when he made a duet with Puffdaddy? A rap remix of Roxanne which he sang on? The Winter Olympics? A bigger question would be, "Who the Hell keeps Booking him for this Shit?"

By: dglynn

dglynn — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 10:10:16 -0800

How old is that No Doubt song? And Message in a Bottle has to be almost 20 years old now. Why did they pick those songs? It was just weird. Anyone else notice that the reason for being physically assaulted by the office linebacker was the office drone not including the cover sheet to his TPS report? On preview; Stan, remember Sting's Jaguar commercials, featuring the first single off his new CD as the theme for the commercial, to coincide with the release of the CD, and starring Sting, riding in a Jaguar?

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 10:11:41 -0800

"A bigger question would be, 'Who the Hell keeps Booking him for this Shit?'" Sting is a Man Of The People. What's the matter with you Stan, do you hate America or something?

By: Stan Chin

Stan Chin — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 10:18:44 -0800

I hate any America that has a French-Canadien gag herself with a microphone and by sheer coincidence vomit up God Bless America.

By: jonson

jonson — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 10:20:53 -0800

As for the age of the songs, neither of them are as old as Walk This Way, which Aerosmith played two superbowls ago.

By: SpecialK

SpecialK — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 10:22:04 -0800

Did anyone but me notice that for most of the pregame show, while interviewing athletes, they were playing tracks off of the new coldplay album?

By: jdroth

jdroth — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 10:23:45 -0800

Okay, if we're going to discuss Sting and No Doubt, how about those Dixie Chicks? Their rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" was, to my mind, outstanding. It was beautiful. All the chit-chat in the room died after the first couple of lines, and everyone sat and listened. The woman next to me was moved to tears. Moved to tears by the national anthem? That's something else. Those chicks can sing...

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 10:27:32 -0800

Stan you're the man...

By: kindall

kindall — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 10:36:41 -0800

When was it decided that that all Super Bowl ads needed to be creative or interesting? Oh, about 1984.

By: mikrophon

mikrophon — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 10:37:46 -0800

A superbowl critique from last year (from my old site, but not written by me, thankee.) I thought it was funny to see all the folks with hands over heart for God Bless America, just 'cause it had the words "god" and "america" in it. Also funny is that they hired the Dixie Chicks and Michelle Branch to show up and lip-synch to tapes of themselves singing. The game was good, though! Go Titans--er, I mean, Buc's!

By: billybobtoo

billybobtoo — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 10:38:56 -0800

dixie chicks....that's funny.

By: Samsonov14

Samsonov14 — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 10:39:50 -0800

jdroth, I couln't agree more. I was just chomping at the bit waiting for a chance to make fun of the dixie chicks, but they put together a really well-done version of the anthem. I still think anything that tastefully done has no place at the superbowl, though.

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 10:41:35 -0800

Why did they pick those songs? I wondered the same thing and made this guess. I'm a Girl...no girls on the playing field. Message in a Bottle...impending war. Or Shania Twain is the Bomb and were behind the times in rock.

By: dazed_one

dazed_one — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 10:44:17 -0800

Off topic, but this has been bugging me for a while... Why is it called the "Super Bowl"?

By: xmutex

xmutex — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 10:44:20 -0800

jdroth-- good one! clever, subtle, funny!

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 10:45:38 -0800

I'm with you on the Star Spangled Banner, well done, very moving, devoid of the usual BS. As for the age of any songs, particularly the "ancient" Aerosmith songs, when exactly did Santana first cover Oye Como Va, 1965? When did Tito Puente write it 1955? I'm sure old Tito was spinning in his grave last night to hear Beyonce "sing" along, it probably resembled something like her "dancing!"

By: 10sball

10sball — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 10:48:27 -0800

AOL has some ads too... Don't have real on this machine so i can't say how their server is holding up. For my money, although not really a 30sec spot, I thought the Terminator/Star Players tie in in the pregame show was good. My favorite commercial was definitely the reebok one with the football player - *SMASH* "You forgot a cover sheet on your TPS Reports!". I also thought the Bud/Zebra ad, the 2 ABC The Practice ads with the girls/guys fighting in the fountain (that was a fast parody, disney), and (contrary to the author in the linked post) the H&R Block Willie Nelson ads were clever. But overall I thought most of the ads weren't so much dull as I thought they were all out flops. I can just imagine a few big execs exclaiming *This* is our ad? Can we make another one in time for the game Sunday? No? Christ, there goes my job!. And can anyone tell me who the hell these people are and why they would pay so much on a superbowl ad (apparently at the expense of a web site that explains who they are)?

By: chandy72

chandy72 — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 10:49:04 -0800

How old is that No Doubt song? And Message in a Bottle has to be almost 20 years old now. Why did they pick those songs? It was just weird. Actually, I'm glad they picked that choon. I was dreading hearing No Doubt's "Underneath It All" blather (or that sog about Gwen Stefani sipping on chamomile) or Sting's latest ho-hum blah-blah rehash -- both of which would have been A) messy washes of nothing in the Super Bowl context and sound production and B) ample fodder for any itchy clicker fingers. My favorite was Shan ia Twain's backup band looking for all the world like honkey versions of the Jackson Five circa the Victory Tour. Well, that and Tampa spanking Oakland.

By: jammer

jammer — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 10:51:20 -0800

dazed_one: Because the guy who named it saw his son playing with a Super Ball, and the name stuck in his head. True story. But I have no citations because I'm lazy.

By: jmcmurry

jmcmurry — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 10:51:35 -0800

jdroth: Glad you mentioned this. It's a rare thing when the most tasteful and best performed song of the night is "The Star-Spangled Banner". Usually it's a shriek-fest of unwelcome vocal pyrotechnics and overwrought accompaniment. Last night, it was a beautiful moment. Great arrangement, solid performance, and respectful delivery. The Dixie Chicks did good. (For the record, I liked the Willie Nelson and Terry Tate, Office Linebacker commercials. And the beer commercial with the guy putting his Puli on his head.)

By: grum@work

grum@work — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 10:56:21 -0800

Of course, us Canucks didn't get to see most of the good ads during the Super Bowl (but did see the Matrix ones). So I had to go to the web to see what everyone online was talking about. I was eventually pointed to http://terrytate.reebok.com to find the 4 minute compilation of his "Office Linebacker" commercial. Very funny stuff, especially the reference to "Office Space". As for the Coldplay songs, they were the band that was appearing on "The Jimmy Kimmel" show on ABC later that night (12:30am). BTW, it's called the "Super Bowl" because most college football games that mean something are called "bowl games" (Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl). This was just an extension of that meme.

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 11:00:28 -0800

I thought it was funny to see all the folks with hands over heart for God Bless America, just 'cause it had the words "god" and "america" in it. but they put together a really well-done version of the anthem. I still think anything that tastefully done has no place at the superbowl, though. Huh? When did disrespect for others & "done distastefully become the in thing while a song is played in respect to a country you reside under, your nation? And thank God they didn't have Celine Dion sing our national anthem.

By: dazed_one

dazed_one — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 11:00:54 -0800

But why "Bowl" pf all words? I mean, "ball" seems to make more sense.

By: serafinapekkala

serafinapekkala — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 11:08:37 -0800

a hundred silly Bud Light ads besides silly, i thought they were coarse, lame, and generally offensive. Dog-On-Head Rasta Man? just imagine if they'd cast a white guy for that role. Clown Ass? i felt like i was trapped watching a bad summer camp skit. Big-Assed Mother-In-Law? how many tired old jokes can they cram into one ad? and my vote for Barrel-Bottom Moment of the Night, the Yoga/Ogling Class one! first of all, that was more T&A than the entire evening up til that point combined, then the gross crotch shots...uggggghhhhh. lest you think me humorless, i LOVED the "Terry Tate: Office Linebacker" one, and the Zebra ref one. but generally the evening reinforced the notion that SB ads are produced by teams of poop-flinging monkeys and/or drunken frat boys, yum yum. and speaking of humorless, didn't anyone watch/review the SNL "Alterna-Halftime" thing on NBC? talk about plateau-ing...it was a like a condensed version of a full SNL, starts out funny, gets even funnier, then plummets down into god-awful. i loved the Gollum bit, Horatio Sanz as Gene Shalit, and Tracy Morgan as Al Sharpton ("I will not rest until there's a black elf in that Keebler Tree!"). but someone please tell Jimmy Fallon that Adam Sandler wants his "Wedding Singer" shtick back...

By: gimli

gimli — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 11:16:14 -0800

With his strained attempts to find deeper underlying meaning in the pathetic Super Bowl ads, Mr. Mahoney has inadvertently conjured the perfect metaphor for mankind's struggle to glean substance from the shallow sea of popular culture. Sorry. Couldn't resist. Actually, I liked the piece. I think the lameness of the ads boils down to a current fear of risk on the part of the companies, coupled with our high expectations, as pointed out by johnson & bondcliff. I guess the bubble years really were a golden age. If only we had known... As for the halftime show, it filled me with nostalgia for the great alternatives of yesteryear, like B&B's Buttbowl, and the cringe-inspiring homophobia of In Living Color's Men on Film Superbowl Halftime Spectacular. We switched over to Cartoon Network. I'll watch almost anything but lip-sync medleys. Damn! Wish I'd known about the SNL thing.

By: ewagoner

ewagoner — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 11:16:29 -0800

The oddest moment of the commercials for me was when Ted Kaczynski hand delivered the FedEx package. I really wondered where they could possible go with that, until they revealed it was a "Cast Away" spoof. I suppose I would have instantly known that had I seen the movie.

By: JaxJaggywires

JaxJaggywires — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 11:16:50 -0800

But why "Bowl" pf all words? I mean, "ball" seems to make more sense. Possibly because the stadiums resemble bowls?

By: adampsyche

adampsyche — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 11:17:36 -0800

boring game, boring commercials

By: Kevs

Kevs — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 11:18:43 -0800

dazed... the championships in college were always bowls. Sugar Bowl, Cotton Bowl, and all that. Lombardi named the AFC-NFC Championship Game the "Super Bowl"; of course, that game is now Super Bowl I. Why they say bowl in college, I don't know. As for the linked article, anyone who didn't like that MJ vs. MJ ad has no taste, so I had to stop reading there. And how can you list off the super bowl commercials with Terry Tate and his TPS Reports?!

By: mikrophon

mikrophon — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 11:22:12 -0800

When did disrespect for others & "done distastefully become the in thing while a song is played in respect to a country you reside under, your nation? I'm not sure I understand what you're asking . . . all I was saying was that I was under the impression that the standing and saluting the flag bit was a ritual reserved specifically for the National Anthem, "the Star Spangled Banner," and not just any old song that had the name of our country ("God Bless America," "God Bless the USA," "My Country 'Tis of Thee," et al. And thank God they didn't have Celine Dion sing our national anthem. The only thing better than Celine Dion not singing the National anthem is Celine Dion not singing at all. Didn't she retire? And what's with all the ridiculous Chrysler ads with her singing along with her own music in the car? Bleah!

By: Skot

Skot — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 11:26:38 -0800

Let's not forget how informative the ads were. I for one was stunned and elated to learn that both monster.com and hotjobs.com are still around. And they apparently can afford a couple million bucks to blow on terrible ads! I couldn't fucking believe it. Me: What? Monster.com is still around? Someone else: Not for long. [Time passes] Me: What? Hotjobs.com is still around? Someone else: Not for long. Me: I'm kind of stupid, huh? Someone else: Yes.

By: jonah

jonah — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 11:40:01 -0800

Did anyone else notice that Terry Tate woks at FELCHER and Sons, as in felching? I didn't want to have to explain that observation at the SB Party I was at.

By: Joey Michaels

Joey Michaels — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 11:42:14 -0800

Re: Song choices for halftime. According to TV Guide, the half time show was meant to celebrate the "female experience." Hence, girl ("I'm just a girl") and woman ("Man, I feel like a woman.") related songs. Did it accomplish this goal? In my opnion, not really. This does not explain "Message in a Bottle," though perhaps they were "sending out an S.O.S." to get them away from the big sweaty hooligans from the Raiders.

By: Joey Michaels

Joey Michaels — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 11:44:35 -0800

Opnion? Argh. Always spell check after changes in preview.

By: konolia

konolia — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 11:50:21 -0800

What is wrong with you people? Having just come out of a cave, I was not familiar with Celine Dion before she had the baby and took some time off. She has a fantastic voice and I thought she did great. And I had never heard the Dixie Chicks before, and was very impressed. I thought the halftime show was sheer fertilizer. But that's just me. While I am at it, Donny and Marie scare me a lot more than Ozzy any day.

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 11:58:30 -0800

saluting the flag bit was a ritual reserved specifically for the National Anthem, Now I know what you were saying, mikrophon. ; ) Having just come out of a cave, I was not familiar with Celine Dion before she had the baby and took some time off. She has a fantastic voice and I thought she did great. I'll speak for myself, she is not an American. Yet I only thanked God for the song she didn't sing.

By: HTuttle

HTuttle — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 12:00:20 -0800

x: I'm more jaded than you! y: No! I'M more jaded than YOU! x: Oh no...I'm more jaded than you. y: UhnUhn, I'm MORE jaded than YOU! x: NahNahNahNAH! I am DEFINITELY more jaded than you. (Total accomplishment to date of generation x-y)

By: Big_B

Big_B — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 12:01:38 -0800

I'm just glad that beer (bud light for example) has never caused a "lack of judgement", whew, imagine all the unexpected grandchildren...

By: kindall

kindall — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 12:02:40 -0800

Why they say bowl in college, I don't know. For the same reason the Stanley Cup is called a cup. Presumably it originally referred to a trophy and only later came to refer to the game to win that trophy.

By: 111

111 — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 12:12:18 -0800

Why were the Super Bowl ads so dull? Who cares? I'm starting to wish there was something like a MetaTivo that would spare me from every single post about TV commercials. 111<--- on a monday mood

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 12:15:43 -0800

Total accomplishment to date of generation x-y Damn kids! Stay offa my lawn! "Greatest Generation EVER!" Why they say bowl in college, I don't know. Its called a bowl for the type of stadium its played in, bowl, dome, field, stadium, etc. For example, Super Dome= big dome, Rose Bowl= big oval bowl shaped stadium. They got the Super Bowl because all the big college games were played in bowl stadiums because they were the stadiums with the highest capacity at the time (see Rose Bowl above) Bowl came to mean big championship game, thus the Fiesta Bowl might actually be played in a horseshoe shaped stadium or the Super Bowl might be played in the Super Dome, but they are still called Bowl games.

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 12:18:04 -0800

Oh, 111, its called IGNORING the posts you don't care about, try it some time instead of adding your snarks to something other people might actually be talking about. Thank you, my silly soap box moment was brought to you by the good people at Charmin, remember "please don't squeeze the Charmin."

By: Cyrano

Cyrano — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 12:33:21 -0800

jonah: I caught that too. No way I was splainin' it to the crowd I was with either.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 13:06:20 -0800

The zebras-as-"zebras" ad would've been moderately funny if it had come out during the Super Bowl that followed the season instant replay started, but it's a day late and a dollar short now. (But then I'm really tired of the giant-horses-playing-football commercials.) Similarly, the parody of Cast Away would've been funny if it came out three years ago, but now it's stale.

By: jeb

jeb — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 13:07:41 -0800

Anyone else notice that the reason for being physically assaulted by the office linebacker was the office drone not including the cover sheet to his TPS report? I noticed this. Is a TPS report a real thing or was that an Office Space reference? My friend james said it was real, but...james says a lot of things.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 13:31:17 -0800

I'd ask anyone here who liked the national anthem by the dixie chicks (which I agree, sounded good): did you know that they lip sync'd it? It was pretty obvious, as two of them were nowhere near the mic, and none of their throat muscles seemed to be working. It was all a sham, a facade. That negates it as the "best moment of the evening" for me. The best commercial I saw was for some new ABC reality show trying to find the "sexiest" person in america. I don't know how they did it, but ABC finally managed to out Fox the Fox network. Bravo, ABC, for sinking to a new low.

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 13:48:01 -0800

Reality TV + Robin Leech = Ultimate Schlock! I think it has something to do with the Diz-nee connection. Nobody can do it better than Disney when they turn the Schlock control knob all the way up to 11!

By: matteo

matteo — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 13:50:29 -0800

Need I remind you a Video Music Awards performance when he made a duet with Puffdaddy? A rap remix of Roxanne which he sang on? The Winter Olympics? And how to forget that he actually played a whole fucking concert on the night of 9-11-2001. the guests were already in his Tuscan villa, so were the tech guys, the cd was supposed to come out, then he just went on and he sang and played. His biggest crime, anyway, was those lame-ass ads for *shudder* Compaq

By: Stan Chin

Stan Chin — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 13:51:32 -0800

Dixie Chicks Lip Synced? If Huey Lewis, the god of all things square committed this egregious foul then I guess it's okay. Oh, and I can't believe nobody brought this up: WHAT. THE. FUCK. BON JOVI?

By: SpecialK

SpecialK — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 13:55:35 -0800

Mathowie, sorry, but I have a hard time beleiving that. If that's true, then the newscasters must've been lip-synching, too -- their little ear-bud microphones were halfway around their heads, and I their necks are so big that I can't beleive that their voiceboxes haven't collapsed under the weight by now. *shrug* Either that, or it was the most convincing lip-synch I've ever seen, because one of them goofed once and came in two beats behind the other two. I have a hard time beleiving that they recorded it that way and practiced enough to replicate it perfectly...

By: thewittyname

thewittyname — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 14:26:41 -0800

Is a TPS report a real thing or was that an Office Space reference It's not solely an Office Space reference. What, you don't remember Christina Applegate lying about producing TPS reports in "Don't Tell Mom, the Babysitter's Dead"? I know I'm not the only one who remembers that... **crickets chirping**

By: elvissinatra

elvissinatra — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 14:28:50 -0800

I thought that the Dixie Chicks and Shania Twain (more obviously) were lip syncing and that No Doubt and Sting were actually singing. Did you notice the pained look on Sting's face as Gwen's harmonies came out sounding so terrible? And while I sincerely wish that Celine Dion would get run over by a truck or at least have her vocal cords ripped out by buzzards, I thought she did an okay job (better than that song in her fucking commercial!) on "God Bless America," which actually took me a while to realize was not the national anthem, ha ha. God bless Ray Charles! Also, did anyone else notice that it's no longer monster.com? It's just "monster" now. Dot coms are baaaaaad.

By: konolia

konolia — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 14:52:01 -0800

No one here has worked a sound board, I see. Lip synching in a venue like this is something I can forgive. But I am sure the halftime show was real because it sounded like crap. Total crap. I was embarrassed for the performers.

By: DBAPaul

DBAPaul — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 14:53:31 -0800

My question: Are these live acts paid (beyond expenses) or do they do it for the exposure?

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 17:01:18 -0800

Did you notice the pained look on Sting's face as Gwen's harmonies came out sounding so terrible? I think it's always like that. I mean, Sting's face always looks pained. Gwen's harmonies.... umm... no comment. DBA- with advertisers shelling out 2 million for ads, something tells me major record-label-owned music acts are probably going to "suggest" a share of that. Matt- I wrote about that one on my site before, too... that ad is my official "new low" for America.

By: Down10

Down10 — Mon, 27 Jan 2003 18:24:01 -0800

Q: Why has MetaFilter gotten so dull? A: Boring, humorless stick-in-the-muds. Lighten up, folks. It's the Super Bowl, not Masterpiece Theater. It's not just the AFC-NFC Championship, it the championship of low-brow pandering. Might as well enjoy it.

By: elvissinatra

elvissinatra — Fri, 31 Jan 2003 11:50:55 -0800

This slate article claims that Shania was not lip-syncing. I suppose it's not impossible that they could send her live vocals through a vocoder to get the stupid Cheresque effect on there, but it sure didn't look like she was singing to me.