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Captain
Unless the mistake was caused by negligence or some other factor the doctor had control over, yes.
Super Bowl flub in the National Anthem?
- Thread starter propita
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Unless the mistake was caused by negligence or some other factor the doctor had control over, yes.
For many of us, this was the last straw of something that the NFL has been deliberately doing wrong since Whitney Houston's common time "rendition" in 1991 that went super-mega platinum.
It's not about the singer. It's about honoring America. Nothing that Aguilera did last night honors America. Everything connected with the singing of the National Anthem last night was about her, and continues to be.
Put Chicago's Jim Cornelis in front of Pershing's Own US Army Band to lead the National Anthem, and all 70,000 people in Lucas Oil Stadium will sing right along at Super Bowl XLVI next year. It will be tasteful, reverent, free of fuck-ups, and completely in tune (and Colonel Rotondi will allow nothing less). Trust me. The age of pop tart renditions should be over. It's time to return to the assembly performing it together. Start it with Pershing's Own or The President's Own or the USAF Band and the Singing Sergeants. It will be epic.
It's not about the singer. It's about honoring America. Nothing that Aguilera did last night honors America. Everything connected with the singing of the National Anthem last night was about her, and continues to be.
Put Chicago's Jim Cornelis in front of Pershing's Own US Army Band to lead the National Anthem, and all 70,000 people in Lucas Oil Stadium will sing right along at Super Bowl XLVI next year. It will be tasteful, reverent, free of fuck-ups, and completely in tune (and Colonel Rotondi will allow nothing less). Trust me. The age of pop tart renditions should be over. It's time to return to the assembly performing it together. Start it with Pershing's Own or The President's Own or the USAF Band and the Singing Sergeants. It will be epic.
She made a mistake and apologised, shes already got a bigger set than most people on the planet for that. Some of the stuff I've read on the internet/press is so beyond a joke, as basically verbally raping someone is allowed and not as wrong as getting her words mixed up for a song be it the national anthem or not.
Yes she should be held accountable BUT not made to feel she just commited genocide or something because some people seem to think what she did was the worst thing in the history of MANKIND. The over reaction of shes talentless and crap etc etc is total B/S...no one wins as many awards and keeps going in the buissness as long as she has by being crap...no matter what you may think of her music her talent can't be brought into real question it was a HUMAN mistake.
I get it, the anthem is special but some of the reaction is worse than the crime they are screaming about.
Yes she should be held accountable BUT not made to feel she just commited genocide or something because some people seem to think what she did was the worst thing in the history of MANKIND. The over reaction of shes talentless and crap etc etc is total B/S...no one wins as many awards and keeps going in the buissness as long as she has by being crap...no matter what you may think of her music her talent can't be brought into real question it was a HUMAN mistake.
I get it, the anthem is special but some of the reaction is worse than the crime they are screaming about.
I am beating a slightly different drum than the "Aguilera fucked up the Anthem" drum that is being beaten everywhere else. However, the fact that the drums are being beaten at all is the sign of a larger problem.
The performance of the American National Anthem is about honoring our Nation. It should have nothing to do with who leads it, nor should it have anything to do with the venue in which it is performed.
By tradition, The Star-Spangled Banner is performed or The Pledge of Allegiance is recited prior to every sporting event from the varsity (high school) level through college and to the professional leagues. My school's band will lead it at Friday night's home basketball game. It will not be about me (and I cringe when I'm recognized) nor my students nor the game. It will be about honoring America. That's where the focus is to be, and that focus has the force of law, as Congress has released several guidelines for the performance of the Anthem.
What we're talking about here is who performed it and how she goofed it up. We're also talking about how she stylized it to her own musical tastes. All of these things cause us to cease honoring America and cause the performance of the Anthem to be about Aguilera. That's wrong. It's also why my kids daren't fuck up the Anthem either. When we get it right, it's about honoring America. If we flub it, it ceases to honor America and it becomes about our mistake. People can discuss my mistakes til the day I die, but I don't want to create a situation where my actions cause the spotlight to go from honoring the nation to being on me.
This is why I'm advocating for having a service band lead the Anthem. They don't allow the focus to be on them. It's on the honoring America, as it should be.
The performance of the American National Anthem is about honoring our Nation. It should have nothing to do with who leads it, nor should it have anything to do with the venue in which it is performed.
By tradition, The Star-Spangled Banner is performed or The Pledge of Allegiance is recited prior to every sporting event from the varsity (high school) level through college and to the professional leagues. My school's band will lead it at Friday night's home basketball game. It will not be about me (and I cringe when I'm recognized) nor my students nor the game. It will be about honoring America. That's where the focus is to be, and that focus has the force of law, as Congress has released several guidelines for the performance of the Anthem.
What we're talking about here is who performed it and how she goofed it up. We're also talking about how she stylized it to her own musical tastes. All of these things cause us to cease honoring America and cause the performance of the Anthem to be about Aguilera. That's wrong. It's also why my kids daren't fuck up the Anthem either. When we get it right, it's about honoring America. If we flub it, it ceases to honor America and it becomes about our mistake. People can discuss my mistakes til the day I die, but I don't want to create a situation where my actions cause the spotlight to go from honoring the nation to being on me.
This is why I'm advocating for having a service band lead the Anthem. They don't allow the focus to be on them. It's on the honoring America, as it should be.
The thing for me is that Christina Aguilera never should been singing the Anthem in the first place. One of my biggest pet peeves about the National Anthem is singers over-stylizing it and making it sound terrible. Christina Aguilera does that with every single song she's ever sang; we should have seen it coming. She is not someone I would trust to take that responsibility seriously. Singing the National Anthem is not a performance. She's supposed to lead the people so that they can sing along and honor the country. How the hell is anybody supposed to sing along when she sings the way she does? She should have been focusing on the lyrics, not worrying about how many crazy notes she can hit.
I just think the National Anthem should be sang a certain way, and the people in charge of choosing the singer need to think about that. Don't get somebody just because she's popular. Get somebody who will take it seriously and treat it with the respect it deserves.
I just think the National Anthem should be sang a certain way, and the people in charge of choosing the singer need to think about that. Don't get somebody just because she's popular. Get somebody who will take it seriously and treat it with the respect it deserves.
This.
It's called 'doing the job you are being hired to do'.
And it is very different from the scenario of a rock star screwing up the words to one of his own songs at a concert.
She was hired to sing ONE song - a very important song to pretty much the entire audience. She was not hired to sing 20 or so songs for a crowd of her own fans, most of whom don't give a damn if she sings them all correctly or not, as long as she can make a good joke out of it when she screws up. Assuming said fans notice at all, given all the substance abuse of various sorts going on at your typical rock concert.
I like the idea of the Marie Corps band playing the anthem. Or at the very least, get someone who is serious about doing the job right - and who does not see the Super Bowl as just a giant photo op.
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Captain
For all that it might try, capitalism has fortunately yet to succeed in turning human beings into machines.
This thread has given me a great idea. We create a new competition show called "Pop Anthem" that takes young struggling musicians with golden voices and gives them the chance to sing the anthem at the next Superbowl. Week after week America can vote for the teen with the best sob story/most touching personal triumph. Hopefully we can get Charlie Sheen, Britney Spears, and Lil' Wayne to judge. I can't wait!!
The President's Own was the guest service band at the Midwest Clinic this past December. They begin all of their concerts with the Anthem and expect the audience to sing. The President's Own and a room filled with several thousand band directors performing the National Anthem together. One of the most sublime musical salutes to America that I've ever witness, and it was a thrill to be part of it.
The flubbing of the lines might be forgivable. I mean, she's a professional singer and it's not a hard song (it's one damn verse, the version sung for events that is) and she has sung it before. So it's odd she'd mess up the lines given those factors. Maybe if she was gyrating and straining like a constipated person the entire time she would have remembered the lines?
That's my biggest problem, errors aside, she just did a shitty job of singing it. She sung it terribly and her mannerism and gyrations and theatrics while singing it were just terrible.
That's my biggest problem, errors aside, she just did a shitty job of singing it. She sung it terribly and her mannerism and gyrations and theatrics while singing it were just terrible.
J
Jetfire
Guest
It was like she was one of those horrible people trying out for American Idol. 
She has talent, she is a professional with years of experience...it is just kind of disappointing.
She has talent, she is a professional with years of experience...it is just kind of disappointing.
A
Amaris
Guest
I like the way James Taylor sang the Star Spangled Banner:
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FOvM16v08g&feature=related[/yt]
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FOvM16v08g&feature=related[/yt]
Yeah, I didn't like it much either. Too slow and too, I dunno, "off." I could've done without all of the "commercial" for Taylor before hand too.
I'm sticking with The Dixie Chicks version myself.
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Amaris
Guest
I see it more as an individual's personal take on such a revered and honored tradition. What's the point in honoring America if it requires removing the different humanity each person brings to the rendition? In this case, James Taylor, in his venerated laid back folk style, sings the national anthem, and the crowd roars and cheers. I think he honored America just fine. It's about respect, not style, and overall, it is about the individual and what America, by proxy of the flag, means to them.
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