Worst performance of The Star Spangled Banner

[Trekker4747]

This has been a topic of discussion here and probably around your friendly, local, water cooler this week so I thought it'd be interesting to start a thread on it.

Accepting that "mistakes happen" and excluding her flubbing of the lyrics was Xina's version of the anthem performed at this past weekend's Super Bowl one of the worst versions of the anthem?

I personally didn't like it, she stretched the notes out too far, to much gyrations, theatrics and nonsense. She sung it too much like a diva which, personally, I don't think is right. The Anthem is about taking a couple of minutes and to stop and honor the country and maybe even sing-along. Xina's version that wasn't possible. Way too much power, vocalizations and it's just bad. IMHO, and line errors aside.

But was it the worse? I vote no.

The worst, by far, is still Roseanne's version sung at a Padres game in the 1990s. Not only was she just a bizzare choice to begin with but the way she went out there and sung it was rude and almost mocking to it. It's was, IMHO, a huge disrespect to the song, the flag, America and so much more. Then she caps it all of by grabbing her crotch and spitting (much like a ball player does) but the image and timing of it just struck me as she was pretty much saying "Fuck you! America!"

Christina's was terrible, by far, but Roseanne's is still the worst by even more so.

 

[cultcross]

I've never liked Christina's tendency to do 'diva voice' and go all theatrical with her singing. But then that's a style I dislike, so isn't a personal gripe about her.

 

[Pingfah]

I find it hard to give a shit about people "insulting" the anthem. It's just a song, if someone wants to use it to make a statement about government, or even a joke, it's nothing to me. I guess I find the concept of identifying with a country to be too nebulous for me to take offence at something like this.

I think the British as a whole are more thick skinned about this sort of thing. I mean a punk version of the national anthem calling the Queen a fascist was only held off number one by the BBC fixing the charts, and remains an important, and now actually fairly well respected part of our musical history

 

[marillion]

Well, pride differs.. Many Americans hold the song, while amazingly too complex for most of us to sing well, in high esteem.. It means something to us and we feel it should be dignified.. When sung correctly, it is a beautiful, moving song.

Christina's vocals were fine and I'm sure she did get quite caught up in the moment so I can forgive her for flubbing.. It's not that big a deal to me.

But Rosanne, whom I'm sure KNEW she was going to sound like crap while singing it, stands as the worst of the worst.

 

[Robert D. Robot]

As someone who has been on stage both acting and singing, I have a LOT of sympathy for someone forgetting their lines in front of an audience. No body is perfect... and it was stunning for me to have realized early on that some line or bit of a speech or a song that you think would be impossible to forget can just suddenly 'vaporize' from your mind the way the condensation of your breath can just waft away into nothingness in frosty winter air!

I don't view it as a disgrace to her or an insult to the anthem. However, intentionally singing it badly (like Roseanne) or agreeing to perform it when you know that you really can not sing it (like Denise Richards) I do find to be a little offensive.

It would, however, be my preference for singers to just sing the national anthem without adding all the embellishments, grace notes, and "warbling". I do realize that this is my own personal preference, though.

 

[nevermore]

I
I think the British as a whole are more thick skinned about this sort of thing. I mean a punk version of the national anthem calling the Queen a fascist was only held off number one by the BBC fixing the charts, and remains an important, and now actually fairly well respected part of our musical history

One of the BEST Star Spangled Banner performances ever also a respected part of musical history: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3222428405488271724#

The Superbowl version was shit, but then Christina Aguilera is a shit singer, so they got what they paid for.

 

[Pingfah]

^ Well yeah, but it's a pretty good tune. The Sex Pistols song just borrowed a lyric, no actual version of the British National Anthem is going to be very memorable, because it's an incredibly boring song

 

[Rush Limborg]

I agree with not liking the "style" of singing. I personally find it grating to the ears whenever, on American Idol, the vast majority of women auditioning before the judges just stretch out the notes and "play" with them, "new-soul" style.

(If the authorities really want a "diva", then I have a Modest Proposal: Hire the immortal Shirley Bassey to do it--every year! )

As for her slip-up...yeah, while I sympathize with those who mess up on stage...this is the Star-Spangled Banner we're talking about. You'd think she'd have had that song grounded into her hard drive since she was a little girl. I find it amazing a professional American singer--who's sung it before, mind you--would slip up over that.

I dunno. It's possible she was nervous, but...still....

 

[Trekker4747]

Well, and I really didn't want to make this thread about her error in the lyrics, she can be "forgiven" for the mistake. I mean, yeah, she shouldn't have messed it up since she has sung it before, it's one verse and they lyrics are not that hard but singers can mess up the lyrics to their own songs that they have sung for years.

I'm here more talking about the overall performance of the anthem and some of the poorer versions of it/attempts at singing it, more to the point of Rosanne's version being pretty insulting on top of being terrible.

 

[Maestro]

America has an unique relationship with her National Anthem. It's been a tradition for it to be played for sporting events at the Varsity, Collegiate, and Professional levels for decades. It was so important to the nation that Congressed passed a code of etiquette for the performance of the Anthem back in the 1940s. Congress's desire for the Anthem to be a unifying force is one of the reasons why a lot of us get bent out of shape over stylized, poor, or Roseanne Barr's performances.

I've heard a lot of bad performances in my time. I've heard singers chuff pitches and harf the words. I've heard bands blow it. I can forgive honest mistakes. I can forgive the gal at the Dubuque Saints game a few months ago who modulated a few times. She gave it her best. It was reverent, tasteful, and on target with the guidelines. Aguilera, on the other hand, I cannot forgive. Her rendition was about her, and on top of it, she harfed the words.

As for the worst, the school I teach at in 2005 at a Volleyball playoff game. My band barfed their way through it. My punishment of them is currently considered "legendary," and the kids today have no urge to endure the punishment of legend themselves.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

This has been a topic of discussion here and probably around your friendly, local, water cooler this week so I thought it'd be interesting to start a thread on it.

You mean, besides the other thread that's only on the second page, which you participated in extensively, and that covered the exact same ground?

Anyway, here's one video compilation of the ten worst national anthem performances (also includes a couple of Canadian ones).

And here's another ten worst list with separate video links.

 

[Trekker4747]

Yes, but that thread was specifically about the Xina performance from the Super Bowl. This thread is more encompassing to including any and all performances.

I'll have to look it up, but I remember a lame one of some rock singer doing it at a ball-game or something, he gets stuck on a line and we see him look at his hand (in a very obvious way) to see what the next line is.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

It started out that way, but as threads do, it had grown to encompass other issues such as who had a worse performance (Roseanne was mentioned there too), the difficulty of singing the US national anthem, and the history, symbology, and importance of it, just like this thread has.

I normally wouldn't care, but you've done this before, and it kind of saps discussion away from one still active thread in favor of your own. If I had started a thread and it had built up a following, and then someone started their own similar one in the same forum simultaneously while knowing the other one was there, I'd be kind of irritated by that.

It's no biggie, though, and it was just an offhand comment to make you aware of the situation in the future.

 

[B.J.]

As for the worst, the school I teach at in 2005 at a Volleyball playoff game. My band barfed their way through it. My punishment of them is currently considered "legendary," and the kids today have no urge to endure the punishment of legend themselves.

You've piqued my curiosity. Can you elaborate?

I can't top Rosanne's performance as the worst, but I can give an account of my own worst performance (copied from what I wrote in the other thread):

.....reminds me of one major screw-up way back in high school. Our band had formed a big arc around midfield, with the drumline in the middle (I was one of the drummers). Started off with a roll as usual, and then the band came in. Since I was in the middle of the drums, I could only hear the instruments on my right that were closest to me. When we got to the middle part where the drums cut out, I really wish I could have seen the faces on all the drummers when we heard the rest of the band - the two halves of the band on either side of us were off from each other by a couple of beats, effectively playing the National Anthem in rounds! After that performance, we pulled the drums back and connected the two halves of the band, and never played in that formation again.

 

[MANT!]

My opinion..the worst ever recorded..

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkhbpeL-8sY[/yt]

 

[Switch]

That was horrific.

And to think that until this moment I didn't realise where "land of the free, home of the brave" actually came from.

 

[Krisno]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImCWjbAOXKo

 

[Franklin]

I feel sorry for the girl who made number eight on the list. Her incident should actually make a top ten list, in my opinion. It was in 2003 before a Dallas Mavericks game. She was ony 13. A little way into the song, she forgot the words and froze. Scared stiff.
Mo Cheeks (a Dallas coach) came over, put his arm around her, and sang the rest of the anthem with her. The entire crowd even joined in. Aftewards, Cheeks and the girl got a standing ovation. You can see in the snippet in the "worst" list how grateful she was for his help. That was actually a very nice moment in anthem history. Unlike some of these other schmucks, she just made a mistake and didn't deserve to be hung out to dry.

 

[Deckerd]

Anyone who makes a mistake doesn't deserve to be hung out to dry.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Generic mention of Enrico Palazzo goes here.