From the outlandish costumes,
grand synchronized dance routines, dazzling pyrotechnics,
lightning speed outfit changes, surprise entrances to grand exits,
the Super Bowl halftime show has become a standout musical event the world
of entertainment looks forward to every year.
Obtaining the 12 to 15 minutes halftime slot is a career milestone
for many artists, which over the years has been occupied by a roster of a-list stars,
including Beyonce, Madonna, Diana Ross, Arrow Smith, U2, the Rolling Stones,
Lady Gaga, Prince and Bruce Springsteen, to name just a few.
With big budgets on the table and the pressure of the whole world
watching, the show creates an atmosphere where artists want to bring their A-game.
However, the halftime show hasn't always been this much of a massive spectacle.
Well, not until Michael Jackson catapulted himself onto its now legendary stage.
Since the very first Super Bowl Championship was televised
in 1967, the halftime show has always been featured.
However, during the 1960s and 1970s,
halftime was no different from what you might see at a normal College game.
In other words, University marching bands, drill teams and other performance groups
trotting out some intricate choreography while playing patriotic or popular songs.
For years, the League had packed its halftimes with a roster of fading stars
and the unhip- Mickey Rooney, Pete Fountain, Carol Channing,
the Rockettes, Disney characters and even an Elvis impersonator.
It wasn't until boy band New Kids on the Block took the stage in 1991
that fans started to see the mid-game break as a concert like performance.
However, the game plan was still working
fine for the NFL, as viewership and advertising rates kept increasing.
But in 1992, Fox boss Rupert Murdoch spotted a weakness.
The Super Bowl's halftime acts weren't cool enough.
Some decent names performed, but not the really big ones.
People stopped watching in halftime,
especially the young audiences advertisers craved.
The halftime show for 1992 Super Bowl was
legendarily awful. Titled 'Winter Magic', a celebration to the season
in the Winter Olympics, the show featured drill teams,
professional dancers including ballroom dancing couples, rollerbladers and kids
in MC Hammer style pants rapping about Frosty the Snowman.
Former Olympic Champions Brian Boitano
and Dorothy Hamill skated to an equally cheesy rendition of 'One Moment in Time'.
And even singer Gloria Estefan couldn't
save the show as she performed during its finale.
Fox, which had not yet become a partner
of the NFL, saw an opportunity to make a score for themselves.
During the 1992 game,
Fox had its popular show, 'In Living Color', do a live Super Bowl spoof,
complete with a game clock so viewers could see when the second half
of the Super Bowl was going to start and switch back to CBS.
You could practically hear viewers changing channels.
Fox beating CBS's official halftime show in the ratings for the first time ever,
drawing in over 22 million viewers away from the halftime performance.
No surprise that 20-somethings
with a couple of beers in them would rather watch a show produced by Jim Carey,
than figure skaters and kids rapping about a snowman.
The NFL grasped the need to enlist big
name contemporary broad appeal artists to keep viewers from straying.
Ten years removed from the heady heights of 'Thriller' mania,
by 1993, Michael Jackson wasn't all
that contemporary, with grunge, alternative rock and hip hop ascending in popularity.
However, his multi-generational appeal and ability to consistently draw in large
television figures made him an ideal choice.
Radio City Productions, who had produced the halftime show,
attempted to court Michael Jackson to serve as the headline act by meeting
with him and his manager, Sandy Gallin in Beverly Hills.
Quote, Michael wasn't too aware of the Super Bowl.
He wasn't too aware of how big this was,
recalls Arlen Kantarian, the show's executive producer.
He just said, Why don't we call it the 'Thriller Bowl'?
We knew we were explaining this to somebody who would then have to explain
it to Michael, senior vice President of special events at the NFL,
Jim Steeg said. In subsequent meetings,
Jackson displayed a naive curiosity about a world he knew little of.
Quote, he'd ask, who plays in it?
What is it?
Kantarian said. Jackson's interest became
riveted on the Super Bowl being broadcast in more than 100 countries,
including third world nations and on United States military bases.
Quote, he said, man,
I'll never tour there, Kantarian recalled him saying.
We talked to him about the blue collar football fan that might not otherwise be
a Michael Jackson fan and about how he could build a new fan base.
He got that as well,
he was very sharp and very shy,
but understood what a big moment this could be for him.
As part of the negotiations,
Jackson's team asked for $1 million. A bargain you would think,
but the NFL did not pay its halftime
performers, a policy that remains to this day.
You've got to be kidding, Sandy Gallin said.
This is Michael Jackson!
Although the league refused to pay
appearance fees for Super Bowl halftime performers, the NFL and Frito-Lay agreed
to donate $100,000 to the Heal the World Foundation,
a charity that was founded by Jackson. As well as allocate commercial time to air
an appeal for the Foundation's 'Heal LA' campaign, which aimed to provide health
care, drug education and mentorship for Los Angeles youth,
particularly children affected by the aftermath of the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
However, Jackson's team had conditions, of course.
Michael wanted 3500 'volunteer fans'
to surround the stage, providing an MJ in concert experience rather
than a bathroom break for rich, beer drinking football fans in the stadium,
and for him to perform the newish ballad, 'Heal the World',
for the entirety of the 12 minute performance.
Kantarian said that he recalled Jackson
pushing to sing newer songs from Dangerous and not previous hits like 'Billie Jean'.
According to Kantarian, Jackson said,
quote, Billie Jean's just a tune, it doesn't mean anything.
It's a new world,
this has to be about 'Heal the World'.
However, Jackson did not win every argument,
the Super Bowl was still the Super Bowl, and producers talked him into performing
a medley of his hits 'Billie Jean', 'We Are the World', the newish 'Jam' and 'Black or
White', in addition to an elaborate show closing version of 'Heal the World'.
After it was announced that Michael Jackson would be headlining
the next Super Bowl halftime show, top brands were keen to snap up
advertising slots in hopes of the event, achieving similar viewing figures
to that of Jackson's HBO special, 'Live in Bucharest', just a few months earlier,
which broke records, becoming the channel's highest rated special ever.
One advertiser, Pepsi, planned to launch its new Michael Jackson 'I'll Be There'
commercial during 14 of the international broadcasts of the event.
In it a modern day Michael Jackson teams up with an eleven year old Michael
of the Jackson Five era, to do a reprisal of the latter's 1970 hit 'I'll Be There'.
In preparation, Jackson brought his own
band and dancers to perform on a set that weighed 12 tonnes and had to be
built quickly from 26 separate pieces without damaging the turf
for the second half.
A few days before the game,
Michael Jackson and his crew rehearsed in a tent outside the Stadium.
Quote, we all knew just by reading about
how Michael is a perfectionist, Kantarian said.
But to see how he repeated the same
choreography 12, 14, 16 times, was just incredible.
Jackson's choreographer, Vince Patterson, tried to convince him to try new moves
for the show, but MJ didn't want to complicate things.
That was one of the little points
of contention between us for that project, Patterson recalls.
I kept saying, But Michael,
we've already done this, and he kept saying, but everybody will love it.
Just days before the game and his much anticipated performance,
Michael Jackson said during a Super Bowl press conference,
quote, I can't think of a better way
to spread the message of world peace than by working with Radio City and the NFL
and by being part of Super Bowl 27. Show producer, Don Mischer, adding, quote,
It's professionally rewarding to be involved again with Michael Jackson.
I worked with Michael on the Motown 25
television special where he immortalized the moonwalk, and I know he'll give as
powerful and surprising a performance at the Super Bowl.
When January 31st,
1993 came around, and Michael Jackson finally arrived backstage at the Rose Bowl
in Pasadena, California, he was reportedly jittery.
Quote, It's the only time I ever felt
that Michael was nervous, said Jennifer Batten, his lead guitarist at the time.
Quote, Because that's a hell of a lot of pressure.
If something goes wrong, that's forever.
Michael Jackson started his halftime performance by first appearing at the top
of the stadium's two Jumbotrons, with the use of body doubles.
Michael was then catapulted from the stage
8ft into the air from a machine known as 'the toaster'. Then holding a pose in his
black and gold military jacket and sunglasses, as the crowd roared, quote,
he said, don't cue the music to start or anything else until I break my wrist.
I'm going to feel it, I'm going to feel it.
Mischer recalls, quote,
his fans are screaming, but he just doesn't give me the cue.
It got down to me saying, Come on, Michael,
Jesus Christ, it finally came down to a minute and 35 seconds.
That's like $15 million worth of advertising
time. Michael stood completely frozen and silent, bathing in anticipation
for almost two minutes before his long time guitarist got the signal to begin.
Jackson's performance included a medley
The performance also helped Jackson's album sales with 'Dangerous' rising 90
places in the album chart, seeing an 83% increase in sales and moving
21,000 copies in the United States during the week following the iconic performance.
This milestone performance not only set the record for television viewership,
Jackson's appearance also started the NFL's trend of signing top acts
to appear during the Super Bowl to attract more viewers and media interest.
In the last 30 years,
the Super Bowl halftime show has featured some of the hottest superstars and jaw
dropping performances which often garner more attention than the game itself.
Michael Jackson turned the Halftime Show into a prestige
musical event and reminded the world that he was still the superstar to beat.
It was one of the final times
Jackson was fully in command of his own image and career.
As Don Mischer recounted, quote,
he was a gentle, quiet man, but when he stepped on stage, he became a general.