Annual Super Bowl Halftime Guessing

We skipped last year for reasons directly related to the Antichrist, audio terrorism, hyperactive and overstimulated costume designers, Autotune, lack of Autotune, bad dancing, and more.

So why are we coming back with our annual halftime musical guest set list predictions? For Madonna? Well, we certainly are struggling to post at all. And Madonna does have some songs I really like. Really.*

SIX SONGS (because Charlie set the 5-song precedent years ago and she will abuse the medleys AND because Madonna has the hits and, we all know, likes to show her hits)

1. the new song with the young blood**

2. the other new-ish song with the young-ish blood***

3. Ray of Light****

4. Vogue*****/Holiday medley

6. Music

Too many hits to ever guess. But those are my guesses and I am sort of standing kind of near to them.

* Don't Tell Me (written by a true Spike favorite– and Madonna's brother-in-law– the great Joe Henry) Music, Ray Of Light, Secret (maybe? ack, I can't decide if I hate it or love it), Take A Bow, What It Feels Like For A Girl, Crazy For You (maybe? again. ack.), Die Another Day, Lucky Star (ACK!), Beautiful Stranger, and how did this list get so long suddenly? I don't even own an album. Or a song, for that matter, in this disposable digital download day. But I wouldn't change the station on most of these.

** Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. are for cred, legacy, broader viewership, and– as always with the Material Girl– spectacle.

*** Justin Timberlake and Timbaland. Is Madonna really gone share 2 of her maybe 4-5 songs with FOUR other people? I kind of don't think so, but who cares?

**** Lenny Kravitz played guitar with her at some awards show once for this song. My guess is that she pulls out her famous ex-"friend" Dennis Rodman for this one.

***** And while the exes are coming out, Sean Penn comes and strikes some poses. Seems like a thing he'd do.

Toilet Bowl Halftime Show

This should be the post where Spike and I try and guess the setlist of the Old Rock n' Roller during the halftime show of the Super Bowl. I got excited to make my predictions until I remembered that a.)there will be no rock n roll during the world's largest bathroom break and b.) I don't know enough Black Eyed Peas songs to even attempt an entire setlist (unless you can include "seductive dancing in a mini skirt" as a song). And lets face it, even if I did guess I would probably be 100% right because they will play the two songs everyone knows and then stretch it into a 15 minute crapshow.

I do think everyone will be a little more excited for a knee slide into the camera if it happens again this year.

Who Scorecard

Well, after gloating about last year's minor victory, it's only fair that I concede to Charlie T for his Halftime Music Guess win this year. The medleys killed me; I had suspected they might give snippets of some songs, but not to the degree they did. I should've read this. No Springsteenian crotch slide, no wardrobe malfunctions (if you don't count the shots of Pete Townshend's midriff), some windmills, and a lot of Pete Townshend Not Trying To Pretend He's Ever Been Capable of Glossy Which Spike Totally Dug. The actual results:

Pinball Wizard (a verse and a chorus, at most)
Baba O'Riley (yes, they shortened the intro and outro, but they still gave this one a whole chunk of their time)
Who Are You? (totally blindsided TBC)
See Me, Feel Me (what?????)
Won't Get Fooled Again

Charlie T.'s Picks
(3/5, but WRONG about order and WRONG about only song from Tommy. I just wanted to write wrong in all-caps twice. See my pick results for the reason why.)
(I've decided that 5 songs is the magic number)
1. Baba O'Riley
2. Pinball Wizard
3. We Won't Get Fooled Again
4. My Generation
5. I Can See For Miles


Spike's Picks
(2/5 and a big fat slap on the wrist for not trusting my Baba O'Riley instincts.)
1. My Generation
2. Pinball Wizard
3. The Seeker
4. Magic Bus
5. Won't Get Fooled Again

Oh, and the Saints won. Can we just place a moratorium on Who Dat? Please?

I Don't Need To Fight, To Prove I'm Right

The easiest marriage between sports and music is the Halftime Show at the Super Bowl. Thanks to some great artists getting picked to perform in the last few years, Spike and I have remained interested in the TV during the World's Largest Bathroom Break.

Last year we limited all our wagering to Springsteen's Set List. This resulted in varying degrees of success, or me getting lit up by Spike like a receiver trying to make a catch over the middle. With any luck, my guessing of this year's set list will yield better results.

Charlie T.'s Picks
(I've decided that 5 songs is the magic number)
1. Baba O'Riley (how can they not open with this great intro?)
2. Pinball Wizard (sadly the only song I think they'll play off of Tommy)
3. We Won't Get Fooled Again
4. My Generation
5. I Can See For Miles

I think it happens in that order. The only way it could deviate is if they swap Baba O'Riley and I Can See For Miles.

As a side prop bet, I am taking the over on Townshend Windmill Strums (+/- 25)

Spike's Picks
OK, Charlie, I'll fall in line and follow you down the 5-song path. As a lifelong Who fan (my band covered "The Seeker", "Substitute", "Behind Blue Eyes" [better than Durst, don't worry], and "Baba O'Riley"), one who has owned at least four of the 675 different "Greatest Hits" albums.* The Who are harder to pick than Springsteen because their catalog is bursting with more upbeat anthemic rockers than The Boss has. Here are my picks:

1. My Generation- a classic, a rocker, and it's short.
2. Pinball Wizard- Charlie T. & I agree: this is a perfect second song. People will go ape when that intro starts up.
3. The Seeker- My dark horse. As long as he doesn't pull a Springsteen and change up the words like, "I asked Bobby Dylan, I asked The Shwami, I asked Bill Belichick and he couldn't help me either...", we'll be just fine. A solid rocker. And it's short.
4. Magic Bus- I'm inclined to agree with Charlie T. on "Baba O'Riley" (maybe my favorite Who song), but I'm feeling like a gambling man today. I was gonna go with "Join Together," but it's more obscure. My only worry is that it has a lot in common with "The Seeker."
5. Won't Get Fooled Again- Another song that will require some creative condensing, there's no following this song up. Like I said last year about "Born To Run," if you're smart (Bruce wasn't. Sorry, he wasn't.), you don't try to follow up epic. Especially if it involves a contrived gospel choir behind you. Also, if Daltrey does it right, the all-time epic scream should leave him appropriately voiceless.

I'll miss The Ox and Keith for sure. But so will everybody.












*Honestly, how many are there? I really owned at least four different tapes- Who's Greatest Hits, Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy, The Ultimate Who, and one other- all different track listings, probably different record companies. It's insane.)