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Before the Super Bowl halftime show became a cultural event, it was often treated like filler. Sometimes it was civic pride. Sometimes it was branding. Sometimes it was just a bad idea that somehow made it through every meeting in the room.
This list isn’t about dunking on performers doing their best. It’s about moments when the biggest stage in American sports clearly didn’t know what it wanted halftime to be yet.
Here are the ten that missed it the most. Also, be sure to check out the Top 20 Super Bowl halftime shows.
1. KaleidoSUPERscope
Super Bowl 17
Nothing else comes close. This wasn’t confusing in a bold way or strange in a memorable way. It was just noise. Color for the sake of color. Movement without meaning. A halftime show that felt like a corporate morale video accidentally aired to millions.
There was no star, no hook, no emotional anchor. Just a blur of activity that somehow managed to be both overwhelming and forgettable. Designed by Bob Jani, whose résumé includes genuinely beloved Disney attractions, such as the Main Street Ekextrical Parade, this stands as a reminder that even great creatives can miss badly.
2. Up With People “Salute to the 1960s”
Super Bowl 16
Even in its own moment, this felt dated. The optimism was relentless. The smiles were nonstop. And none of it matched the energy of a championship football game.
It played like a pep rally that didn’t realize the audience had already moved on. The Super Bowl was beginning to understand its scale. Halftime, in this case, clearly wasn’t. Earnest doesn’t always mean effective, and this one showed the gap clearly.
3. Winter Is Magic
Super Bowl 26
This was basically an ad. Not even a subtle one. With the Winter Olympics just weeks away, halftime turned into a full-blown promotional showcase built around skating, ceremony, and winter pageantry.
The talent involved, including Brian Boitano and Dorothy Hamill, gave it credibility, but the theme was wildly specific and completely detached from the game itself. It felt more like a tourism broadcast than a halftime show. Overproduced, overly serious, and oddly fascinating in retrospect. Bad, but memorable in a way that sticks.
4. Elvis Presto
Super Bowl 23
Maybe the most WTF moment in halftime history. An Elvis impersonator on the Super Bowl stage is one of those ideas that probably sounded fun in a meeting. It did not translate. This felt like a halftime act meant for somewhere else that wandered onto the biggest broadcast of the year.
More: How HBCU marching bands built the Super Bowl halftime show before the stars arrived
5. Indiana Jones featuring Tony Bennett and Patti LaBelle
Super Bowl 29
This one is frustrating because parts of it actually worked. Vocally, it was excellent. The singing was polished, professional, and powerful.
Everything around it was chaos. The Indiana Jones theme swallowed the performances whole, leaving viewers unsure what they were supposed to be watching. It felt like a classy concert trapped inside a halftime show that couldn’t settle on an identity.
6. Michigan Marching Band “Happiness Is”
Super Bowl 7
This was just flat. Especially when you consider that halftime had already featured far more energetic performances from Grambling State, Southern, and Florida A&M in earlier Super Bowls.
By comparison, this felt sleepy. Polite when it needed punch. It didn’t rise to the moment or the scale of the stage.
7. Up With People
Super Bowl 20
If this game weren’t already iconic for everything that happened on the field, this halftime show might be remembered much more harshly.
The enthusiasm was aggressive. The music was relentless. And the now infamous “Beat of the Future” somehow managed to feel outdated the moment it aired. History saved it. The performance itself did not.
Don't click on the link. That song will be stuck in your head all day and you will be hate me for it.
More: Shedeur Sanders gives revealing interview ahead of Super Bowl
8. Up With People “Bicentennial Celebration”
Super Bowl 10
Yes, they’re back. Again.
There were a few genuinely nice moments, including a solid rendition of America the Beautiful. The intentions were sincere. Unfortunately, sincerity only carries you so far. “Someday she's gonna be a quite a lady” referring to Lady Liberty is beyond cringe. Patriotic in theory. Stiff in execution.
9. Maroon 5
Super Bowl 53
This one hurt because expectations were real. Instead, the result was safe, flat, and oddly forgettable.
Nothing was offensively bad. That might be the problem. For a modern halftime show on a massive stage, it never demanded attention or a second viewing. Atlanta deserved more. The moment never arrived.
10. Texas Longhorn Band with Miss Texas
Super Bowl 8
This halftime show took place at Rice Stadium and leaned hard into regional flavor. The Texas Longhorn Band, Miss Texas on fiddle, and a theme titled “A Musical America” made it one of the more unusual choices in Super Bowl history.
Honestly, I don't know what's going on here. The only footage I could find looks like it was filmed on a potato.
There’s something charming about it in hindsight. But charm doesn’t always translate to television. A reminder that the Super Bowl didn’t always know what halftime was supposed to be.
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