Super Bowl XXVII halftime show

The Super Bowl XXVII halftime show took place on January 31, 1993, at the Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California, as part of Super Bowl XXVII. It featured American singer Michael Jackson. The halftime show was broadcast on NBC. This halftime performance increased the television ratings by a significant amount, and remains one of the most watched events in American television history with 133.4 million viewers.^[1]

Jackson's performance received worldwide critical acclaim, and has since been hailed as the greatest halftime show of all time. Jackson’s appearance also started the NFL's trend of signing top acts to appear during the Super Bowl to attract more viewers and interest.^[2]

Background[]

After Super Bowl XXVI, where a special episode of In Living Color, broadcast by future NFL broadcaster Fox during the game's halftime period successfully attracted viewers away from the Super Bowl telecast on CBS (with viewership falling by 22% over halftime), the NFL began the process of heightening the profile of the halftime show in an effort to attract mainstream viewers. Radio City Productions, who would produce the halftime show, attempted to court Michael Jackson to serve as the headline act by meeting with him and his manager Sandy Gallin. After three failed negotiations, including asking the NFL for a fee of $1 million, Jackson's management agreed to allow him to perform at Super Bowl XXVII.^[3][4][5]

Although the league does not 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 L.A. 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.^[6][3][7] Nine days later, Jackson would conduct a television interview with Oprah Winfrey, which garnered the highest ratings for a television interview in history.

Performance[]

Michael Jackson started his halftime performance by first appearing at the top of the stadium's two jumbotrons (using body doubles). Michael then catapults from center stage and stood completely frozen and silent for almost two minutes before his long-time guitarist Jennifer Batten began the performance.^[8] Jackson's performance included a medley consisting of "Jam" (with the beginning of "Why You Wanna Trip On Me"), "Billie Jean" and "Black or White" (includes beginning of "Another Part of Me") including the ending of Batten's guitar solo. The finale featured an audience card stunt, a video montage showing Jackson participating in various humanitarian efforts around the world, and a choir of 3,500 local Los Angeles area children singing "We Are the World", later joining Jackson as he sang his single "Heal the World" with an inflatable globe from the single's cover art.

Commercial reception[]

The halftime show was a major success, marking the first time in Super Bowl history that ratings increased between halves during the game.^[4] This performance helped Jackson's latest album Dangerous rise 90 places in the album chart.^[9] Dangerous saw a 83% increase in sales, moving 21,000 copies in the United States in the week following the Super Bowl.^[10]

Set list[]

The following songs were performed during the halftime show:

• "Jam" (includes beginning of "Why You Wanna Trip On Me")
• "Billie Jean"
• "Black or White" (includes beginning of "Another Part of Me")
• "We Are the World" (children's choir)
• "Heal the World"

References[]