Source: Allen Berezovsky / Getty
As an artist, being booked to sing the Star-Spangled Banner is a huge honor. This is especially the case if the performance comes at a major sporting event. Not only are the performers tasked with setting the tone of the event, they are given the chance to put their own twist on the song that’s been famous since the 1800s.
After the song written by Thomas Carr was published country-wide and became a “wartime anthem,” the Star-Spangled Banner was played during patriotic celebrations and parades, similar to those held on Independence Day. Soon after, Benjamin J. Tracy (the Secretary of the Navy) signed General Order #374 in 1889, which declared the Star-Spangled Banner to be the song played whenever the U.S. flag was raised. Once victory was evident for the U.S. during World War I and its allies, patriotism was at an all-time high. Sporting events became the perfect place for the song to reach audiences and promotes allegiance and loyalty.
When the Star-Spangled Banner began playing during seventh inning stretches of the 1918 World Series, a sports tradition was born. Since then, we have seen countless artists take on the responsibility of performing the national anthem before games. In 1991 at Super Bowl 25 in Tampa, Whitney Houston electrified the crowd and the world with one of the most memorable renditions of the song we’ve ever seen. To this day, the performance is still highly influential and you can tell when you see some of today’s artists perform the song.
Although the goal is to leave a mark like the late Whitney Houston did, it unfortunately doesn’t always go that way. Over the years we’ve seen that there’s a lot of pressure that comes with standing in front of thousands of people and not butchering the country’s theme song. Sunday (October 29), video surfaced of hip-hop legend Flavor Flav performing the national anthem at a Milwaukee Bucks game and the internet went crazy. Some viewers noted how unserious the organization was for booking the 64 year-old. Other couldn’t even make a statement because they were too busy dying of laughter. Then there were those who felt like Flav did his thing and people were being too hard on him.
The reaction to Flavor Flav’s performance got us thinking. Check out a gallery of some of the worst, funniest and most confusing performances of the national anthem ever. Let us know which ones made you laugh the most and if we missed any.
