Friday, February 1, 2008

Halftime Opening Song: "Learning to Fly" vs. "American Girl" WHO YA GOT?


It's the duty of all Super Bowl organizers to find long-in-the-tooth, formerly respectable artists and make them play their most anodyne hits for the overexcited nitwits on the field and the bored drunk people at home. That didn't stop Prince from rocking shit last year, but how will Tom Petty fare? Got something upbeat? That's going in the playlist. Something about America, or at least has the words "America" or "American" in the title? You beat your hippie ass you're playing that. But which will be first? WHO YA GOT?

Contestants

"Learning to Fly"_______"American Girl"

Recorded

1991_________1976

Song actually about

Drugs___________Girls from America who enjoy drugs

Length comparison

1.0 = .891

Present day use

Movie trailers__________Car commericials

Allmusic.com pretention

LtF: "It's pleasant but never really goes anywhere -- up or down -- but it's solid"

AG: "Guitarist Mike Campbell reels off a simple solo that develops into a rapid-fire arpeggio as the song makes its quick fade. It's over before it starts, really -- clean, simple, that's its appeal."

TV analyst mostly likely to dislike it

Bradshaw, who doesn't like learning___Joe Buck, who doesn't like girls

Finishing Move

Hairy nip slip______Playing some shitty single off a new album



22 comments:

Grimey said...

What kind of odds will you give me for Running Down a Dream?

futuremrsrickankiel said...

Anodyne = best Uncle Tupelo album by far

/is hippie; smokes weed

smurphette said...

American Girl is featured in my second favorite movie of all time - Silence of the Lambs - so the choice is easy. The old cripple-loading-the-van trick. Gets the fatties every time.

And having Prince for the halftime show the year my team finally won? That was the tits.

mamacita said...

Can we vote for Pink Floyd's "Learning to Fly?"

swing4 said...

Smurphette beat me to it. I also think of the van abduction scene in SotL whenever I hear American Girl. Is that something only women noticed?

JakesAlterEgo said...

Nope. Guys everywhere added it to our "Abduct and Torture Fat Chicks" playlist. We just don't like to bring it up before the actual grab.

Paul Hodge said...

Tom Petty's new album is surprisingly solid. That being said, fuck the Patriots.

Chris(BessMervinGirlDetective) said...

@Grimey - Beat me too it. Of course I would take Listen to Her Heart as well.

Josh said...

"American Girl" is the song The Strokes ripped off for "Last Night," so it wins.

Otto Man said...

American Girl is featured in my second favorite movie of all time - Silence of the Lambs - so the choice is easy.

If you've never had the fortune of hearing the Greenskeepers' song "Lotion," it's a catchy-as-hell tune sung from the perspective of Buffalo Bill.

Do yourself a favor and check out the video.

Upstate Underdog said...

Learn to Fly, Foo Fighters > Learning to Fly, Petty

SlideShow Bob said...

play Free Bird!

Otto Man said...

I should add that the "Lotion" video is very mildly NSFW. It's a synched up to clips from "Silence of the Lambs" and that includes a little bit of the Precious Dance at the very end.

But seriously, good luck getting that song out of your head.

Leaking Geek said...

Dedicated to the Giants (unfortunately): Even the Losers...

Stephen said...

Aren't those just the cutest little YouTubes!

MyBoysAreMyLife said...

Can we vote for Pink Floyd's "Learning to Fly?"

Ab-so-fuckin-lutely!!!

Hercules Rockefeller said...

That's frickin' awesome, otto. Thanks for the tip.

smurphette said...

@otto: Good stuff, thanks :)

Ben said...

Opener--American Girl
Closer--Running Down a Dream

Loooong Odds--Mary Jane's Last Dance

I've been taking prop bets all week on this. It's definitely going to be the most anticipated part of the game at the party I'm going to, which is probably sad.

Otto Man said...

My pleasure, folks.

Barney said...

I want Prince to have 5 Superbowl rings. Could somebody get to work on that?

Last year, just at the moment where he's playing PURPLE RAIN ***IN*** the purple fucking rain - on his personal symbol dick-guitar a girl asked me "how was he not being electrocuted?" and I said, "no honey, that's the awesome beauty of this. He actually IS being electrocuted. It just makes him play guitar better. He's motherfucking Prince!"

Gay enough?

- Barney

BeckEye said...

I'm going off the board for "The Waiting." Y'know, 'cause waiting through halftime to get back to the game really is the hardest part. Unless you really have to pee or make a beer run, then you're glad for it.

To leaking geek - that's my favorite Petty song and I thought that he should sing that for the Giants too. Because even the losers get lucky sometimes and even the cheating douchebags have to slip up at some point.