As football fans across the nation prepare once again for the Super Bowl, other viewers tune in to critique the commercials, while still more are engaged in debates about the halftime show lineup. Members of all these groups are also likely have strong opinions about the greatest halftime show ever.
I’ve browsed through lists and polls and heated debates about past halftime shows. Since this is Black Music Sunday, I went back with a focus on past Black halftime performances from multiple genres. I re-watched Latinos’ performances too, since much of the music performed was rooted in Afro-Latin culture.
I’ll be honest: I kept returning to the amazing contributions of marching bands from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) over the years. One of them kicked off and high-stepped at the very first Super Bowl, though it wasn’t called that until 1969, on Jan.15, 1967, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Black Music Sunday is a weekly series highlighting all things Black music. With over 145 stories (and counting) covering performers, genres, history, and more, each featuring its own vibrant soundtrack, I hope you’ll find some familiar tunes and perhaps an introduction to something new.
The Black HBCU marching band that had first Super Bowl halftime show honors was from Louisiana’s Grambling State University; that appearance propelled them to national fame.
For those of you not familiar with Grambling, or its history, here’s a brief synopsis from the school’s website:
Grambling State University opened on November 1, 1901 as the Colored Industrial and Agricultural School. It was founded by the North Louisiana Colored Agriculture Relief Association, organized in 1896 by a group of African-American farmers who wanted to organize and operate a school for African Americans in their region of the state.
In response to the Association’s request for assistance, Tuskegee Institute’s Booker T. Washington sent Charles P. Adams to help the group organize an industrial school. Adams became its founding president.
In 1905, the school moved to its present location and was renamed the North Louisiana Agricultural and Industrial School. By 1928, after becoming a state junior college and being renamed the Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute, the school began to award two-year professional certificates and diplomas. In 1936, the curriculum emphasis shifted to rural teacher education; students were able to receive professional teaching certificates after completing a third academic year. The first baccalaureate degree was awarded in 1944, in elementary education.
The Tiger Marching Band didn’t get started until 1926, when Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones, then a professor there, formed the group at the request of the college president. Emerson Jones would go on to serve as president for more than four decades.
The Tigers got their “first big break” nearly 40 years later, when they were invited to San Diego for the 1964 American Football League’s championship game. As the band’s website explains:
Since transportation wasn’t provided, President R.W.E. Jones paid for charted buses out of his own pocket. The investment paid off on an almost unbelievable scale as invitations began pouring in from across the country. News media personnel labeled the unit, "The band That Never Gets Tired." San Diego Union reporters jumped on the Tiger band wagon. Excerpts from their stories follow:
"If you want to know what many people thought of Grambling’s band, here’s what one of the hundreds who watched the bandsmen enter their buses after the game said. ‘ That band looked better getting on the bus than most bands do on the field."
"The band was the best musical group to perform in San Diego at an AFL game."
"The Chargers knew they had to be great if they were to prevent the Grambling College band from stealing the show."
"The fast-stepping, 104-piece unit provided pre-game and halftime entertainment that was every bit as effective as the Chargers."
Following the game, Grambling put on a concert at Lincoln High of San Diego.
Three years later, the Tigers would join the overwhelmingly white University of Arizona band for what was the first Super Bowl, but then known as the AFL-NFL World Championship Game. The band has gone on to play a stunning six Super Bowls in all, more than any other college band.
Last year, the school published an extensive story that includes interviews with members of the band during what we now think of as Super Bowl I.
Willie Hill was the drum major leading the Grambling band on the field that afternoon and realized they truly were playing the role of “gamechanger” even during the civil rights movement.
“We collaborated with other black bands all the time,” Hill, who in 2019 retired from his job as Director of the Fine Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, told ESPN in 2004. “But here’s an all-white band from Arizona. It was a different twist to what we were accustomed to. We had to make sure we were hot stuff.”
[...]
“We had already played pro games before — we were used to that,” [sophomore baritone player Duke Ellington] Fields said. “It was just another show for us. Most people think, wow, they played the first Super Bowl. But that really didn’t have any meaning at the time because it had never happened before. That was the first one, so it didn’t have any kind of effect on us. We always did what we had to do, so we did. Do a top rate show, that’s it. We were like conquerors. We win. That’s what we do.”
The Grambling State World Famed Tiger Marching Band, as it’s known, also posted this four-minute documentary about their contributions to the 1967 Super Bowl for Black History Month 2022.
In 1981, the Tigers gained even more fame when Coca-Cola featured them in an ad showcasing the deep exertion of the musicians’ work. It was broadcast nationwide.
Grambling State last played the Super Bowl halftime show in 1998, during an epic 40th anniversary tribute to Motown. The Tigers played alongside artists like The Temptations, Martha Reeves, Smokey Robinson, Boyz II Men, and Queen Latifah. Here’s a small snippet:
Check out the Tigers’ powerful 2021 welcome video to new band members, created at a time when the world, the nation, and schools alike were desperately grasping for some return to normalcy after a year-and-a-half battling COVID-19. The musicians may wear masks, but the video promises that the band will indeed play on.
I talked about my introduction to HBCU bands in 2021:
My parents moved us to our first HBCU campus, Maryland State, (now University of Maryland Eastern Shore) when I was 4. Later, when I was 9, we relocated to Southern University in Baton Rouge, which had a very well-known marching band … and I got to be a baby majorette
The Southern University Jaguars are another of the famous HBCU marching bands that have multiple Super Bowl halftime performances under their belt: three, so far. The band has been dubbed “The Human Jukebox” due to their commitment to playing music from as many genres as possible.
This fascinating 2010 PBS documentary explores the founding of Southern University, which initially taught students whose parents had been enslaved, and the role the band has played in students’ lives over the years.
All in all, three top HBCU bands (the Florida A&M University band, aka the FAMU Marching 100, is the third) have played at multiple Super Bowl halftimes over the years.
1967 Grambling State University
1968 Grambling State University
1969 Florida A&M University
1970 Southern University
1975 Grambling State University
1980 Grambling State University
1981 Southern University
1987 Grambling State University
1990 Southern University
1998 Grambling State University, with Motown
2007 Florida A&M University, at Prince’s request
2012 Southern’s Dancing Dolls joined Madonna, who found them on YouTube
Yet another HBCU marching band made history last Sunday by winning two Grammys!
Tennessee State University Aristocrat of Bands is all about making history.
TSU was the first HBCU to appear on national television during the 1955 Rams vs. Bears NFL game halftime show. It was also the first HBCU to perform at the Presidential Inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961.
Now, it is also the first collegiate band to be nominated and to win the highest award in the music industry.
TSU won for Best Roots Gospel Album for The Urban Hymnal, and for their collaboration on the best-spoken word album: The Poet Who Sat by The Door, with spoken word artist and poet J. Ivy
Watch this unfettered joy as the Best Roots Gospel Album award is announced: First, the students are excited just to hear their band’s name on national television, among the other nominees.
And then, they quiet just in time to hear “And the Grammy goes to ...” Their emotions are contagious.
Give this song from their winning album a listen.
HBCU bands and their epic battles are also the subject of The Road to Houston: Preparing to Battle, a just-released documentary I haven’t seen yet, but look forward to tracking down in its limited release.
The film tracks eight bands as they fight for a 2022 spot in the national battle.
The film features exclusive interviews and takes audiences through the journey of the band members and directors as they prepared to travel to Houston to perform in front of 55,000 fans at NRG Stadium last August. From preparation to dedication and execution, this film gives a unique perspective on the hard work and sacrifice that goes into creating the performances fans look forward to witnessing during football halftimes, homecoming parades and the coveted battle of the bands.
“From powerful interviews to exclusive band camp and live performance footage, this film promises to be an emotional and inspiring trip into what it takes for these Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) band programs and their talented musicians to prepare for one of America’s largest marching band events,” says Derek Webber, executive producer & CEO of Webber Marketing. “We hope the film will inspire others to appreciate and support the art of marching band and the rich cultural heritage of HBCU bands.”
If this was your first introduction to HBCUs and their unique and legendary bands, I hope you’ve learned a little bit of Black history.
But what about those other halftime show musical performers? When it comes to the best-ever, I’m tied between Michael Jackson in 1993, and Prince (famously singing “Purple Rain” in the rain) in 2007.
It’s worth pointing out that the Super Bowl halftime show wasn’t always an epic mini-concert that sometimes draws more viewers than the game itself. That tradition was forged in 1993, by the one and only King of Pop.
The NFL has restricted embedding of its documentary on Jackson’s performance (though you can and should watch it on YouTube). Yet in this 12-minute video from the detail., which bills itself as “The Michael Jackson Documentary Channel,” covers both the “unhip” lineups that followed the marching bands of the 1960s and ‘70s, and the utter failure of 1992 that ultimately led to MJ changing the game … forever.
As for the Purple One on the first-ever rainy Super Bowl Sunday? Check out this NFL-produced documentary on Prince’s 2007 performance. His solo bounced from hits to covers and back again—and in a nod to history, the performance prominently featured an HBCU marching band: FAMU’s Marching 100, their bodies and instruments wrapped in light tape to make their on-field performance as visible as possible.
You can (and should) watch Prince’s full performance here.
Join me in the comments to discuss your favorite Super Bowl performances and performers (Editors’ Note: We’re pretty partial to 2022!), and even more HBCU marching band performances!
Remember: You don’t have to be a football fan to love the music!