In 2014, Bruno Mars was set to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show. Ahead of his performance, he announced the Red Hot Chili Peppers would be joining him on stage.
Rock N’ Roll Shunned by the Super Bowl
Rock & Roll seems to have been shunned for several years by the Super Bowl, relying more on Top 40 acts. The last time a real rock band performed at the show was in 2010. The Who performed and the performance was met with a lukewarm response.
During rehearsals for the 2014 performance, Bruno Mars and the NFL were having conflicts over the singer’s planned performance. The NFL wanted to show the audience wearing light-up bracelets. Mars responded by saying, “If you take that camera off me, you’re doing yourself a disservice.”
Apparently, the budget for the whole performance was around $5 million. The setlist featured a total of about 7 songs with the first 5 songs being Mars’s own tracks.
For the sixth song, the Red Hot Chili Peppers came out to perform their 1991 hit, “Give It Away” from their album Blood Sugar Sex Magik.
Red Hot Chili Peppers Receive Harsh Criticism
There was one problem, the Super Bowl has been known to have halftime acts perform to pre-recorded tracks. The Red Hot Chili Peppers were no different. While Mars’ performance received positive reviews in the days that followed, the Red Hot Chili Peppers got slammed hard by fellow musicians, the press and fans.
Before we address the controversy about the band miming their performance, one story went under the radar. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) would receive numerous complaints about the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ performance over some of the band members being shirtless on stage while kids were watching.
According to Spin.com, the FCC received a total of 53 complaints, mostly having to do with excess flesh.
In my opinion, it’s a ridiculous argument saying that the Red Hot Chili Peppers performance is a bad influence on kids. The NFL has no moral authority. They are sponsored by liquor companies with ads using sex and alcohol. The game is pretty violent and players get brain damage from it. I don’t really see how it’s a good influence on kids.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers performance controversy stemmed from fans on social media. Bassist Flea and guitarist Josh Klinghoffer didn’t have their instruments plugged into anything.
Red Hot Chili Peppers Accused of Faking Performance
They were also accused of faking their performances. Drummer Chad Smith responded on Twitter to the controversy several days after the performance, “FYI, every band in the last 10 years at the Superbowl has performed to a previously recorded track. It’s the NFL’s policy, period.”
“…We take our music playing seriously…” – Flea
A few days after the performance, bassist Flea released a lengthy statement addressing the controversy, “When we were asked by the NFL and Bruno to play our song and give it away at the Super Bowl, it was made clear to us that the vocals would be live but the bass drums and guitar would be pre-recorded.
I understand the NFL’s stance on this, given they only have a few minutes to set up the stage… The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ stance on any sort of miming is that we will absolutely not do it… We take our music playing seriously and it is a sacred thing for us, we play from our heart. We improvise spontaneously, take musical risks and sweat blood at every show. We have been on the road for 31 years doing it.”
He would go on to say, “So when the Super Bowl gig concept came up, there was a lot of confusion amongst us as to whether or not we should do it but we eventually decided and it was a surreal like once-in-a-lifetime crazy thing to do and it was just fun to do it. We had given this a lot of thought before agreeing to do it and besides many, a long conversation amongst ourselves. I spoke with many musician friends for whom I have the utmost respect and they all said they would do it if asked.”
Flea went on to explain how they actually did the performance saying, “We recorded a track for the day, just bang, went out from our hearts. That was very like in the spirit of the versions we’ve been playing live for the last few years with our beloved Josh on guitar.”
“For the actual performance, Josh, Chad and I were playing along with the pre-recorded track. So, there was no need to plug in our guitars so we did not. Could we have plugged them in and avoided bumming people out who have expressed disappointment that the instrumental track was pre-recorded? Of course, easily we could have done this and it would have been a non-issue.
“We thought it was better not to pretend and it seemed like the realest thing to do in the circumstance.” – Flea
We thought it was better not to pretend and it seemed like the realest thing to do in the circumstance. It was like making a music video in front of a gazillion people except with live vocals and only one chance to rock it. Our only thought was to bring the spirit of who we are to the people.”
Guns N’ Roses’ frontman Axl Rose defended the band in a statement, “I enjoyed the show and I have no idea what the real story is nor would I want to suggest or imply anyone wasn’t actually performing or what they were playing wasn’t what we actually heard. That said, I feel it’s important to always look on the positive side of things and to give the benefit of the doubt.”
My opinion on the whole thing is that I don’t really fault the Red Hot Chili Peppers for miming their performance. Typically, bands see a huge spike in record sales following their performances at the halftime show and ticket sales also go up for their upcoming concerts.
It’s also a great way to get your name out there and introduce people to rock who maybe wouldn’t be into the genre.
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