With the AFL and NRL Grand Finals this weekend we thought we’d look back at some of the halftime entertainment in previous years. What we found was a disaster zone of failed performances, not only in Australia but around the world. Enjoy the carnage.


So apparently this is in Holland, where they thought it would be funny to get the worst contenders on their version of American Idol and have them sing at a soccer match. Watch and enjoy the caterwauling.


Organisers invited Ashlee Simpson to perform at the Orange Bowl, the final for American college football. The result? She struggles through 3 minutes of something that sounds vaguely like singing before being booed off stage.


This performance by Angry Anderson at the 1991 AFL Grand Final would go down in history. It’s probably one of the biggest cultural embarrassments ever. Who seriously thought it would be a good idea to parade him around in what looks like the Batmobile painted with an Australian flag?


There’s an important lesson here to whoever decided it would be a good idea to get a Kiwi to sing the Australian anthem in the ultimate bloodmatch between the two nations: Rugby’s Bledisloe Cup. The results speak for themselves.


Here’s a snippet from Jet’s pre-match performance at the 2007 AFL Grand Final. Due to the conditions in the stadium, all bands are required to look like they’re playing when actually a backing track is doing all the heavy lifting. So what happens when the track starts to crap out? Watch and enjoy.


Organisers of the 1986 NRL Grand Final enlisted some of the stars of Neighbours – including Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, and Guy Pearce – to sing the national anthem. The result is ear-gougingly good (re: bad) and if you aren’t wincing, the players in this clip certainly are.


Hire has-been sitcom star Roseanne to sing the American national anthem at the US Superbowl? What could possibly go wrong?


This just wasn’t Michael Bolton’s day. Not only is he horribly out of time but he isn’t exactly subtle when he forgets the words and has to check the notes he wrote on his hand. The crowd? Noticeably unimpressed.


Maybe that KFC sponsorship wasn’t such a good idea after all.


Who could forget Meat Loaf’s AFL Grand Final flop? As the bug-eyed lung-belter gave a wacky, off-key, butchered version of his beloved rock classics. Major ouch.

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