Image Credit: Paul Drinkwater/NBC

This Sunday, in the midst of the war of attrition that will be Super Bowl XLVI, Madonna will roll her ridiculously ornate stage onto the field at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis and attempt to blow some minds for eight or nine minutes.

Madonna can certainly do it; she has the requisite deep catalog of hits, a theatrical approach to performing, and enough bold-faced numbers in her iPhone to unleash some surprises. “Give Me All Your Luvin’” probably won’t get the job done on its own, though luckily she has “Vogue,” “Holiday,” “Ray of Light,” and “Like a Prayer” in her pocket.

So who will she have to eclipse to get mentioned in the greatest Super Bowl halftime performances of all time? The modern era of Super Bowl halftime shows began in 1991 with New Kids on the Block, though outside of Michael Jackson’s absurdly huge performance in 1993, the early years were somewhat lacking in spectacle.

Things get better at the end of the ’90s, but the real entry into the modern era came in 2001, when producers brought together Aerosmith, Britney Spears, *NSYNC, Mary J. Blige, and Nelly for a jam-packed over-the-top run through the current pop chart.

After the notorious Janet Jackson incident in 2004, focus shifted again, mostly to classic rockers going over their greatest hits. Some of those were terrible (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers), while others were merely underwhelming (the Who).

So who was the best? READ FULL STORY »