Source: Allen Berezovsky / Getty
As an artist, being booked to sing the Star-Spangled Banner is a huge honor. This is especially the case if the performance comes at a major sporting event. Not only are the performers tasked with setting the tone of the event, they are given the chance to put their own twist on a song that’s been famous since the 1800s.
After the song written by Thomas Carr was published country-wide and became a “wartime anthem,” the Star-Spangled Banner was played during patriotic celebrations and parades, similar to those held on Independence Day. Soon after, Benjamin J. Tracy (the Secretary of the Navy) signed General Order #374 in 1889, which declared the Star-Spangled Banner to be the song played whenever the U.S. flag was raised. Once victory was evident for the U.S. during World War I and its allies, patriotism was at an all-time high. Sporting events became the perfect place for the song to reach audiences and promote allegiance and loyalty.
When the Star-Spangled Banner began playing during seventh inning stretches of the 1918 World Series, a sports tradition was born. Since then, we have seen countless artists take on the responsibility of performing the national anthem before games. In 1991 at Super Bowl 25 in Tampa, Whitney Houston electrified the crowd and the world with one of the most memorable renditions of the song we’ve ever seen. To this day, the performance is still highly influential and you can tell when you see some of today’s artists perform the song.
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Although the goal is to leave a mark like the late Whitney Houston did, it unfortunately doesn’t always go that way. Over the years we’ve seen that there’s a lot of pressure that comes with standing in front of thousands of people and not butchering the country’s theme song.
Today (July 15th), marks a year since the MLB hosted its annual Home Run Derby. The competition was held at Globe Field in Arlington, Texas and was won by Teoscar Hernández of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Despite the competition being fierce, the internet went crazy about something else. Country music singer-songwriter Ingrid Andress was selected to deliver the anthem ahead of the night’s events. Jokes quickly began to ring out, as viewers expressed their discontent with the performance. A lot of people believed the performance was reminiscent of Fergie’s infamous 2018 NBA All-Star Game one. There were people who mentioned that the MLB was unserious for booking her and then there were some who were too busy dying of laughter to say anything at all. Here are some of the best reactions from Andress’ performance:
Considering the fact that the Home Run Derby was last night (Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners took home the crown) and it’s been a year to the day since Andress’ infamous performance, it got us to thinking. Check out a gallery of some of the worst, funniest and most confusing performances of the national anthem ever. Let us know which ones made you laugh the most and if we missed any!
