Yesterday I was browsing through the different Super Bowl logos on wikipedia (having learned that they are standardizing the logo starting this year, rather than having a new design every time). While interesting, what was even more fascinating was the history of Super Bowl halftime performers. I never really realized that it took until the early 1990s to figure out that they could leverage the ridiculous Super Bowl audience and bring in some major entertainers.  Up until that time they usually just had a college marching band, or an old-school musician doing some Vegas-style show, or Up With People (four times!).

Check out Pete Fountain at Super Bowl XXIV*:

So gloriously quaint.

*Super Bowl XXIV: San Francisco’s ridiculous beatdown of the Broncos, 55-10. Not enough Pete Fountain in the world to salvage that.