By Jake Coyle The Associated Press
NEW YORK – In the sensitive post-wardrobe malfunction world, some are questioning whether a guitar was just a guitar during Prince’s Super Bowl halftime show.
Prince’s acclaimed performance included a guitar solo during the “Purple Rain” segment of his medley in which his shadow was projected onto a large, flowing beige sheet. As the 48-year-old rock star let rip, the silhouette cast by his figure and his guitar (shaped like the singer’s symbol) had phallic connotations for some.
A number of bloggers have decried “Malfunction!” – including Sam Anderson at New York magazine’s Daily Intelligencer. Daily News television critic David Bianculli called it “a rude-looking shadow show” that “looked embarrassingly rude, crude and unfortunately placed.”
CBS spokesman Dana McClintock said yesterday the network has received “very few” complaints on Prince’s performance. CBS last aired the Super Bowl in 2004 when Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake’s “wardrobe malfunction” sparked criticism and a subsequent crackdown on broadcast decency from the Federal Communications Commission.
But this time, it was the NFL that produced the halftime show (MTV had in 2004). Spokesman Greg Aiello said the league has received no complaints.
“We respect other opinions, but it takes quite a leap of the imagination to make a controversy of his performance,” Aiello said. “It’s a guitar.”
The majority of the reaction to Prince’s performance has been laudatory, including positive reviews from The Associated Press, the New York Times and USA Today – all of which noted the lack of controversy in this year’s halftime show. AP Entertainment Writer Douglas J. Rowe wrote: “He delivered one of the best Super Bowl halftime shows – ever.”
For decades, the electric guitar, by nature, has been considered phallic. From Jimi Hendrix’s sensual 6-string swagger to Eddie Van Halen’s masturbatory soloing, the guitar has often been thought an extension of a male player’s sexuality.
