Entertainment

Super Bowl halftime shows have come a long way since the days when Hello, Dolly! star Carol Channing passed for boffo entertainment. In recent years, the show has attracted music's top names, from Michael Jackson (in '93) to Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, who'll perform a 12-minute set on Sunday that's sure to include "American Girl." But not everyone scores at halftime: Here are the best and worst performances in recent memory.

1. U2, 2002

Bono and the lads reminded us just how powerful rock 'n' roll can be with their post-Sept. 11 performance of "Where the Streets Have No Name." As the Edge played the song's hypnotic guitar part, the victims' names appeared on a backdrop that scrolled to the heavens while a silent Bono opened his coat to reveal an American flag sewn inside. Years earlier, he said "Streets" was "a song about transcendence." On this night, you knew exactly what he meant.

2. PRINCE, 2007

Back before he sank to self-parody, Prince was one of rock's most provocative artists. For 10 minutes, His Royal Badness reclaimed his title with a furious performance in the middle of a rainstorm. Jumping wildly from his own hits to songs by Bob Dylan and the Foo Fighters, he ended the set as a giant silhouette stroking his glyph-shaped guitar. Prudes later complained he was too sexually suggestive, which is sort of like complaining that Tom Brady throws too many touchdown passes.

3. ROLLING STONES, 2006

Paul McCartney lip-synced the year before, but the Stones were having none of that as they barreled through a warts-and-all garage-rock version of "Satisfaction": "Here's one we could have done at Super Bowl I," said the 60-something Mick Jagger. Censors turned down his mike during a risqué lyric in "Start Me Up," but they couldn't squelch his manic energy: He sprinted across the lip-shaped stage like a 12-year-old after eight Red Bulls.

1. JANET JACKSON AND JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, 2004

Was it really a "wardrobe malfunction"? Or did Janet actually plan on playing peek-a-boo with 100 million people? Either way, her infamous flashdance ended an otherwise unremarkable show filled with blatant lip-syncing, overwrought dancing and Justin's pale imitation of Michael Jackson.

2. AEROSMITH, 'N SYNC, OTHERS, 2001.

The show began with a witty clip of Ben Stiller teaching 'N Sync how to dance, but it all went south after that. Aerosmith opened with "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing' – a song so hokey Celine Dion turned it down – and ended with a limp "Walk This Way" featuring 'N Sync and Britney Spears. Steven Tyler and company sold their souls years earlier, but after this show, the devil asked for a refund.

3. PHIL COLLINS, CHRISTINA AGUILERA AND OTHERS, 2000.

Good luck trying not to laugh during this ponderous ode to the new millennium. It's a toss-up which was worse: The sappy songs, the giant walking puppets, or narrator Edward James Olmos intoning "Behold ... the gateway of time has opened!"