I’m not a great singer. At all. Just ask my novitiate’s choir director, Keith Maczkiewicz, SJ. Thus, I acknowledge that this #tbt might be interpreted as a very black pot calling many a kettle black.
That being the case… Ho. Lee. ^%$#@
That is “America’s Most Patriotic Rock Band,” Madison Rising. They performed the national anthem before NASCAR’s Nationwide Series race at Daytona this past weekend. If you watched and listened to the entire video, then you probably knocked 500-600 years off of purgatory. Part of me was outraged that the singer held over his chest a folded flag, a symbol that speaks to me of our veterans who died to for the freedoms of speech and religion that this site takes full advantage of. But then part of me (mostly my jaw) was left hanging and wondering what I had just heard. I found out I wasn’t alone:
@BobbyBigWheel Nikolai Volkoff is surely singing the Russian anthem later, right?
— Greg (@gjantz77) February 23, 2014
@FormulaOneWorld That Was Awful!
— the_tony (@the_tony) February 23, 2014
But is Madison Rising’s the worst rendition of the national anthem? Deadspin, USA today, and Huffington Post all seem to think so. You debate and decide in the combox below. But first, check out these three classics I’ve included below just to get us started, but Lord knows that there exist many, many other flawed renditions.
There’s Roseanne Barr, who really didn’t seem to care…
Then there’s Carl Lewis, who stopped and tried to regroup…
We can’t forget Christina Aguilera, although she did forget the words…
******
American flag image via Flickr Creative Commons user Bristol Motor Speedway and Dragway, found here.