Super Bowl XLV - Where Are Up With People?

It's a shame those positive, young go-getters sponsored by Halliburton, General Motors, Exxon, Searle, and others known as Up With People weren't available to perform at this year's Super Bowl Halftime Show. Instead we will be treated to a performance by a new musical combo called The Black Eyed Peas.

Can will.i.am, Fergie and friends scale the heights of Up With People's epochal performances in Super Bowls X, XIV, XVI and XX? Only time will tell. Will they be asked to perform at three more Super Bowls in order to match Up With People's record? Unlikely. Only three teams in NFL history have won as many Super Bowls as Up With People have performed Super Bowl Halftime shows (a feat they accomplished without the aid of performance enhancing drugs or Auto-Tune). 

I recently scored a copy of Up With People's 1979 masterpiece, People Are The Energy, in VG+ condition at my local Goodwill (with a copy of 1982's Encore shoved in the sleeve for good measure). Better yet, the album cover had been signed by the entire cast (or a large portion of it in any case). I'll never understand what would drive a person to drop such a valuable treasure off at Goodwill, but their poor judgment is my gain.

I suppose tastes have changed a bit since 1986 when Mike Ditka's Chicago Bears featuring Jim McMahon, Walton Payton and William "Refrigerator" Perry defeated the Raymond Berry's New England Patriots featuring Tony Eason Steve Grogan, Craig James and John Hannah by the score of 46-10. Maybe I should get with the times and learn to enjoy the music of will.i.am and crew, but I'll probably turn the volume down on my TV and rock People Are The Energy during halftime instead. Better yet, maybe I'll hook my computer up to the TV and relive the golden age of Super Bowl Halftime entertainment by treating myself to Up With People's 1986 performance of "Beat of the Future."