Watch Roseanne Barr, Christina Aguilera, and Other Singers Butcher the National Anthem
After controversy-causing Roseanne Barr invoked Roseanne 2.0’s cancellation with a racist tweet, we’ve been playing a mental highlight reel of her most offensive moments. And though the worst of it is heavily weighted, it’s safe to say that we were all offended by her dying cat rendition of the National Anthem. Of course in typical Roseanne fashion, the personality was very IDGAF about what other people thought, addressing it in an interview on The Green Room with Paul Provenza. “I care what people do,” she said. “I don’t care what they think. That’s what I’m trying to say. Let’s stop holocausts. When I did The Star Spangled Banner — let’s care about freedom, instead of symbols of freedom for a f–king change.”
…she was defending a photoshoot she did as Adolf Hitler at the time.
In aaaany case, she was not the first (and definitely not the last) singer to butcher the national anthem and get ridiculed for it. In fact, it’s happened many times throughout the years, and our ears are hurting. Check out the video above to see a compilation of the most ear-bleeding renditions we could find.
The national anthem isn’t an easy song to sing, which is why even great singers like Alicia Keys and Christina Aguilera can trip over it. “It has a lot to do with the range,” Kenneth Slowik, the Director of the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society, said back in 2014. “It’s a very wide range. Basically, the notes are very high.” His advice for a successful performance is to maybe not do jazzy reinventions of the classic song. “It’s best to be sung the way it was originally intended, that is to be sung as the Anacreontic Song,” he said. “That is to say, a traditional British Gentleman’s Club song—where you can really belt out the top.” In other words, we can’t all be Whitney Houston and it’s why sometimes people end up sounding like Fergie‘s super odd rendition of the classic tune.
Although most singers imagine doing an iconic performance that will be remembered for years, the over-singing and theatrics can sometimes spell doom for decent singers. Kat DeLuna was a rising pop star when she performed the national anthem in 2008. Fans hated her performance so much, she was actually booed afterward. If you watch the full video of her performance you can see that, while her voice isn’t that bad, her need for belting and hitting odd notes leaves much to be desired. So remember future “Star-Spangled Banner” singers: do not try to hit notes you can’t reach, try to avoid the vocal acrobatics, and definitely do not try to reinvent the wheel. We’re sure Roseanne wishes she hadn’t.
