Top 5 WORST Performances of the National Anthem

The anthem of the United States of America is a powerful song. It is enough to make anyone remember the pride they feel for their nation, especially when it is performed well. However, there have been times throughout recent history especially where it has been sung by celebrities who were not exactly the best choice for having perform it at public events. When this happens it detracts from the patriotic emotion we are supposed to feel and makes us instead focus on the horrible singing/performance of the one butchering it. This Independence Day we are taking a look at the five worst performances (in no particular order) of The Star Spangled Banner.

1. Roseanne Barr at Jack Murphy Stadium 1990

If you are somehow able to make it through the entire minute that this video goes on for, you my friend are made of some tough stuff. I mean, seriously. You must have ears of steel to be able to withstand Roseanne's ear grating voice, especially when she gets to the high notes of the song. You could tell she really wasn't giving a crap. It doesn't surprise me that the audience started booing in unison fairly quickly. Whoever thought it would be a good idea to let Roseanne do this must have either been drunk or had never heard music before. I feel it is a disrespect to America to have let such a travesty occur.

2. Michael Bolton at Red Sox vs. Yankees 2003

Now what makes this performance so bad isn't the fact that the singing itself is bad. Quite the contrary. Michael Bolton has a nice soulful voice. However, he stops right in the middle of the song to look at the lyrics written on his hand in the most blatant fashion imaginable. This elicits a lot of booing from the crowd, as should be expected. If you can't even memorize the words to the song, you shouldn't sing it. Even Rosanne as bad as she was at singing the song at least had the words memorized...

3. R. Kelly at Boxing Match 2005

It's ok to make the national anthem your own. It's fine to put in small personal nuances to make your performance unique. However, it is NOT ok to completely change it up by making it sound like some modern funky dance get-down kind of tune that you would shake your booty to in the club. This song is supposed to fill people with emotion and spirit. You're supposed to listen to the words and hear how powerful they are, not dance to some groove being laid down. This is another blatant disrespect to the song.

4. Kat DeLuna Dallas 2008

This isn't as painful to listen to as the Roseanne version, but it still is awful nonetheless. DeLuna tries her absolute best as a pop diva to put out the best performance she can but there are so many times throughout the song where either her voice completely cracks. She tries several impressive vocal runs, but of course she failed miserably. She just tries too hard to go above her range and it shows in the most amusing ways. It isn't the worst performance I've listened to, but DeLuna was just trying way too hard and she fell flat on her backside.

5. Hillary Clinton Iowa 2007

This one comes down to amusing circumstances. This was not meant to be an actual performance. During a visit to Iowa while running to be a candidate for presidency in 2007, her microphone clipped to her lapel picked up her singing along with everyone else in the crowd to the national anthem. This video shows that the senator clearly has no talent for singing at all whatsoever and it would probably be best if she stuck to politics.