The best Super Bowl ad of all time aired in 2004 and depicted a young Jimi Hendrix
DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) - Most people -- aside from Janet Jackson apologists and placekicker Adam Vinatieri -- wouldn't be able to remember what happened during Super Bowl XXXVIII if you asked them. Once they realized that was the wardrobe malfunction year as well as one of the Vinatieri ice-in-his-veins games, there wouldn't be much brain space left for the commercials that aired that year.
This is a quick case for a 30-second Pepsi spot that aired that year, and how it belongs in the discussion for greatest Super Bowl ad of all time.
Because of the reasons mentioned above, it's probably safe to say the Super Bowl commercials that aired in January 2004 never got their due. If the halftime show goes off without a hitch, most of Monday-after discussion is spurred by commercials companies pay millions to air. That year's halftime show was one of the most talked about in recent memory, however, and a Pepsi commercial that reimagined a young Jimi Hendrix's decision to play guitar wasn't talked about much as it likely deserved.
Not talked about on the level of Wussup, Betty White, or Terry Tate the office linebacker, anyhow.
It's a quick and uncomplicated comparison commercial that shows a fictional young Hendrix walking down a Seattle street in 1953. He's eating pizza, and needs a cola to wash down the slice. He looks across the street at a Coke machine placed near an accordion shop, and looks the other way and sees a Pepsi machine near a guitar store. After a double take Purple Haze begins to play and Jimi puts his change into the Pepsi machine.
A subtitle flashes "Whew, that was close," and the commercial closes with the Purple Haze opening riff played on accordion.
In a world of PuppyBabyMonkeys, the Hendrix commercial was simple, yet effective in all the right ways.
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