If you caught the opening of last night's Patriots vs. Ravens NFL playoff game, you know that Steven Tyler is the latest celebrity to sing a less-than-perfect rendition of the National Anthem. The American Idol judge missed some of the lyrics -- not to mention plenty of the notes -- in the iconic song, singing, "as bombs bursting in air" versus "the bombs bursting in air" and "oh the land of the free" rather than "o'er the land of the free." Granted, these are little mistakes and other celebs before him have done much worse (like Christina Aguilera), but even his vocals weren't that impressive, especially during the high notes (and let's face it, this song has a lot of high notes).
And the less-than impressive performance didn't go unnoticed. The crowd began heckling the Aerosmith rocker and some critics took to the web to offer their views on the matter. Sports blog Deadspin even wondered whether the performance was "the worst pre-game performance ever," which I'd say is a little harsh. I mean, don't get me wrong, the performance was pretty bad, but there's definitely been worse. That being said, I think it's safe to say that if Tyler had been auditioning for Idol, he wouldn't have made the cut. Sorry Steve, those high notes just don't sound like they used to. If you haven't heard it already, check out the performance below and see for yourself:
