Madonna Emerges as Big Super Bowl Winner

You can't tell by looking at it, but the above video is the visual manifestation of Madonna cashing in a $10 million check. That's the sum of money the Material Girl was paid to "appear" in the new, Super Bowl-bound commercial for Sunsilk hair products. The "appearance" actually consists of the the singer's decade-old song "Ray of Light" and six seconds worth of archival footage. No wonder Madonna was named Forbes' Cash Queen of Music. Marilyn Monroe and Shakira, who reportedly will get $2.5 million for her three seconds of screen time, also appear in the thirty-second ad. The spot is set to screen during the fourth quarter's two-minute warning, which is ridiculous, as even football diehards contract Super Bowl exhaustion by halftime.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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