Maroon 5 Tease Super Bowl Performance Of SpongeBob Song “Sweet Victory”
Last year, a petition went around to convince Weezer to cover Toto’s cheesy ’80s hit, “Africa.” The popularity of that cover gave way to their ensuing covers album. Now, it looks like Maroon 5 might follow a similar fate. 1.1 million people have signed a petition for the band to cover SpongeBob Squarepants’ “Sweet Victory” at their forthcoming Super Bowl Halftime Show.
If you watched Nickelodeon in the early 2000s, you’re familiar with SpongeBob’s iconic “Band Geeks” episode, the one where Patrick asks if mayonnaise is an instrument and SpongeBob leads Bikini Bottom in a rousing performance of an epic rock ballad called “Sweet Victory.” If you’re unfamiliar — maybe you were an outdoors kid, maybe you weren’t a child in the early 2000s — I highly recommend watching it.
“As some of you may or may not know, Stephen Hillenburg—the creator of Spongebob Sqaurepants—has passed away recently,” the petition page reads. “As a tribute to his legacy, his contributions to a generation of children, and to truly showcase the greatness of this song, we call for Sweet Victory to be performed at the Halftime Show.” Beck paid tribute to Hillenburg after his death in November.
There has been no official announcement yet, but Maroon 5 incorporated SpongeBob into their Halftime Show promo video a few weeks ago. The Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the game’s venue, also gave SpongeBob a Twitter shout-out. Plus, Squidward’s voice actor, Rodger Bumpass, hinted at a spongey Super Bowl on Facebook: “To all Spongebob fans!!! Tune into the Super Bowl because Squidward gets to introduce the halftime entertainment.” Check out the teasers and the original “Sweet Victory” below.
#SBLIII pic.twitter.com/dWKJQDS9ap
— Maroon 5 (@maroon5) January 13, 2019
— MercedesBenzStadium (@MBStadium) December 12, 2018
And, while we’re at it, might I suggest some other SpongeBob classics for Maroon 5 to cover: