‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ is a hard song to sing for even some of the best performers.
The required vocal range to sing the song takes a singer throughout the limits of their voice and starting on the wrong note can screw you up.
Add to that fact that the song is relatively long to sing, so the lyrics have been forgotten by some on occasion.
Because of those facts, there have been plenty of renditions of the national anthem that have been screwed up.
From Roseanne screeching the national anthem to Fergie’s sultry rendition to Monday night’s monstrosity by Ingrid Andress, DailyMail.com looks back at the worst renditions of the national anthem.
After Ingrid Andress’s botched Star-Spangled Banner, here are other national anthem fails
Roseanne Barr, 1990
Imagine singing the national anthem so terribly that the President of the United States (in this case, George H.W. Bush) calls it ‘disgraceful’.
Comedian Roseanne Barr gained notoriety for her quick wit and her trademark high-pitched laugh and voice. Great recipe for a funnywoman, not a great recipe for a national anthem performer.
Fans were irate with Barr’s screechy performance – which ended with her spitting on the pitchers mound and grabbing her crotch – and boos rained down on her. She even had to do a press conference after her rendition.
‘I was singing in my act at the time ― and I am a good singer ― I was flattered and fully intended to sing a good version of the song,’ she told The Washington Post in 2015.
‘I started too high,’ she explained. ‘I knew about six notes in that I couldn’t hit the big note. So I just tried to get through it, but I couldn’t hear anything with 50,000 drunk assholes booing, screaming ‘you fat f***,’ giving me the finger and throwing bottles at me during the song they ‘respect’ so much.’
Roseanne Barr’s anthem performance drew presidential and national criticism
Carl Lewis, 1993
The only edition of this national anthem on this list not performed by an entertainer, Carl Lewis went into this song with all the confidence of the fastest man on the planet but jumped the gun.
There are so many hilarious parts about this clip – beginning with Lewis asking the crowd if they’re ready, to his incredibly long opening and closing notes, to his ‘uh oh’ when he messes up the notes in ‘red glare’ and saying that he’d ‘make up for it now’.
Don’t get us wrong, this is still a bad rendition of the anthem, but it’s by far the funniest.
Reaction to this anthem still remains hilarious. Just look at this clip of SportsCenter’s Charley Steiner referring to the performance as written by ‘Francis Scott Off-Key’ as former Bruins announcer Jack Edwards can’t control himself next to him at the desk.
Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis stopped himself mid-anthem, delivering an ‘uh oh’
Kat DeLuna, 2008
This one is decently performed, but it’s just all over the place.
The Dallas Cowboys invited then 20-year-old pop up-and-comer Kat DeLuna to sing the anthem just before their game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
It’s a true rollercoaster of a performance with a variety of vocal runs that don’t make much sense – all while DeLuna is acting like she’s owning the moment.
The cascade of boos from those at the old Texas Stadium came quickly and loudly.
Up-and-coming pop star Kat DeLuna took us on a roller coaster ride with her 2008 rendition
Fergie, 2018
Still considered by many to be the worst national anthem performance ever, former Black Eyed Peas member Fergie took a different tack when it came to her rendition at the 2018 NBA All-Star Game.
She decided to ‘jazz’ things up literally and figuratively with a breathy, slowed down version that came off as bluesy and out of place.
Watch the reactions from people like Chance the Rapper, Steph Curry, and Draymond Green throughout and you can easily see why this performance was panned.
Fergie’s sultry take on the national anthem came off as tone deaf at the NBA All-Star Game
Ingrid Andress, 2024
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Grammy-nominated country singer Ingrid Andress delivers 'the worst national anthem EVER' before MLB's Home Run Derby in Texas as players struggle to contain their laughter
It might be too early to christen this as THE worst national anthem performance of all time, but it will certainly be close to the top of the list when it’s inevitably updated again.
Andress’s rendition has way too much vocal fry and her pitch is all over the place. Much like Fergie, it also takes on airs of breathiness that doesn’t match the tone of the MLB Home Run Derby. But at least Fergie a) got all the words right and b) sounded intentional with what she did.
Hearing the crowd’s ‘ohh’s’ when Andress fails to hit the high notes in ‘flag was still there’ should be enough feedback one might need that they shouldn’t keep trying to reach that high. However, she did try it one more time in ‘land of the free’ and it sounds so jarring that cringe instantly sets in.
It’s on this list for a reason. Even Phillies star Alec Bohm couldn’t keep a straight face.