Remember when The Who's Pete Townsend would rock so hard his fingers would bleed? Now those were the days.

With Keith Moon on drums, John Entwistle on bass and Roger Daltrey belting the vocals with blood-curdling abandon, catching The Who in concert increased your chances of early-onset tinnitus. In the early days, if you were lucky, you got pelted with pieces of Mr. Townsend's shattered guitars, too.

With Entwistle and Moon long dead, the version of The Who that showed up for a performance at Sunday's Super Bowl halftime show were decades past their prime. Mr. Daltrey and Mr. Townsend gamely flailed their way through a medley of hits, but it was obvious that -- to paraphrase the Rolling Stones -- time was not on their side.

Blame the 2004 Super Bowl halftime performance by Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake. An abundance of caution has dictated relatively safe choices for halftime shows ever since.

After incurring the wrath of the Federal Communications Commission and much of middle America for allowing a notorious "wardrobe malfunction" to ruin the holiest sports day of the year, the National Football League recruited rock acts that have been household names for decades.

Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, Prince, U2 and the Rolling Stones bridged the generation gap with memorable performances. The problem is we've probably reached the limit of veteran acts that can electrify a Super Bowl audience of 100 million.

The game between the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts was a classic that deserved more than a tired classic rock soundtrack. Maybe the world isn't quite up for Lady Gaga on the 50-yard line, but Beyonce is ready for her closeup.

First Published: February 10, 2010, 5:00 a.m.