"The Star Spangled Banner," by any reasonable person's estimation, is already the sonic equivalent of this GIF:
When Fergie tried to make things a little more interesting with her performance of this abysmal song at Sunday's NBA All-Star Game, the song's inherent awfulness seemingly got the best of her. As you surely know by now, the response to Fergie's reinvention of the national anthem ranged from "What?" to "Wait, What?"
But by Wiz Khalifa's assessment, Fergie simply made the best of it by trying to stay true to herself. "I liked Fergie's national anthem," he said Monday. "It was original and fun just like her. People didn't like Jimi Hendrix's version of the anthem at the time he did it but it later became legendary. Takes guts to be yourself."
Khalifa also responded to those who disagreed with his support for Fergie, including comedian Aries Spears:
Fergie issued a statement Monday amid the mockery, telling viewers she just wanted to try "something special" with this performance. "I'm a risk taker artistically, but clearly this rendition didn't strike the intended tone," she said.
All things considered, Hendrix is arguably the only person to have ever made "Star Spangled Banner" listenable. Roseanne's 1990 rendition, however, should also be noted for its strict adherence to experimentalism:
