Electric Guitar Anthem Sets Off a Pregame Argument at Bills–Vikings Game

MINNEAPOLIS — The first thing football fans argued about Monday night had nothing to do with a referee. Before the Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings kicked off at U.S. Bank Stadium, John Jeffers played “The Star-Spangled Banner” alone on an electric guitar. There was no singer and no band to fill out the sound. Just a guitarist, a stadium sound system and a national television audience that promptly split over what it had heard.

Jeffers is the lead guitarist for Whiskey Myers, an East Texas band, and a childhood friend of former Vikings running back Adrian Peterson. The two played football together in Palestine, Texas. Minnesota was inducting Peterson into its Ring of Honor at halftime, so having his old friend play the anthem gave the night a personal touch. Randy Moss and Cris Carter were also on hand for the occasion.

It was also the Vikings’ annual Salute to Service game, with recognitions planned for veterans and current military members. With Veterans Day two days away, some viewers took particular exception to the loud, distorted arrangement. A few called it among the worst renditions they’d heard. Others said an anthem at a military appreciation game ought to be played more simply. Those reactions came from viewers posting online; they don’t tell us what the entire stadium thought.

The argument is older than Monday Night Football. In October 1968, Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell invited José Feliciano to sing the anthem before Game 5 of the World Series at Tiger Stadium. Feliciano sat with an acoustic guitar and sang it in a slow, soulful style. Some listeners called that disrespectful, too. Detroit beat St. Louis that afternoon, but more than half a century later, Major League Baseball was still writing about how the anthem overshadowed the game.

Less than a year later, Jimi Hendrix played the anthem on a Fender Stratocaster at Woodstock. That performance became famous in its own right. The setting matters, though. At a rock festival, people came to hear what Hendrix could do with a guitar. At a football game, plenty of people stand up expecting to sing along. A version that works for one crowd can leave the other wondering when it’s supposed to come in.

As for the football, Buffalo won 23–6, holding Minnesota to two field goals and forcing three turnovers. The Vikings had invited Jeffers to help honor an old friend, and Peterson got his ceremony at halftime. The anthem debate, meanwhile, came down to a question fans have been arguing about since at least the days of Tiger Stadium: When you stand for the anthem, do you want to hear a musician’s interpretation, or do you want a version the whole stadium can sing?