Christina Aguilera
Aguilera's voice is golden, but her memory may need a little help. During the 2011 Super Bowl, the pop songstress skipped a whole verse of the anthem and exchanged it for some ad-libbed mumbles. Luckily, X-Tina reeled it in by belting out "and the rockets' red glare" and rousing the crowd. While Aguilera got away with her little "Star-Spangled" mishap at Cowboy Stadium, the blogosphere wasn't so generous.
Captions by Joshua R. Weaver and Saaret Yoseph
Keri Hilson
R&B singer Hilson has the chops to hit those famously pesky high notes, but skipping an entire line of the national anthem will inspire searing boos in a sports arena. While singing the anthem for fans at Atlanta's Phillips Center in 2010, Hilson missed the mark, jumping midverse to another line in the song.
Jennifer Hudson
There's no denying that the American Idol finalist and Oscar winner has a strong set of pipes, but we can't figure why she didn't use them during the 2009 Super Bowl, where she performed with a prerecorded track. Why lip-synch the national anthem when you can actually sing?
Cuba Gooding Sr.
Singer — and we use that word loosely — Cuba Gooding Sr. overshot with this ultra-high-pitched rendition in 2008. Seriously, Cuba, this wasn't your shining glory!
Miley Cyrus
As if world domination weren't enough, Cyrus, dressed as her alter ego Hannah Montana, prepped her vocal cords preperformance with a slow take before hitting the stage at Rodeo Houston in 2008. Maybe it was the acoustics that worked against her, but somehow "spangled banner" came out terribly mangled.
Musiq SoulChild
He may have 11 Grammy nominations, but neo-soul artist Musiq SoulChild forgot the lyrics to the national anthem at the 2007 Michael Jordan High School Basketball Classic. Completely stumped, Musiq tried to drown the crowd's boos with an emphatic jump into the song's fifth refrain.
Kat DeLuna
Her 2007 single "Whine Up" may have been a hit in the clubs, but then-pop sensation DeLuna should stick to auto-tuned summer jams. In 2008 she graced Monday Night Football with an overembellished take on "The Star-Spangled Banner" that was teeming with superfluous falsettos, shrieking and a little too much soul. While the crowd clearly disapproved of her performance, we give her thumbs-up for the enthusiasm.
Jerry Stackhouse
Props to NBA player Stackhouse for singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" during two of his games in 2007 and 2010. We commend him for showing off his pipes before huffing and puffing across the court, but the expressionless face he presented throughout the performance did little to inspire pride in country.
Keyshia Cole
As much as we love singer Cole's round-the-way sensibilities, she should have known better than to attempt the national anthem at the 2007 NFL Opener. Her pipes were teetering on collapse by the time she reached the bridge. But the audience, for some reason, ate up the performance. Was it her soulful expression or her fly outfit that did the trick?
R. Kelly
Kels may be the (Questionable) King of R&B, but he still loses points for this ringside rendition in 2006. It's not his caliber of singing that makes us cringe; it's the "Up in the Club" spin he added, with a call to the audience to start clapping and bouncing along. It's the anthem. Keep it simple.
Caroline Marcil
This French-Canadian singer sang (sort of) a horrific rendition of the national anthem at a 2005 hockey exhibition game in Quebec City. The bad vocals and botched lines are only the beginning. The icing on the cake came at the one-minute mark. We'd like to think these problems could have been avoided if they'd had her sing "O Canada."
Michael Bolton
He rocks the soft ballads and sultry odes, but Bolton needs a crash course on national anthem etiquette. During a 2003 Red Sox game against the Yankees, the '80s crooner managed to complete just half of the song before fumbling over a verse and glancing at his palm to read the lyrics. Bolton was booed by the Fenway Park crowd, but he managed to finish the anthem despite the crowd's venom.
Steven Tyler
After wooing the audience with a harmonica solo at the beginning of his 2001 anthem attempt, Aerosmith's Tyler couldn't make his screeching rock vocals work with the high-pitched, wide-range national anthem. Tyler brazenly changed the "home of the brave" line to "Indianapolis 500" and had to apologize the next day after opposition from veterans' groups.
Carl Lewis
Retired track-and-field star Lewis may have won 10 Olympic medals, but he won't be winning awards for his singing anytime soon. His 1993 rendition of the national anthem is notorious — bad from beginning to end. Lewis not only missed every high note, but his screeching was so disturbing that it was barely distinguishable from the audience's boos.
Roseanne Barr
This "Star-Spangled" blooper is an obvious one. Barr should never, ever have been called on to belt out the national anthem. Was this 1990 performance a joke? If so, our ears are not amused.