What Is The Song In Michelob Ultra's Super Bowl 2022 Commercial?
It's almost time for game day. We're on the verge of another Super Bowl, which means that we're also about to get a brand-new batch of Super Bowl commercials tailored to keep football fans from picking up their remotes during time-outs.
One of Michelob's 2022 entries for this year's game features former Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, as well as actor Steve Buscemi. In the teaser clips of the ad posted by the beer company, which fittingly takes place in a bowling alley called Superior Bowl, Buscemi can be seen standing behind a bar pouring brews and spraying shoes. He watches silently as Manning faces down a new sport: bowling. As the A.V. Club notes, the commercial has several visual and aural cues to well-known bowling movies such as "The Big Lebowski" (which Buscemi co-starred in) and "Kingpin."
What's the name of the tune that can be heard playing over the loudspeaker at the bowling alley during the commercial? If you're a fan of 1970s-era disco pop, it may sound familiar.
That's the Electric Light Orchestra you hear in the background
That's the Electric Light Orchestra's "Showdown," which can be heard in the background of all three clips posted to Michelob's official YouTube page. The song is best known for its use in "Kingpin," the 1996 Bill Murray and Woody Harrelson comedy about two longtime enemies who face off at the lanes. Roy (Harrelson) ultimately tries to get revenge on Ernie (Murray) for crippling his bowling hand during a failed con job by training an innocent Amish upstart, Ishmael (Randy Quaid) to conquer Ernie and rule the bowling world.
"Showdown" wasn't a huge pop hit upon its release, only making it to No. 53 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974, though it stayed on the charts for 18 weeks. Per Official Charts, it did better in the U.K., hitting No. 12. It was also a No. 9 hit in Norway, per norwegiancharts.com.