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The Super Bowl Shuffle

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The Super Bowl Shuffle

"The Super Bowl Shuffle" is a song performed by the Chicago Bears football team (credited as the Chicago Bears Shufflin' Crew) in 1985. It was released in December 1985 on Chicago-based Red Label Records and distributed through Capitol Records seven weeks ahead of their win in Super Bowl XX. The song peaked at number 41 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and made the Chicago Bears the only team in any professional sport to have a US Hot 100 hit and earn a Grammy Award nomination; the song was nominated for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 1987 awards ceremony. The song was certified gold by the RIAA on February 11, 1986, for sales of over 500,000 copies, while the accompanying music video, released on VHS and Betamax formats, was certified platinum for sales of over a million units.

"The Super Bowl Shuffle" instantly became a hit, selling a million copies and reaching number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 75 on the Cash Box Top 100 Billboard reported that the single's chart performance was propelled primarily by sales rather than radio airplay, saying, "Although the record has a great deal of pop airplay across the country, especially as a novelty for morning drive programs, only a handful of radio stations are reporting it on their playlists." "The Super Bowl Shuffle" fell in line with the Bears' high-media attention as they completed their one-loss regular season. The Bears dominated their postseason opponents, including the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX, which they won 46–10.

The 1985 Chicago Bears were the second sports team to have their own music video after the 1985 Seattle Seahawks made one earlier in the season. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1987 for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group, losing to "Kiss" by Prince. The 20th anniversary DVD was released in 2004, including the making of the video, outtakes and the music video itself. Julia Meyer has kept the copyright to the video.

Over $300,000 in profits from the song and music video were donated to the Chicago Community Trust to help Chicago families in need with clothing, shelter and food. This was consistent with Walter Payton's lyric in the song: "Now we're not doing this because we're greedy / The Bears are doing it to feed the needy". In 2014, six of the performers (Richard Dent, Jim McMahon, Otis Wilson, Willie Gault, Mike Richardson and Steve Fuller) sued Julia Meyer and Renaissance Marketing Corporation, who licenses the song, stating the proceeds from the song should benefit charities; the six players' attorney stated, "Among other things, the plaintiffs seek that a constructive trust be established for charitable purposes that they select in order to continue the Super Bowl Shuffle's charitable objective."

The video was taped at Park West, a Chicago night club, the morning after the Bears' only loss of the 1985 season, 38-24 to the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football on December 2, 1985. Jim McMahon and Walter Payton refused to participate in the video shoot, thinking it would be better to release the song and video after the season was complete. However, the team was insistent on releasing the song and video shortly after the shoot, so the video was filmed with the remaining players. Payton and McMahon both filmed their segments separately a week later at the Bears' practice facility after practice and these segments were interspersed in the video prior to release.

The lyrics were written by Richard E. Meyer and Melvin Owens. The music was composed by Bobby Daniels and Lloyd Barry.

The "referee" in the video was portrayed by Julia Meyer (credited as Julia Kallish).

Bears defensive end Dan Hampton declined involvement with the Shuffle, thinking it may have been too arrogant.

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