NBC Upset a Ton of Rock Music Fans — Here’s What Happened

Rock fans who also appreciate NFL football wouldn’t mind tackling NBC decision makers after the network fumbled an opening night halftime performance.

During last week’s season opener in Seattle – home of grunge, if you haven’t heard – the defending champion Seahawks hosted the New England Patriots. Not only was the game a rematch of last season’s Super Bowl, but it also marked a rare musical appearance by surviving members of rock band Soundgarden. The band was joined on stage by Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready and Taylor Momsen of The Pretty Reckless. McCready and Momsen were with the band in place of original front man Chris Cornell, who passed in 2017.

The musicians played two songs during halftime, “Outshined,” and “Spoonman.” But the NBC audience saw neither. Instead, NBC aired the standard studio show during the game’s break. No Soundgarden from the home of grunge on the NFL’s opening night.

If halftime were a field goal attempted by NBC, the kick sailed wide left.

Viewers only knew of the Soundgarden performance because of fans in attendance tweeting about it and the Seahawks’ website posting halftime photos postgame.

.@Soundgarden with @taylormomsen and MikeMcCready perform “Outshined” at the @Seahawks NFL opener last night pic.twitter.com/9BwyOylROJ

— Jeffgarden.com (@ijeffgarden) September 10, 2026

It’s safe to say, Soundgarden fans who were tuning in for the game weren’t exactly pleased that they missed seeing and hearing even a glimpse of the two song performance.

” … NFL still sucks,” one X user tweeted in part.

Mike was great!!! NFL didn't broadcast Soundgarden. NFL still sucks

— Julie Loofbourow (@JulieLoofbourow) September 10, 2026

Another X user wished Netflix had broadcast the game because they assumed the streamer would’ve showed love to Soundgarden. They simply signed off on their complaint by writing, “#fail.”

Sure would have been nice if Netflix had been the one broadcasting the #Seahawks game… might have actually seen Soundgarden 2.0 and what that was like instead of getting a bunch of shorts from fans in the stands. NFL #fail.

— Chris Fetters (@Chris_Fetters) September 11, 2026

Despite the clear miss by NBC, a user on the Soundgarden subreddit noted that, “Just so everyone knows, this wasn’t a slight to Soundgarden or anything. They literally NEVER show halftime performances unless it’s the playoffs or something special (like Thanksgiving).”

Fortunately it wasn’t all bad for Seattle fans. Their team opened the new season the same way they ended last year, with a win over New England.