‘SpongeBob SquarePants’: Watch ‘Sweet Victory’ Super Bowl Performance’ From Classic Episode

After the death of SpongeBob Squarepants creator Stephen Hillenberg, fans of the beloved Nickelodeon character launched a petition to get the song “Sweet Victory” played as a tribute during the Super Bowl LIII halftime show. The hit song by David Glen Eisley was featured at the end of the classic 2001 SpongeBob episode “Band Geeks.”

In the episode, Squidward Tentacles told his rival Squilliam Fancyson that he has his own marching band after Squilliam brags about his own. Squilliam then tells Squidward his band can perform at the upcoming Bubble Bowl in place of his band. During rehearsals, SpongeBob and the other residents of Bikini Bottom are terrible, so Squidward quits in disgrace.

SpongeBob felt awful, so he gathered up his friends and they focused on practicing. When the big time comes at the Bubble Bowl, SpongeBob and the band shock everyone by performing a perfect rendition of “Sweet Victory.”

In a 2012 interview with Hogan’s Alley, writer C.H. Greenblatt explained that “Sweet Victory” was not exactly the song they were thinking of for the finale, but it ended up being perfect.

“It was different than what we were looking for, but it was so amazing that we knew we had to use it,” Greenblatt explained. “So we boarded the sequence to the music, and it felt like such a better ending than any song we could have written on our own. We even got to give it an ’80s jump freeze-frame ending. I think my favorite part was Aaron Springer’s drawings of Patrick on the electric drums. That and SpongeBob saying, ‘It’s the thrill of one more kill.’”

In the years since the episode debuted, it has been critically acclaimed and is considered one of the best—if not the best—SpongeBob episode ever. So just days after Hillenberg’s death in November, fans launched a Change.org petition to get “Sweet Victory” performed as a tribute. By Saturday night, the petition earned 1.2 million signatures.

“As some of you may or may not know, Stephen Hillenburg—the creator of Spongebob Sqaurepants—has passed away recently,” the petition reads. “As a tribute to his legacy, his contributions to a generation of children, and to truly showcase the greatness of this song, we call for Sweet Victory to be performed at the Halftime Show.”

As the date came closer to the Super Bowl, the dream appeared to becoming a reality. On Dec. 12, the Mercedes-Benz Stadium Twitter handle posted a GIF from “Band Geeks.” On Jan. 30, sports anchor Angela Moryan tweeted a photo showing SpongeBob on a screen during Maroon 5‘s rehearsals. SpongeBob also appeared in Maroon 5’s Jan. 13 hype video.

Photo credit: Nickelodeon