Performances and adaptations of The Star-Spangled Banner

In the course of the adoption of "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the national anthem of the United States, a variety of people have either sung or performed the anthem using a variety of instruments and methods. Some of these methods include using only one instrument, such as a guitar or trumpet. Other methods have included singing the anthem using different vocal ranges or even changing some of the words to show support for a home team or for an event. However, veterans groups have spoken out on occasion about these recordings, mainly calling them disrespectful to the country and to the anthem.

Bing Crosby recorded the song on March 22, 1939 for Decca Records. He also recorded it as a reading of the poem with a musical accompaniment on August 15, 1946.

Igor Stravinsky's first of his four 1941 arrangements of the "Star-Spangled Banner" led to an incident on January 15, 1944 with the Boston police, but "Boston Police Commissioner Thomas F. Sullivan said there would be no action." "After Stravinsky conducted it with the Boston Symphony for the first time in 1944, the police informed the composer of a Massachusetts law against tampering with national property, and removed the parts from Symphony Hall." The incident soon established itself as a myth in which Stravinsky was supposedly arrested for playing the music.

One of the most notable renditions of the anthem was Jimi Hendrix's solo guitar performance at the 1969 , captured on the of the event. Hendrix played the anthem with a number of distorted regressions — some mimicking the "rockets" and "bombs" of the anthem's lyrics — to great acclaim from the audience. It was voted 52nd on the list of the 100 greatest guitar solos of all time by readers of Guitar World Magazine. Hendrix also recorded a studio version of The Star-Spangled Banner some time before Woodstock festival. That version features numerous guitar tracks played through octave shifting effects. The studio version is available on the Rainbow Bridge album and Cornerstones collection.

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