What did Prince's guitar look like in profile?

The shadow knows

NEW YORK -- In the post-wardrobe malfunction world, some are questioning whether a guitar was just a guitar during Prince's Super Bowl halftime show.

Prince's acclaimed performance included a guitar solo during the ''Purple Rain'' segment of his medley in which his shadow was projected onto a large, flowing sheet. As the 48-year-old rock star let rip, the silhouette cast by his figure and his guitar (shaped like the singer's symbol) had phallic connotations for some.

A number of bloggers have cried ''Malfunction!'' Daily News television critic David Bianculli called it ''a rude-looking shadow show'' that ''looked embarrassingly rude, crude and unfortunately placed.''

CBS spokesman Dana McClintock said Tuesday that the network has received ''very few'' complaints on Prince's performance. CBS last aired the Super Bowl in 2004 when Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake's ''wardrobe malfunction'' sparked criticism.

For decades, the electric guitar, by nature, has been considered phallic. But what about Prince's pose?

''The short answer is, of course it is,'' says Rolling Stone magazine's Gavin Edwards, who points out that on Prince's ''Purple Rain'' tour in the 1980s, he performed with a guitar that would squirt water.

AP