The Milli Vanilli "affair"
Shel Talmy
The only real mystery regarding the "front men" singing or not
singing on the Milli Vanilli LP, is why it took so long for the
story to break and the truth to emerge.
This was the worst kept secret in the record business, as most of
the industry knew within weeks of the LP release, that Rob and
Fab were recruited because they looked good on a video and not
because Frank Farian was overwhelmed with their singing talent.
Whether or not the Grammy should have been taken back is a moot
point---that they received it, should never have happened in the
first place.
The wide-eyed innocence of the record company and the NARAS
officials regarding their lack of knowledge as expressed in
public statements, is at best hypocracy. At worst, it's an
outright lie.
The Italian artist, Black Box, is going through the same thing.
No, nobody is admitting anything, but the American singer who was
flown to Italy, and paid to sing on half a dozen songs, has filed
a lawsuit against the band and the record company. She wasn't
credited with the vocals and the video shows an Italian model who
can barely speak any English. And so it goes.
And so it has always gone, at least since the beginnings of
rock-n-roll. In the pre-video days, it wasn't as important that
there wasn't any "real" artist for bands like the Hollywood
Argyles, Edison Lighthouse, Ohio Express, and the 1910 Fruitgum
Company, which are the first ones to come to mind among the
dozens of hits to which this applies. Also, there must be at
least 10 bands of "original" Coasters and Drifters playing
somewhere in the world.
So, what's the point? I guess, the point is that it's okay, as
long as you can get away with it, and you should "cover your ass"
until your position becomes untenable. Then you admit your total
ignorance about everything.
In the final analysis, does any of this really matter as long as
the public likes the record and buys it. After all, it's
doubtful that an international war will start over, whether Rob
and Fab actually sang.
Joe Boehm
>
>In the final analysis, does any of this really matter as long as
>the public likes the record and buys it. After all, it's
>doubtful that an international war will start over, whether Rob
>and Fab actually sang.
the record get none of the rewards for the effort?
In the final analysis does it matter that thousands of TALENTED musicians
struggle everyday to find an audience for their art, only to have a farce like
Milli Vanilli get all the attention. What about the grammy nominees who lost
to Milli Vanilli, not to mention the scores of DESERVING musicians who will
never have a chance at such recognition?
The Milli Vanilli affair points out what's wrong with pop-music. All smoke
and no fire. It makes no difference how good you play, only how good you look,
or how well the press likes you.
Check out the local music scene in your area. I'll bet you find half a dozen
bands that can play circles around ANYONE you've ever seen on MTV. And a
year from now, they'll still be struggling while the Milli Vanillis of the
world steal the limelight and get rich by ripping off the public.
Demolition Man
Leo Breebaart
> The only real mystery regarding the "front men" singing or not
> singing on the Milli Vanilli LP, is why it took so long for the
> story to break and the truth to emerge.
Something I have not seen mentioned yet, but which should also have
a warning to certain people: Frank Farian, the evil
genius behind the Vanilli scam, has already been guilty of
EXACTLY THE SAME THING before.
In the seventies, he made a Euro-disco record, called (if I remember
correctly) "Do You Wanna Bump?". He released it under the name of
Boney M. When the record was a huge success, 'Boney M' was suddenly
requested to make public appearances for TV shows etc, and that was
very embarrassing because there was no Boney M - just Frank.
So he dug up three cute brown ladies and one cute brown guy somewhere,
Boney M finally got a face, and became one of the most popular European
groups of the seventies, with hits such as 'Ma Baker', 'Daddy Cool'
and 'Rivers of Babylon'.
This is why, as soon as I heard that Frank Farian was the man behind
Milli Vanilli, I immediately knew the boys were only puppets, hired
for their looks.
Granted, Boney M eventually did sing on their own records, so
I did assume that the Milli boys at least did so too, but all this
outrage and surprise going on seems a bit foolish and hypocritical.
So I agree completely with Shel when he/she says:
> The wide-eyed innocence of the record company and the NARAS
> officials regarding their lack of knowledge as expressed in
> public statements, is at best hypocracy. At worst, it's an
> outright lie.
> And so it has always gone, at least since the beginnings of
> rock-n-roll.
This is something that you won't get into the thick skulls of
Usenetters reading this group even if you used a sledgehammer.
Commercialism & big business is perhaps a bit worse today than
in previous decades - but not much.
--
Leo Breebaart (leo @ duttnph.tudelft.nl)
Leo Breebaart
> In the final analysis, does it matter that the musicians who actually made
> the record get none of the rewards for the effort?
This argument can be used in the case of sampling controversies, but not
here: I have seen no indication anywhere that the 'true' Vanilli singers
were not properly paid for their jobs.
And to turn on the cynical mode: if Milli Vanilli *hadn't* reached
number one in the States, do you really think that the original singers
would have come forward in the same way, all outraged and angry and
complaining about not getting any of the true rewards?
> In the final analysis does it matter that thousands of TALENTED musicians
> struggle everyday to find an audience for their art, only to have a farce
> like Milli Vanilli get all the attention. What about the grammy nominees
> who lost to Milli Vanilli, not to mention the scores of DESERVING musicians
> who will never have a chance at such recognition?
Of course, as soon as these deserving musicians actually *find* their
audience, and start selling records, and appearing on MTV, you will denounce
them and their music as having become too commercial, right?
> The Milli Vanilli affair points out what's wrong with pop-music. All smoke
> and no fire. It makes no difference how good you play, only how good you
> look, or how well the press likes you.
Nonsense. This is a great deal of truth in what you say, but it isn't
the entire truth, and even so it has been this way since Elvis Presley.
I put it to you that there are deserving artists plenty who *do* get
recognition, even though there are hundreds who don't.
I also think that for every Milli Vanilli their are hundreds of equally
cute brown boys who never get a chance to lip-synch their records. For every
Poison there are hundreds equally talent-less glam-rock bands who never get
any airplay at all.
I just don't buy this Great Conspiracy theory.
> Check out the local music scene in your area. I'll bet you find half a
> dozen bands that can play circles around ANYONE you've ever seen on MTV.
See, See?! I was right: If an act appears on MTV it automatically means that
they can't be any good.
Onno van der Linden
[stuff deleted]
>In the seventies, he made a Euro-disco record, called (if I remember
>correctly) "Do You Wanna Bump?". He released it under the name of
>Boney M. When the record was a huge success, 'Boney M' was suddenly
>requested to make public appearances for TV shows etc, and that was
>very embarrassing because there was no Boney M - just Frank.
>So he dug up three cute brown ladies and one cute brown guy somewhere,
>Boney M finally got a face, and became one of the most popular European
>groups of the seventies, with hits such as 'Ma Baker', 'Daddy Cool'
>and 'Rivers of Babylon'.
'Rivers of Babylon' is the best selling single of all time in Holland.
It sold about 675000 copies.
>This is why, as soon as I heard that Frank Farian was the man behind
>Milli Vanilli, I immediately knew the boys were only puppets, hired
>for their looks.
>Granted, Boney M eventually did sing on their own records, so
>I did assume that the Milli boys at least did so too, but all this
>outrage and surprise going on seems a bit foolish and hypocritical.
Hmm, I once heard that Frank Farian,after consuming too much alchohol,told
someone that only one Boney M member could sing (one of the women).I remember
reading somewhere that Boney M did tour,I think I'll take a look in OOR's
pop encyclopedia.If there's anything interesting there,you might see it
in this newsgroup.
[stuff deleted]
>--
>Leo Breebaart (leo @ duttnph.tudelft.nl)
Onno van der Linden
lin...@fwi.uva.nl