The Grammy Awards' Dumbest Decisions of the Past 30 Years The Grammy Awards' Dumbest Decisions of the Past 30 Years 96.19K Top The Grammy Awards air tonight at 8, which means for about three hours on Twitter, the Grammy Awards will be relevant. Otherwise, everyone knows they're a sham. They may look good on an artist's resume, mantle or ego, but after boosting sales for big winners for a week or two, the Grammys get tucked away in the recesses of our memories for the rest of the year. As the supposed elite-defining monolith of the recording industry, the Grammy Awards are damned either way they do.

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences' tendency to recognize established vets too late for lesser works is maddening (Steely Dan's Two Against Nature won a slew of awards including Album of the Year in 2001; Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters was named Album of the Year in 2008); the new development of recognizing less commercially visible but critically adored indie acts feels like a desperate attempt for coolness (Arcade Fire's The Suburbs won Album of the Year in 2011; Bon Iver was named Best New Artist last year). That said, when Grammy gets it wrong, it gets it really wrong. Legends who've never won include Diana Ross, the Beach Boys, Bob Marley and Teddy Pendergrass (who, adding insult to injury, was the recipient of a half-hearted tribute by the illogically chosen Lady Antebellum in 2011). Milli Vanilli famously had their Best New Artist Grammy revoked in 1990 as a result of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus being exposed as frauds who did not sing on their records. The Grammys will never live that down, nor should they.

Nor should Milli Vanilli's watery, weirdly sung and generic take on dance music have been recognized in the first place, even when people thought they were singing. The Grammys must account for "quality" (whatever that means) as well as popularity (because the ceremony is a commercial endeavor in itself that is being packaged for consumption), and the Best New Artist category is where the two forces meet and explode into incomprehensibility. Supposedly, the Academy members who vote for these awards are urged to ignore sales figures and chart performance when determining their picks, but Best New Artist, in general is riddled with flavors of yestermonth, particularly of the teenybopper variety: the Backstreet Boys, the Jonas Brothers, Justin Bieber, Hanson, Avril Lavigne, Britney Spears, Kris Kross and Chris Brown have all been nominated in that category. Tonight, Alabama Shakes, fun., Hunter Hayes, the Lumineers and Frank Ocean are all up for that trophy, and it generally takes years for us to gain some perspective on how off the mark the Grammys were (Hootie and the Blowfish won in 1996, which made sense then given their ubiquity but is almost unthinkable now).

Looking back, the examples (in various categories) below strike me as egregiously out of touch, especially given the relevance of these artists in 2013. There are loads more examples — no one awards show can get everything right — these are just the ones that stick out from a particular pop fan's perspective: In 1985' Lionel Richie's trifling Can't Slow Down won over classics like Prince and the Revolution's Purple Rain and Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA. Cyndi Lauper's She's So Unusual and Tina Turner's Private Dancer were also nominated and still would have been better choices for their inventiveness. Prince was honored for the first time in 1985 with some trophies (Best R&B Song for writing "I Feel for You," which was a hit for Chaka Khan that year and Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for the Purple Rain album), once in 1987 (Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group - "Kiss") and then not again until 2005 for Musicology's "Call My Name" (Best R&B Vocal Performance - Male).

This means his double-album masterwork, 1987's Sign "O" the Times, won nothing. Timbaland, who helped shape '90s hip-hop and R&B much like Prince did for R&B and pop in the '80s, didn't win anything until 2007 for Justin Timberlake's "Sexyback," a conventional song by the forward-thinking standards he'd set over a decade before. 1989's Record and Song of the Year went to Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry Be Happy," a T-shirt slogan of a song that has aged as well as a beer koozie that says, "Is that your final answer?" It beat Anita Baker's "Giving You The Best That I Got," Steve Winwood's "Roll With It, " Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car" and Michael Jackson's "Man In The Mirror." 1989's Best R&B Vocal Performance - Male went to temp it boy Terence Trent D'Arby for his Introducing The Hardline According To... Terence Trent D'Arby album. It beat Al B.

Sure!'s "Nite And Day," Luther Vandross' Any Love Stevie Wonder's Characters and Teddy Pendergrass' Joy. As mentioned before, Teddy Pendergrass never won and it's all Terence Trent D'Arby's fault. 1989 marked the inaugural Best Rap Performance Grammy, which went to DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince's "Parents Just Don't Understand." I get it: It was narrative, easy to grasp and, ironically, family friendly. The four songs that it beat out — J.J. Fad's "Supersonic," Kool Moe Dee's "Wild, Wild West," LL Cool J's "Going Back To Cali" and Salt-n-Pepa's "Push It" — would play infinitely better at any party today, though. The next year, Young MC's "Bust a Move" won in that category. It was a better choice than other nominees D.J.

Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh's "I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson" and Tone Loc's "Funky Cold Medina," but lightweight pop compared to the bona fide classics it shared the slate with: Public Enemy's "Fight The Power" and De La Soul's "Me Myself & I." In 1990, Paula Abdul was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Performance ("Straight Up"). In 1991, easy listening, pseudo-inspirational sentimentality beat out gut-wrenching sentimentality: Phil Collins' "Another Day in Paradise" nabbed Record of the Year and Bette Midler's "From a Distance" was named Song of the Year; both shut out Sinead O'Connor's cover of Prince's "Nothing Compares 2 U." 1992's Best New Artist was Mark Cohn. Who, right? Well, the rest of the nominees list is a who's who of 90's cheese (some more enduring and talented than others): Boyz II Men, C+C Music Factory, Color Me Badd and Seal. In 1993, Eric Clapton's excruciating "Tears in Heaven" was named Song and Record of the year.

If Eric Clapton's ode to his dead son appealed to the Grammys' sensitivity, his trendy musical strip down appealed to its adoration of "authenticity": His Unplugged release was named Album of the Year. Three years later, Tony Bennett would also win that trophy for his Unplugged album. In 1993, Mary J. Blige's What's the 411?, the enormously influential album that converted the sound of R&B into hip-hop soul, didn't receive a single nomination. In 1997, Celine Dion won Album of the Year for Falling Into You. She beat Beck's Odelay, the Fugees' The Score, Smashing Pumpkins' Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness and the Waiting To Exhale soundtrack. In 1998, Shawn Colvin, who had released four albums at that point, was named Best New Artist. She beat people who'd stick around much longer and do way more interesting things with their careers: Erykah Badu, Fiona Apple and Sean "Diddy" Combs. She also beat Hanson.

That's not a Combs endorsement, though — that such a deficient MC's No Way Out won Best Rap Album that year over Missy Elliott's Supa Dupa Fly, The Notorious B.I.G.'s Life After Death and Wu-Tang Clan's Wu-Tang Forever is a joke. Wyclef Jean's The Carnival was also nominated. In 2001 Macy Gray won Best Pop Vocal Performance for her nails-in-a-blender rendition of "I Try." In 2003, Norah Jones swept, winning all seven trophies for which she was nominated, including the three biggest categories (Album/Song/Record of the Year) and Best New Artist. Now you sometimes hear her at weddings. In 2006, Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone," as universally loved as a pop song got in the 00s, was not nominated for Song or Record of the year. It did, however, win Best Pop Vocal Performance - Female. In 2012, Kanye West's daring and gorgeous My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy failed to score a nomination for Album of the Year (it did win the award for Best Rap Album, though).

Adele's nice and safe 21, though, cleaned up. In 2012, Chris Brown won Best R&B Album for his mostly god-awful F.A.M.E. album. That is the single most invalidating piece of evidence against the Grammys since Milli Vanili, no exaggeration. [Image via AP] Milli Vanilli: Overview articles Milli Vanilli: Overview articles First, the facts. The entry in Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1996 (Record Research): Milli Vanilli Europop act formed in Germany by producer Frank Farian (creator of Boney M and Far Corporation). Milli Vanilli is Turkish for positive energy. Originally thought to be Rob Pilatus (from Germany) and Fabrice Morvan (from France). Duo was stripped of its 1989 Best New Artist Grammy Award when it was revealed that they didn't sing on their debut album. Actual vocalists are Charles Shaw, John Davis and Brad Howe. Next, an opinion.

The entry in MusicHound Rock - The Essential Album Guide (1999, Visible Ink): Milli Vanilli Formed 1988, in Munich, Germany. Rob Pilatus (died April 2, 1998, in Frankfurt, Germany), vocals; Fabrice Morvan, vocals. Milli Vanilli almost went down in pop history as one of the most successful - albeit artistically insignificant - groups of the video era. Instead, the duo became perhaps the biggest punchline in pop before tragedy superseded the jokes. Milli Vanilli, of course, first turned the music world on its ear with its 1989 debut Album, Girl You Know It's True. Though critically reviled, winning both worst band and worst album honors in the 1989 Rolling Stone Critics' Poll, and likened to Alvin and the Chipmunks by Time magazine, Milli Vanilli appeared to be having the last laugh, as Girl You Know It's True spawned five Top 5 hits, sold more than seven million copies, and even earned the group a Best New Artist Grammy.

The giggling suddenly stopped when it was revealed that Pilatus and Morvan hadn't sung a single note on the hit record - that Milli Vanilli was really Charles Shaw, John Davis, and Brad Howe. The group's mastermind, Frank Farian - the German producer known for his work with Boney M - had apparently wanted an attractive look to go with his lightweight dance-pop, and so he hired former breakdancers Pilatus (from Munich) and Morvan (from Paris) to become the faces of Milli Vanilli. The dreadlocked, bare-chested men appeared on the album cover, in videos, and on stage (lip-synching, of course) and were described by the New York Times as "exotically sexy." The group also conducted interviews as Milli Vanilli, with Pilatus telling one writer: "Musically, we are more talented than any Bob Dylan. We are more talented than Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger ...

I'm the new Elvis." Following the revelations that they weren't quite ready to build their own Gracelands, Pilatus and Morvan were stripped of their Grammy, while their record company was ordered to give partial refunds to anybody who bought Milli Vanilli recordings or attended concerts believing that the duo was actually singing. Ironically, after Pilatus and Morvan sang a capella at a press conference, a voice coach said they sounded better than the men who actually were recorded. The duo tried to continue on as Rob and Fab but went nowhere, quickly. In 1991 a despondent Pilatus attempted suicide; five years later, he was charged on eight counts of allegedly attacking and threatening two people in separate incidents. Under court order, he later entered a drug treatment facility. In 1998, a year after Morvan told VH1 that he and Pilatus were deceived into fronting Milli Vanilli, Pilatus was found dead in a Frankfurt hotel room after consuming alcohol and pills. What to avoid: Girl You Know It's True woof! [on a scale of 1 to 5 bones] (Arista, 1989, prod.

Frank Farian) is worth having only to remind you what all the fuss was about. All featherweight lyrics, flat vocals, and standard-issue hip-hop rhythms, the album features the consecutive #1's "Baby Don't Forget My Number," "Girl I'm Gonna Miss You," and "Blame It On The Rain." But still... The rest: Quick Moves: The Remix Album 1-1/2 bones (Arista, 1990) Rob and Fab woof! (Taj, 1993) Influences: Klaatu, Spinal Tap, the Monkees -Josh Freedom du Lac Two stars [out of five] Girl You Know It's True (Arista, 1989) One star The Remix Album (Arista, 1990) Perhaps the only duo in pop music history that's best known for what it didn't sing. Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan of Milli Vanilli made headlines in 1990 when it was revealed that the two never sang a note. According to producer Frank Farian, Pilatus and Morvan were hired only for their looks, which he felt would add street-level credibility to the music.

Apparently, the street he had in mind was Sesame St., since only a listener with the approximate intelligence of Big Bird could have fallen for such a contrived attempt at rap and funk. -J.D Considine Every single thing on this website is © 2000-2005 Ron "Boogiemonster" Gerber. All rights reserved. Problems, corrections, questions and comments should be directed to me . Awesome Grandparent's Day Trivia Game Review Game These singing sisters scored a big hit with "The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" These singing sisters scored a big hit with "The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" The Andrews Sisters This baseball player opened the door to integrated American sports when he was signed as a player to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945. This baseball player opened the door to integrated American sports when he was signed as a player to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945.

Jackie Robinson Finish this statement: "Loose lips sink ___________." Finish this statement: "Loose lips sink ___________." Ships This famous rock star starred in the film "Viva Las Vegas." This famous rock star starred in the film "Viva Las Vegas." Elvis Presley Who said, "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away." ? Who said, "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away." ? Gen Douglas MacArthur What president made the remark "You won't have ______ to kick around anymore?" What president made the remark "You won't have ______ to kick around anymore?" Richard Nixon In 1960 Butterfield 8 won The Best Actress Academy Award? Who was the actress? In 1960 Butterfield 8 won The Best Actress Academy Award? Who was the actress? Elizabeth Taylor In 1961 Harper Lee wins the Pulitzer Prize for the best fiction book. Do you recall the name of that book that later became a movie? In 1961 Harper Lee wins the Pulitzer Prize for the best fiction book. Do you recall the name of that book that later became a movie?

To Kill a Mokingbird This President stirred thousands of college students with his creation of the Peace Corps. This President stirred thousands of college students with his creation of the Peace Corps. President John F. Kennedy Who became the first American to orbit the earth? Who became the first American to orbit the earth? John Glenn Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford became household names after starring in what 1970's blockbuster film? Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford became household names after starring in what 1970's blockbuster film? Star Wars What did Archie Bunker call his son-in-law? What did Archie Bunker call his son-in-law? Meathead Who used to beg customers, "Please don't squeeze the Charmin" ? Who used to beg customers, "Please don't squeeze the Charmin" ? Mr. Whipple Which inanimate "pet" reached its peak popularity during the 70s? Which inanimate "pet" reached its peak popularity during the 70s? Pet Rock Which popular 70s carpet had long fibers and was used to cover everything from floors to van interiors? Shag carpeting What late 80s pop sensation band had their Grammy revoked for allegedly not singing the vocals on their album?

What late 80s pop sensation band had their Grammy revoked for allegedly not singing the vocals on their album? Milli Vanilli Which actor famously said, "Go ahead, make my day." Which actor famously said, "Go ahead, make my day." Clint Eastwood Who was the American track star who won four gold medals in the 1984 Olympics? Who was the American track star who won four gold medals in the 1984 Olympics? Carl Lewis What was the name of the first woman to go into space? What was the name of the first woman to go into space? Sally Ride Ronald Reagan served as the governor of what state before becoming president? Ronald Reagan served as the governor of what state before becoming president? California Bill Clinton was president from 1993-2001. Who was his vice president? Bill Clinton was president from 1993-2001. Who was his vice president? Al Gore Which "Friends" character sported a popular and iconic haircut? Which "Friends" character sported a popular and iconic haircut? Rachel What is the current operating system for the iPhone? What is the current operating system for the iPhone?

ios 7 This song by Pharrell Williams was featured on the Despicable Me II soundtrack This song by Pharrell Williams was featured on the Despicable Me II soundtrack "Happy" In 2004, he became the youngest player in NBA history to score 2,000 points in a career In 2004, he became the youngest player in NBA history to score 2,000 points in a career LeBron James What is the supreme law of the land? What is the supreme law of the land? The Constitution Milli Vanilli | New Music And Songs | Milli Vanilli About Milli Vanilli Milli Vanilli. The mere mention of the name still calls up the same derision it did when the dance-pop duo's career came to a sudden and ignominious end: Fakers. Frauds. A blatant marketing scam. Their story has been retold countless times: after selling millions of records, Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan were revealed to be models who publicly lip-synced to tracks recorded by anonymous studio vocalists.

They became the first act ever stripped of a Grammy award and came to symbolize everything people disliked about dance-pop: it was so faceless that every musician involved could remain anonymous without anyone knowing the difference, so mechanical and artificial that the people who constructed it had to hire models to give it any human appeal, so pandering and superficial that people bought it just for its attachment to a pretty face. Whether that assessment was fair or not, it was beyond easy to hold Milli Vanilli in contempt. Yet for all the scapegoating, they were far from the only dance-pop act to be fronted by lip-syncers in the late '80s (the Martha Wash-voiced Black Box and C+C Music Factory spring to mind), nor were they the only Europop act to employ similar marketing tactics. (They were simply the most successful and visible, since their incorporation of rap made them more appealing to Americans.) What's more, pop music had a long tradition of hits recorded by anonymous studio musicians, dating back to '50s instrumental combos and '60s bubblegum.

Milli Vanilli had the bad luck to get caught in a hoax during the extraordinarily image-conscious MTV era and a time when dance music of any stripe was accorded virtually no critical respect anyway, before its producers were perceived as the real creative points of focus. It's not as though Milli Vanilli were acclaimed for their honesty of expression before the scandal broke; it's more likely that what fueled the backlash was public resentment over Rob and Fab's celebrity (why should they be famous if they couldn't sing?) and embarrassment over the fact that Milli Vanilli's marketing had worked like a charm on everyone right up through the Grammy committee. Milli Vanilli was the brainchild of German producer Frank Farian, who'd previously masterminded the European disco group Boney M. and the session-musician rock outfit Far Corporation. Seeking to fuse European dance-pop with elements of American rap, Farian assembled a number of session musicians and vocalists, including rapper Charles Shaw (an Army veteran) and two middle-aged American singers living in Germany, Johnny Davis and Brad Howell (some accounts give his name as Howe).

Realizing that he had a marketable record but a distinctly unmarketable image, Farian hired two aspiring models and former breakdancers, Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan, to pretend to be the group in videos, concerts, interviews, and the like. Pilatus had been born in New York in 1965, but grew up in Munich, spending some time in an orphanage after his parents (an American soldier and German stripper) gave him up for adoption. Morvan was born in 1966 on the island of Guadeloupe, lived in Miami for a time, and moved with his mother to Paris; he had been a skilled trampoline athlete until he suffered a neck injury in a fall. Both skilled dancers, the two had met sometime circa 1984 (differing accounts list their meeting place as Munich, Paris, or Los Angeles) and were attempting to make it as singers, dancers, models, or whatever they could. Their exotic look and long dreadlock extensions were just what Farian was looking for. Milli Vanilli's first album, All or Nothing, was released in Europe in 1988 and was an instant success.

Retitled Girl You Know It's True (after the lead single) and trimmed a bit, the record was issued in the U.S. in early 1989. Its catchy, lightweight pop-rap proved equally popular with American audiences; "Girl You Know It's True" raced up the pop charts to number two, and the next three Milli Vanilli singles -- "Baby Don't Forget My Number," the ballad "Girl I'm Gonna Miss You," and the Diane Warren-penned "Blame It on the Rain" -- all hit number one. Despite near-universal critical distaste (Farian's productions often recycled the same sounds and drum tracks), Girl You Know It's True sold an astounding seven million copies in the U.S. alone; internationally, Milli Vanilli sold approximately 30 million singles. In December 1989, as the fifth single "All or Nothing" was climbing the charts on its way to the Top Five, rapper Charles Shaw revealed to a New York reporter that Pilatus and Morvan had not actually sung any vocals on the album.

Shaw quickly retracted his statements (apparently paid off by Farian to keep quiet), claiming that they were merely a PR stunt for his own album. Milli Vanilli was soon nominated for a Grammy award for Best New Artist, even though the rumors continued to swirl. And in early 1990, they won it, for the record beating out the Indigo Girls, Neneh Cherry, Soul II Soul, and Tone-Loc. Success (or at least fame) was beginning to go to the duo's heads, particularly Pilatus, who was given to extreme mood swings and erratic behavior, and developed a cocaine problem. In an interview with Time magazine, Pilatus compared himself and Milli Vanilli favorably to Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Paul McCartney, and Mick Jagger, and was roundly ridiculed for his statements. Additionally, Pilatus and Morvan had been pressuring Farian to let them sing all the vocals on the next Milli Vanilli album. Exasperated with them, Farian exposed the whole scheme in November 1990 and the public was furious.

Pilatus and Morvan were stripped of their Grammy (ironically, the committee had justified its vote by citing the duo's "visual impact"), and a class-action suit was filed against Arista Records, allowing anyone who believed they'd been defrauded into purchasing the group's records to apply for a rebate. Arista dropped the group and deleted Girl You Know It's True from their catalog, making it the biggest-selling album ever taken out of print. In 1991, Farian attempted to re-form Milli Vanilli with the original session vocalists (including female backup singer Gina Mohammed), this time crediting them and billing them as the Real Milli Vanilli, while also adding a Pilatus/Morvan look-alike named Ray Horton. However, the resulting Moment of Truth album flopped. Pilatus, meanwhile, was unable to deal with the sudden fall from grace; after mixing alcohol and prescription drugs, he slashed one of his wrists in a Los Angeles hotel, then called police and reporters to the scene, where he had to be removed from the balcony he was threatening to jump off of.

Attempting to prove that they really could sing if given the chance, Pilatus and Morvan regrouped in 1993 as Rob & Fab; however, with their credibility damaged beyond repair, their self-titled debut reportedly sold only 2,000 copies total, despite an appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show. Farian had also attempted yet another album, this time renaming his group Try 'N' B and retooling the lineup again to enhance its visual appeal (which meant discarding the original singers); however, Sexy Eyes also stiffed. From there, Pilatus hit rock bottom. Beginning in 1995, he was arrested for several separate incidents in Los Angeles involving assaults (including one man he attacked with a metal lamp base), vandalism, and attempting to break into a car. Convicted of four different misdemeanors, he was sentenced to several months in jail in 1996, and did the first of numerous stints in drug rehab centers for his cocaine addiction. Pilatus eventually returned to Germany; in April 1998, his body was found in a Frankfurt hotel room after he mixed a fatal combination of pills and alcohol. Morvan continues to pursue a solo career.

~ Steve Huey, Rovi Hear more of What Do “Boney M” (’70s) And “Milli Vanilli” (’80s) Have In Common? (VIDEOS) What Do “Boney M” (’70s) And “Milli Vanilli” (’80s) Have In Common? (VIDEOS) By Craig Allen March 24, 2012 11:30 AM Share on Twitter The "Brothers Of Soul" on compact disc & vinyl! (Craig Allen photo) Both groups were created by German record producer Frank Farian. He used the same vocal practices with both groups. Farian got away with it, in the 1970s. The group “Boney M” was originally just Frank Farian singing in a deep voice, backed up by himself singing, overdubbed, in a falsetto chorus. When one of his songs became a European hit, Farian hired performers to “front” the group on television: Jamaicans Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barnett, Maize Williams from Montserrat, and Bobby Farrell from Aruba.

And, while the lineup changed through the years, it was well-known that Farian still sang all the male leads in the studio, and Maize Williams didn’t sing on the records at all, “since her voice wasn’t suited for this kind of music” (producer Farian’s words). So, only two members of the group sang on the records, although all four members sang on-stage, in concert. And, the band’s concert sound was further enhanced by backing vocalists. Numerous sources state that this was a common practice within the disco genre, and no one really cared in the 1970s…unlike when Farian did the same thing with Milli Vanilli in the 1980s. Milli Vanilli quickly became one of the top pop acts of the late ’80s, until it came out that Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus did not sing the songs. Both were model/dancers that Frank Farian had found in a Munich, Germany dance club. The vocals on the Arista Records album “Girl You Know It’s True” (1989) were sung by Charles Shaw, John Davis, Brad Howell, and twin sisters Jodie & Linda Rocco.

And, just like “Boney M” fifteen years earlier, producer Farian believed his vocalists lacked a marketable image. Hence, Rob and Fab on the album cover! This time, however, the record-buying public cared. A LOT! In the video above, Rob & Fab “lip sync” at the 1990 Grammy Awards… Rob and Fab’s grammy was revoked in late 1990, when the truth could no longer be deinied. An album with the duo’s picture on the front, featuring their actual voices, was a dismal failure. In 1998, on the verge of a comeback tour, Rob was found in a German hotel room, dead of an apparent drug overdose. Fab continued to pursue a solo career, with little notice. “Boney M” & “Milli Vanilli” What a difference a decade makes! "Girl You Know It's True" album production credits. (Craig Allen photo) Milli Vanilli Discography at Discogs Report I could not understand why the real singers didn't just come out and just say that they sung the record - put out some new material and at least try to reap the benefits. People obviously liked the music.

Worst case scenario - let's say these guys look like Jabba the Hut. Neaten yourselves up - make a presentation (separate from the producer who concocted this mess) and say you desired to stay behind the scenes, but felt you needed a visual presence with Rob and Fab and make an honest apology. I just think it would have put some positivity on the situation. Report edited over 5 years ago Encise's is a great introduction to the story. If we all, for a moment, turn our heads and ignore the fact Rob & Fab were lip-synching, and look into the music that's been offered in their heyday, there's pretty much a surprising mixture of styles that would have left many doubters mouth open back then. While it WAS image alone, as marketably exploited as it could possibly get, the album "All Or Nothing" wasn't just a hodge-podge of bittersweet pop brainwash for the Bravo generation of 1988. It does contain a number of guilty pleasures - being a confusing hybrid of underground hip-hop/house and of course - pop clichés.

Very probably, the most annoying aspect in the Rob & Fab story at that point was the name they chose to represent - "Milli Vanilli" (betraying a very remote but still charming debt to a certain "Scritti Politti" by comparison), being easily memorable, catchy and like today's "Lady Gaga", annoyingly cut into the minds of countless listeners, whether they like it or not. Of course, if Frank Farian wasn't a bastard he actually was, single-handedly constructing and directing the whole thing and then throwing his two frontmen executives to the lions - presenting it in a little bit different way could have meant the word "entertainment" would prevail and any marks of fraud would be less disturbing in terms of "music performers". Because it could have been an interesting showcase of models' mime and good pop tune to dance to when you were just 13. At the time, I was equally shocked regarding the "scandal", but more like naively thinking - "can this really be possible"?

From a distance point of view, Rob & Fab were very obviously victims of a ruthless two-faced manager/producer and then along came the good old music industry, being a ruthless mechanism in itself, willing to chew Milli Vanilli to bits and spit it out on the other end, minced meat without a single option of recovery from such a publicly orchestrated scandal. As it's already documented so far, the "original" Milli Vanilli story didn't end happily - while Rob Pilatus very probably didn't build a strong cocaine dependency mainly due to the infamous lip-synching career, the pressure of media mockery did help causing him suffer a mental breakdown resulting in suicide.

While "All Or Nothing" is far from original and authentic work (a certain majority of songs from the album are basically covers or paraphrasing other people's work - most notably "Money", which in a weird sense echoes Pink Floyd's song, although nothing to do with it stylistically, except maybe for the opening cash register sample, or a massive use of Eric B & Rakim's drum sample on several pieces ("Girl You Know It's True", "Baby Don't Forget My Number" and "All or Nothing") - plus 'Ma Baker' and 'Hush'), the debut album does contain some enjoyable guilty pleasures - for one, take "Can't You Feel My Love", which runs from cheesy funk to a clumsy but entertaining "heavy-metal" riff down the middle of the song. In all, a sad story to learn from - if you ever get approached by someone with a prepared recording contract. Report PART 1: THE STORY In the summer of 1990, the American music industry performed a bizarre ritual.

At a press conference, it was announced that the winners of that year's 'Best New Artist' award, Milli Vanilli, had had their prize revoked for misrepresenting their contributions to their own music; it had been discovered (though there was never much of a secret about it) that the group's putative members, Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan, had not performed any of the vocals on their album. (The vocals were actually performed by Charles Shaw, John Davis, and Brad Howe.) Vanilli quickly became a running joke in mass culture. Rob and Fab appeared in a self-mocking chewing-gum commercial, lip-synching the Care-Free jingle. A class-action suit was filed, and eventually purchasers of Girl You Know It's True were given the opportunity to mail off for a rebate for fraud damages. And in 1991, Rob Pilatus attempted suicide by jumping out of his Beverly Hill Hotel suite. Milli Vanilli today are little more than a fading joke and a trivia question . Although they'd sold ten million albums and scored five Top Five singles (including three Number Ones), their hit songs have been erased from the oldies playlists of radio stations across the nation.

But if Milli Vanilli's songs have been expunged from the collective memory, their disgrace remains a critical episode in the narrative contemporary popular music tells to explain itself. That 1990 press conference came in the midst of crisis in the shared assumptions about authenticity in popular music. A New Jersey congressman was proposing a law banning unannounced lip-synching at concerts. The cross-over of hip-hop represented by Milli-Vanilli's pop-rap fusion was introducing Top 40 audiences to remixing and sampling strategies that called into question assumptions about songs's originality. Synthesizers, originally exploited for their plastic, unnatural sound in the early 80s, had become the sonic norm, as familiar as amplified guitar strings. And sophisticated recording techniques had emerged which could filter and modify any voice into a radio-ready instrument. Pop music-making in the 1990s has more to do with filmmaking than jamming in a garage: every song is a collection of tracks laid down by assorted musicians, edited together by producers, and fronted by charismatic performers.

But while most viewers recognize the complex division of labor in moviemaking--nobody gets upset that actors don't do their own stunts--pop music hangs on to the folk-era image of the individual artist communicating directly to her or his listeners. Milli Vanilli became martyrs to this myth of authenticity. They were the recording industry's sacrifice meant to prove the integrity of the rest of their product--as if the music marketed under the names U2 or Janet Jackson WEREN'T every bit as constructed and mediated, just because the voices on the records matched the faces in the videos. The sacrifice worked. Paula Abdul faced down a lawsuit from a former backup singer claiming Abdul's voice was barely audible on several of the tracks from her hit Forever Your Girl, and established her artistic credibility by singing ballads on the follow-up Spellbound. Rapper Biz Markie was successfully sued for unliscensed sampling, and now every hip-hop appropriation is contractually accounted for. Gangsta rap and grunge rock emerged as mass genres which laid special claims to authentic expression, and nobody smirked.

Sure, the rules had changed somewhat: the hard-rockin' earnestness of Bruce Springsteen's comeback records in 1991 sounded painfully out of touch; in place of those plodding electric guitars, aging rockers discovered that they could shed the burden of their years and regain intimacy with their audiences by going acoustic - or at least 'Unplugged', which quickly developed to mean anything except electric guitars. Soon, post-Vanilli diva Mariah Carey was performing live on MTV just to prove her multi-octave range was an honest freak of nature, and not just a studio trick. In explaining the pleasures of mass culture, the aesthetic criteria that go along with the rubric of 'authenticity'--designations like 'talent' and 'quality'--are pretty useless standards of judgement--after-the-fact rationalizations, often, for more inexplicable attractions. Why do I love Milli Vanilli's Girl, You Know It's True? I can go on all day long about its neo-soul songcraft, its soaring synth-strings, its hip hop beat and clever samples. But do I think it's great because the people involved were 'talented'? Who the hell cares?

It's not like I'm inviting them to dinner. Plenty of the greatest music ever made has been created by hacks, slackers, and no-names, who for whatever reasons stumbled into a little bit of genius. I should point out that just because Rob and Fab didn't have much to do with the creation of Milli Vanilli's music, it's not like nobody else did. The genius behind the Milli Vanilli sound, if you want to know, is producer Frank Farian, also responsible for disco pioneers Boney M. There was probably some specific mastermind behind the image and marketing of Milli Vanilli, as well, whose name is lost to history because of the biases of what gets to count as 'art' and what as 'packaging'. In any case, dividing up the responsibility for the bundle of sound and images known as Milli Vanilli may be a significant historical task, but it does little to make sense of the pleasures of the text. We can explain Farian's contribution to the bundle of sound and image known as 'Milli Vanilli' in terms of valorized technical skills. But how much credit should we give Rob and Fab for their wonderful, slightly off-base charisma? For their enormous pecs?

For their great hair? These may be 'superficial' attributes, but they have AS much to do with aesthetic effect as rhythm tracks. To classify some qualities as 'talents' and others as 'superficial' may work for judging friends, but they have nothing to do with the play of images that makes up the art of mass culture. None of this is to say that this art need be seen as in any way 'compromised' by its commodity status. The disgracing of Milli Vanilli didn't return popular music to a golden age of direct communication between artist and fan. I'm not sure I'd want such a relationship, if it ever existed-- most rock stars become a lot less interesting when you learn what they're 'really' like. But in demarcating the '90s' boundary line between 'art' and 'image', what THIS DISGRACING may have inadvertently helped usher in is the era of the Supermodel. Cindy, Naomi, Linda and their cohort can't be unmasked as talentless frauds, don't need to sing, dance, or act to be stars. They've given up any claim to creating anything other than images of themselves.

Does this mean they produce nothing that can be of any value to their millions of fans? Those who embraced the harsh 'trial by media' sentencing imposed on the fronters of Milli Vanilli have in effect, conceded that they bought into the music for the image and should be ashamed of themselves for confirmation of the fact that the public buy into a concept/image created by the record company, rather than the music. PART 2: THE MUSIC Tracks to look out for (for those who are unpersuaded by populist view and like hip hop/ soul with a twist of turntablism and house sensibilites): Girl You Know Its True (NY Subway Remix) The extended version of Milli Vanillis first European hit was a clubbers delight and scratched and dropped in samples from Bobby Brown and Eric B & Rakim, amongst others. This hard-to-find track is similar to an ULTIMIX remix - whereby the original is re-edited and fused with additional beats and samples to create a sound collage of tough hip hop beats and shimmering percussive rhythms.

Baby Dont Forget My Number (NY Subway Remix) This club mix starts with an elongated Public Enemy 'Fight The Power' sample -with PE rapper 'Flavour Flav' being sampled screaming 'Dont Believe The Hype!" From herein, the track samples the Jungle Brothers (Ill House You) and many others to again, create an integration of club sounds, beats and samples. All or Nothing (12" Club Mix) The 'Paid In Full' beat sampled from Eric B and Rakim and appearing on many Milli Vanilli singles doesnt make an appearance untill 8 minutes into this classic club hit. The single was released at the same time as producer Frank Farian 'coming out' about MVs lip synching and therefor suffered from a poorly constructed video borrowing heavily from MVs previous clips. The track however, was another club hip hop stomper mixing in concepts from the above two tracks.

Question: Which 80s pop act had their Grammy revoked for not singing the vocals on their album?
Answer: Milli Vanilli