Best mocking of lip syncing

Cafe Society
1

I just ran across this Buffalo Springfield medley from the 60s Hollywood Palace show.

Their bass player had been busted for pot. What do they do? They stick a bass into the hands of their road manager and have him sit on a stool with his back to the audience so the camera can compose arty over-the-shoulder shots of the band. The bass line goes on, and so does the guitar line. Is that Richie Furay playing Young’s part? Doesn’t the music obviously keep going when they lift their hands to clap? Why is Stills slapping his guitar like that? Has it been bad? The girls in the audience scream and scream and scream.

I have to mention my favorite moment, which I finally found on YouTube. For some reason the Smothers Brothers told the Jefferson Airplane to lipsync instead of play live. Grace Slick was so mad that instead of holding a microphone she sang into the amplifier plug. You can clearly see the prongs on the end in that video.

What else is out there to be discovered on YouTube?

2

Biily, Don’t Be A Hero.

Just a little of of sync.

3

Don’t ask Muse to lipsync.

4

I think Grace changed some of the words she was lipping too. And if I may take a moment to say - Man! Music was way better back then.

5

According to Lillian Roxon, bassist Bruce Palmer usually performed with his back to the audience, so it was a easy substitution when he was busted.

6

Van Morisson’s Brown eyed girl

7

Nirvana on Top of the Pops, unfortunately not good video quality.

I think they were sick of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by then.

8

I like this version of Holiday, by The Other Ones.

9

Public Image Ltd. on American Bandstand:

Pure tasty fucking chaos.

10

IIRC The Pixies didn’t even make a pretense of lip-synching in one video (c. 20+ years ago)…

11

Just a slow-motion running at the camera, right?

12

Even better is the way Paul Kantner (or is it Marty Balin?) is just lounging on the stage not participating at all!

13

Here Comes Your Man

14

I really can’t bring myself to link to them, but some months back someone posted a gushing tribute to Karen Carpenter with a bunch of Youtube links to her performances. They all looked and sounded obviously lip-synched to studio-recorded versions of her songs.

15

Oh, as far as mocking lip-synch, Chevy chase used to mock “guests” on SNL’s Weekend Update, by lip-synching something approximating what they were saying and making ridiculous faces at the same time. Does that count?

16

I love VM but he sucks at lip synching.

17

Thanks for that link to the original Buffalo Springfield appearance. Steven Stills was so full of energy and snark that it restored my faith in humanity. His dancing around, mugging with Richie Furay, and just being irreverent was great.