# Tell me about "Milli Vanilli" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 30, 2008, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-milli-vanilli/454758 "2008-06-30T11:07:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-milli-vanilli/454758/1 "2008-06-30T11:07:38Z")
What was so terrible about Milli Vanilli (circa 1988) lip-synching everything? Hollywood (including the music biz) is full of phoney-baloney things, so what’s the difference? Also, as a bonus, how exactly did they get caught? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-milli-vanilli/454758/2 "2008-06-30T11:09:26Z")
They won a Grammy for “Best New Artist”. They had it stripped from them. If that hadn’t been the case, it probably wouldn’t be anywhere near as notorious. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-milli-vanilli/454758/3 "2008-06-30T11:16:21Z")
[QUOTE=GuanoLad] They won a Grammy for “Best New Artist”. They had it stripped from them. If that hadn’t been the case, it probably wouldn’t be anywhere near as notorious. [/QUOTE] Ah, yes…guess I forgot that little detail, didn’t I? (Not that I suport the phoney-baloney nature of the whole Hollywood scene. I’m very picky about what movies are going to take up my time, and I watch absolutely zero Reality TV). ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-milli-vanilli/454758/4 "2008-06-30T11:23:16Z")
[QUOTE=Jinx] What was so terrible about Milli Vanilli (circa 1988) lip-synching everything? Hollywood (including the music biz) is full of phoney-baloney things, so what’s the difference? [/QUOTE] Musicians may lip-synch now and then, but they typically lip-synch to their own music. Milli Vanilli, on the other hand, was lip-synching to an entirely different set of vocals. Big difference. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-milli-vanilli/454758/5 "2008-06-30T11:23:37Z")
Part of the lip-synching issue (for those who don’t know or forgot) was that it wouldn’t have been that big of a deal if they were just lip-synching. The problem was that it came out that they hadn’t sung the songs **originally** , either. They were the handsome faces to sell the music. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-milli-vanilli/454758/6 "2008-06-30T12:06:03Z")
I hated their music whoever was singing it, but I was confused by people returning the records to the store. If you did like the music, why should it matter if the people on the cover were the real singers or not? ---
**Author:** ![Thin\_Ice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@Thin\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thin_Ice)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-milli-vanilli/454758/7 "2008-06-30T12:19:59Z")
IIRC, a young woman succesfully sued the record company and/or MV for fraud or some such. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-milli-vanilli/454758/8 "2008-06-30T12:40:11Z")
[QUOTE=Greg Charles] If you did like the music, why should it matter if the people on the cover were the real singers or not? [/QUOTE] I guess they didn’t want to support the label and musicians who were involved in the sham. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-milli-vanilli/454758/9 "2008-06-30T12:45:13Z")
[QUOTE=Greg Charles] I hated their music whoever was singing it, but I was confused by people returning the records to the store. If you did like the music, why should it matter if the people on the cover were the real singers or not? [/QUOTE] That’s logical, but people don’t always buy records for logical reasons. People felt betrayed by the hoax and felt that they had purchased the music due to false claims. In addition, many of the buyers (they were most popular with teenaged girls) liked the group not just for the music, but because they thought the singers looked hot. The fact that they didn’t sing was a letdown. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-milli-vanilli/454758/10 "2008-06-30T12:45:41Z")
I’m guessing there was also a big embarrassment factor. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-milli-vanilli/454758/11 "2008-06-30T13:06:21Z")
[QUOTE=Jinx] Also, as a bonus, how exactly did they get caught? - Jinx [/QUOTE] From [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milli_Vanilli): > [@Wikipedia](#): > > In 1990, during a live performance recorded by MTV at the Lake Compounce theme park in Bristol, Connecticut, the recording of the song “Girl You Know It’s True” jammed and began to skip, repeating the partial line “Girl, you know it’s-” over and over. According to the premiere episode of VH1’s Behind the Music which profiled Milli Vanilli, fans attending the concert didn’t seem to notice or even care and the concert continued as if nothing had happened, but critics did notice and questioned Rob and Fab in their concert reviews. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-milli-vanilli/454758/12 "2008-06-30T13:47:18Z")
Most people buy music so as to be able to share in a particular social experience with their group of friends, not out of love for music. If you’re in the circle that buys Milli Vanilli, it’s because the “idea” behind your mini-culture vibes with the image that Milli Vanilli presents. If it ends up that that image was false, that they aren’t hot intelligent men who compose and sing and are all-over impressive guys, then that might mean that the band is against what you believe in. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-milli-vanilli/454758/13 "2008-06-30T14:56:52Z")
Similar at the same time was C + C Music Factory’s _Gonna Make You Sweat_ where the line “Everybody Dance Now” was sung by a plus sized Martha Wash. However they made it appear that it was song by front woman Zelma Davis (skinny and young) and she even lyp-synced it in the video. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-milli-vanilli/454758/14 "2008-06-30T15:13:00Z")
[QUOTE=Hampshire] Similar at the same time was C + C Music Factory’s _Gonna Make You Sweat_ where the line “Everybody Dance Now” was sung by a plus sized **Martha Wash**. [/QUOTE] Who, incidentally, was one of the original duo singing under the name The Weather Girls (“It’s Raining Men”). ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-milli-vanilli/454758/15 "2008-06-30T15:21:54Z")
I was perplexed at the hatred for MV music too. It’s not at all surprising that people would dump the two goofballs who posed as the band, but the compete rejection of the music was telling. It seemed to say that the fans of the band really didn’t give a shit about the music. It was all about the style and looks of those guys (whose name I have forgotten.) One of them is dead now IIRC. If people had really been into the music they might have made stars out the real musicians and songwriters, but no. It’s as if the curtain had been pulled back and people had jeered Debbie Reynolds. Not that anything MV did was even 1% as good as Singing In The Rain. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-milli-vanilli/454758/16 "2008-06-30T15:27:57Z")
I’m not sure that “people are poseurs” was the major reason behind rejecting MV music. As pointed out above, the real singers participated in the charade (either from the start or only after recording) and I’d fully understand anyone who felt lied to and thus stopped listening, even if they liked the music initially. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-milli-vanilli/454758/17 "2008-06-30T16:48:28Z")
Think Phoebe from \*Friends \* doing the music video to _Smelly Cat_, although she did write the song, so maybe it’s not as bad. In Meatloaf’s \*I Would Do Anything for Love \* the woman in the video is NOT the woman who is singing the female vocals, but I believe the singer is credited on the album, so no harm done. The thing about MV is that they portrayed it like it was their voice singing their songs, and it wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2008, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-milli-vanilli/454758/18 "2008-06-30T17:04:34Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass] In Meatloaf’s \*I Would Do Anything for Love \* the woman in the video is NOT the woman who is singing the female vocals, but I believe the singer is credited on the album, so no harm done. [/QUOTE] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I’d\_Do\_Anything\_for\_Love\_(But\_I\_Won’t\_Do\_That](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I'd_Do_Anything_for_Love_(But_I_Won't_Do_That)) > [@](#): > > It features a female vocalist who was credited only as “Mrs. Loud” in the album notes. She was later identified as Lorraine Crosby, a performer from North East England who regularly performs at holiday camps and social clubs.[3] She does not, however, appear in the video, in which her vocals are lipsynched by Dana Patrick. Meat Loaf promoted the single with American vocalist Patti Russo performing the live female vocals. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-milli-vanilli/454758/19 "2008-07-01T02:04:42Z")
[QUOTE=ivylass] In Meatloaf’s \*I Would Do Anything for Love \* the woman in the video is NOT the woman who is singing the female vocals, but I believe the singer is credited on the album, so no harm done. [/QUOTE] Likewise for “Paradise by the Dashboard Light”. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-milli-vanilli/454758/20 "2008-07-01T02:19:21Z")
[At least Milli Vanilli had a sense of humour about it.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbDUiaBfeKs) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-milli-vanilli/454758.md?page=2)