Television demanded lip-sync; the bands had other ideas. Nine acts of playback sabotage, plus the two accidents that ended the practice.
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit (Top Of The Pops 1991)
Santiago Marín
Kurt sings an octave down, barely touches the guitar
Public Image Ltd.- Poptones & Careering (American Bandstand 1980)
Flowers Of Romance
Lydon wanders the crowd instead of miming
Muse playback on Italian TV show
Gianfranco Zagaria
the drummer mimes vocals, nobody at the desk notices
New Order - Blue Monday on BBC's Top of the Pops - 31.3.1983
New Order
insisted on playing live; sales reportedly dropped
Ashlee Simpson Lip Sync Fail On Saturday Night Live (2004)
NXN
the wrong backing track, live on SNL
milli vanilli concert FAIL (1990)
Musics&More YouTube Channel
the skip heard round the world
10 Singers Refusing to Lip Sync on TV
Loudwire
ten refusals, catalogued
The day Iron Maiden swapped instruments on TV
Leandro Del Prete
playback protest, metal division
Red Hot Chili Peppers & Bruno Mars - Give It Away LIVE SUPER BOWL HALFTIME SHOW 2014
rhcpfullshows3
Flea's open letter: nothing was plugged in, on purpose
1–9 SELECT · ARROWS ROAM · SPACE PLAY · ↵ THEATER · ESC STOP · S SHUFFLE · ? KEYS
