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Gallant_Asshole t1_j1zmbj0 wrote

Who would honestly admit they bought tickets to Milli Vanilli?

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spmahn t1_j1zu3x7 wrote

The story and the video was part of the old VH1 Behind the Music show years and years ago. The Lake Compounce thing is blown out of proportion, A. Lots of artists even back then lip synced live in concert, from Michael Jackson to New Kids on the Block to Madonna to Tiffany and Debbie Gibson, it was not a big deal, and it just kind of looks like a DJ was spinning their record and B. The Lake Compounce concert was in the Summer of 89, Milli Vanilli stuck around for at least another year, so clearly it didn’t hurt them that much.

Milli Vanilli lip syncing live wasn’t the issue, the fact that they never sang on their record in the first place was the issue.

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hymen_destroyer t1_j1zx7sv wrote

no but I saw New Kids on the Block at Lake Compounce around the same time and it was 🔥🔥🔥

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Ordinary_Guitar_5074 OP t1_j1zxku3 wrote

Replying to spmahn (#1,120,318)

Yeah it’s super obvious that bands were lip syncing on TV variety shows. The one that comes to mind is The Animals performing House of The Rising Sun. Also the Mamas and the Pappas singing California Dreaming. It was way obvious.

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spmahn t1_j1zytjd wrote

Replying to Ordinary_Guitar_5074 (#1,120,950)

Yeah, lip syncing for TV has always been a thing, trying to produce live music in a way that doesn’t sound awful on TV is really hard. For concerts though, once Michael Jackson came along in 1984, and especially on his Bad tour and combined live music with complex choreography, it changed the game. From that point on, live acts had a choice, they could perform live, or they could do their dance performance live, but you couldn’t have both. Most pop acts from that point chose the dancing.

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purplemaplesurple t1_j2028el wrote

I was there! I was only 10 and didn’t realize anything weird happened. It was my very first concert.

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Prize-Hedgehog t1_j202lpl wrote

So funny looking back at it now how obvious it was. Two guys that could barely speak English sure did sing it very well!

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Malapple t1_j2056vk wrote

I just remember them getting made fun of, mercilessly - and then whenever you'd talk about any other musician, there was a "do they sing or lipsync" for a while. I was really young when it blew up.

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sweet_whisky1 t1_j205khq wrote

I was there. It was a whole MTV concert series. It didn't seem like a big deal at the time.

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Nyrfan2017 t1_j20kyot wrote

Heard they blamed it on the rain …..

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leavingthecold t1_j20rgy3 wrote

The songs were still great. Props to the real group who sang these songs

RIP Rob Pilatus

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FireyToots t1_j2119yo wrote

i wasn't born in connecticut (but i'm here now and you can't get rid of me! ha, suckers!) so it's insane to find all the weird or interesting connecticut connections that happened.

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RhythmSectionJunky t1_j212r7q wrote

It was a big deal back then, but today we can view them as the pioneers they were.

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parsonsparsons t1_j215aey wrote

My anthropology teacher in high school was there, he told us that in 2002, Mr. Laplante

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GlitterfreshGore t1_j2166bw wrote

Replying to Theriggerswife (#1,127,582)

I just saw them too! I brought my 7 year old with me. He was like “mom? Why is everyone screaming?”

Edit to add: my aunt went to a retreat for quitting smoking. It was like a week long thing and they bunked with Jon Knight. They are still in contact. My aunt said he’s very quiet and very sweet.

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ctnewsy t1_j217hij wrote

In 1989, German-French dance-pop group Milli Vanilli was on top of the world. The band had released its North American debut album, "Girl You Know It's True," which climbed the Billboard charts and went six-times platinum. The success also earned the group its first Grammy Award nomination and win for "Best New Artist" the following year.

However, one Connecticut concert was all it took to shatter the phenomenon of Milli Vanilli.On July 21, 1989, the group was set to perform live on MTV at Lake Compounce at the newly-opened amphitheater at the park, which could hold 20,000 fans. As the group took the stage to perform its seminal hit, "Girl You Know It's True," an issue with a hard drive caused the backing tracks to skip, jump and repeat — exposing that Milli Vanilli had actually been lip-syncing the song.

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jaimearistea t1_j218txs wrote

I saw them at the garden state art center in New Jersey when I was a kid and I remember during an intermission, this recording came on of them singing and immediately went off. Even to my kid brain, it seemed like a mix-up or an oops.

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Ordinary_Guitar_5074 OP t1_j21d7sq wrote

Replying to leavingthecold (#1,126,244)

Yeah I wanna say that the group that actually sang on the recordings was two men and a woman and no one seemed to notice there were only two guys on the stage. In addition to their heavy German accents. That said they were a fluff act so it’s not like anybody was being that critical of them in the forst place.

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gal5pau t1_j21fyja wrote

They were simply before their time…💔

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SherrickM t1_j21lzmi wrote

My sister has long contended that she was there. She's of the appropriate age and music Fandom at the time, but I have never found any evidence. No ticket stub, no photos from that day, no friend who will say they were there with her. Hard to say.

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GovernmentNo4676 t1_j21rxlx wrote

These poor guys, one of which is dead were persecuted for what nearly every modern performer does. So FUCKING stupid.

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Repulsive_List8964 t1_j220yyv wrote

I know 2 people who were there….Milli and another guy, Vanilli. They were there

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Nutella_Zamboni t1_j2249i6 wrote

I saw Chicago and the Beach Boys in the pouring rain. I was 12/13, and there with my family. The most beautiful girl of a similar age to me sat a few seats away and we stole glances at each other all night long. Which, my father made fun of me for the whole ride home lol.

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1976kdawg t1_j225g4n wrote

My wife was there. It took her a minute to realize it was skipping.

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MuddMeyer t1_j227fev wrote

Sadly my first concert ever was them 🤦🏻‍♂️😂. Saw them and En Vogue and Young MC in Hartford around that time frame, still residing in New Milford Ct.

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WWJPD t1_j227xrq wrote

I was at Lake Compounce the night it happened. It was a whole MTV tour thing. I remember walking in the park with my friend when we heard it skipping and looked at each other asking, “Is the music skipping?” And we kept walking and didn’t give a crap.

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RationallySkeptic t1_j22o8un wrote

Replying to Psirocking (#1,135,547)

Where the Zoomerang is now. The plaque is right next to the Zoomerang. There are old areal shots of the old concert stage on google and you can see the road right next to the stage. A LOT of famous bands/artists played there back then. In fact the week after MV played, Melissa Etheridge played. And then Ringo Starr the week after Melissa.

Metallica played the week before MV.

This website archived every concert ever at LC... except for July 21st(MV)

https://www.concertarchives.org/venues/lake-compounce?page=3#concert-table

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Eastern_Ladder_6118 t1_j22oztb wrote

I was there and I had no idea what was happening. I was in high school. They were singing and it was toward the end of the concert. And then the song kind of starts repeating. Lights kept going and most people thought it was a call for an encore. I remember they came back out for a little while and kept performing. Had no idea something happened until a few days later. Of course no social media, cell phones or anything else back then.

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lostinNevermore t1_j22picb wrote

I know some guys who used to work crew there. I will have to ask when I see them next week.

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fitzmoon t1_j23r8y5 wrote

Replying to itqitc (#1,131,071)

I went too!!! It was my first year at SCSU it was the best! I wore my purple fringed suede jacket and Nike high tops with the red swoosh…I was soooooo cool! Ah, the 80s…

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babycrowitch t1_j23rbvl wrote

I was working there that night. I was maybe 17.

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Ordinary_Guitar_5074 OP t1_j23to9z wrote

Replying to NoBoysenberry257 (#1,144,163)

That’s true. It was actually a computer hard drive. It’s referred to often as “tape” but that’s an antiquated term that has survived because “playing to tape” is a term of art. Sort of like how very few movies are created on film but movies are still often referred to as “films” and so forth.

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Gallant_Asshole t1_j23vf5o wrote

Replying to 219Infinity (#1,144,620)

Some people are of the opinion that the "band" was disgraced even before they got caught. They were an early obvious example of a "band" run by a corporation which no actual talent and a lot of technology and out-of-touch fashion stylists. All designed to hit on modern trends. It was as generic pop as it gets.

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jpr_jpr t1_j23ygqb wrote

I got paid ~$11/hr to sell harbor bars while watching a Sting concert there. Would love a few more gigs like that.

Alot of great concert memories there. Just the threat of a Guns and Roses concert was enough to shut it down. 😞

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Nigel_IncubatorJones t1_j245hk8 wrote

Replying to spmahn (#1,121,173)

That's the truth , it would be almost impossible to sing while doing a lot of those dance moves. You would be out of breath, dancing is cardio, and singing takes a lot of breath control if you want to sing in tune.

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IAmSherm t1_j26o90f wrote

Replying to sweet_whisky1 (#1,122,414)

I was there primarily to see Tone Loc and Information Society that night, but have zero recollection of anything memorable with MV. Paula Abdul was also on the lineup. She and her entourage were on the roller coaster ahead of our group and the ride attendant let them ride a second time without disembarking. Teenage me was not pleased.

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