Performances are such an essential part to an artist’s repertoire. Without a good performance, it’s hard to sell records long-term or get fans to want to see you. Additionally, this is the litmus test to see if you can actually sing and dance outside of a recording or a video. Unfortunately, some people just didn’t quite fit the bill. Here are 5 career-ruining musician performances.
Lindsay Lohan’s Fake Singing
The actress gained major fame from her films “Freaky Friday” and “Mean Girls”, so she tried to branch off into singing. Even though her debut album “Speak” went platinum, a performance made her sophomore album not have the same success. Lohan had two songs to perform on “Good Morning America” when she got caught on camera not moving her mouth along with the vocals that were playing. Her label rep Kim Jakwerth said that Lohan was singing 100% live. However, this backlash was the beginning of her ending her singing career.
Guns N’ Roses on MTV VMA Awards 2002
Apparently, this was supposed to be their comeback performance. However, Axl Rose and the new lineup just didn’t put on a good show. Rose’s weird appearance matched with some bad vocals just put the group in a slump they couldn’t recover.
Dixie Chicks’ George W. Bush Protest
Political stands have always been risky for musicians. In this case, it was really risky because The Chicks (formerly Dixie Chicks) do country music. In a performance in London, they spoke out against the Bush administration and said they didn’t support the war, violence, and more. Their core audience boycotted their albums and staged protests at their concerts. Even with all of that, they have been able to make some crossover success. However, it’s still not the same fame they had before their diatribe.
Ashlee Simpson’s Hoedown Debacle
Her song “Pieces of Me” began to get major steam and she’s started to take off in her singing career. The first part of her performance went well. However, when she took the stage for her second song, the backing track to “Pieces of Me” began to play. She was a bit shocked and tried to play it off. However, she rushed off stage after a minute. She blamed the band, but really she was embarrassed. And later blamed her singing on acid reflux and her voice being shot. Her subsequent single and album did poorly, and she could never recover her career.
Milli Vanilli Doomed Lip-Synching Performance
The duo gained tons of fame with big hits, such as “Baby Don’t Forget My Number”, “Blame It on the Rain” and “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You.” However, this was all a farce (at least vocally). On an MTV performance, a backing track skipped and the speculation came to whether or not they could actually sing. Their manager later revealed that in fact they did lip-synch and had session singers record on the album. As a result, they got their Grammy Award taken away. They tried to make a comeback a few years later, but the album tanked.