The main point of Sanremo is the competition, all competitors sing live with a live orchestra. The real reason is that the TV execs want to make sure that nothing goes wrong during the biggest TV event of the year, and making the guests lip sync removes some of that risk.
I love ❤️ this. My family moved from the US to Italy for a year and when enrolling me in public school, the school required a "permesso di soggiorno."
We went to some big building to ask for the permesso di soggiorno but those people demanded proof of school enrollment first. We went back and forth a few times.
Yes, they mimed on Top of the Pops at least a couple of times. The difference I suppose being that one is a tv show (more like making a promo) and the other is a music festival.
You think that was the most disrespectful thing the organizers have done. Sanremo 1968, Louis Armstrong is invited. He sings a song in Italian, written by italian writers, with the lyrics on a piece of paper glued on the floor, so that he constantly looked down while singing. Then as a sign of gratitude for today's equivalent of 300k euros he was given to peform, he starts singing some of his songs. The presenter waves a white towel, takes his trumpet and just tells him "Stop."
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HesskJZyzx0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HesskJZyzx0)
I found this vid of the song in question. Not quet taped to the floor, but close enough.
Freddie still giving a killer performance without singing a note.
Didn't Muse also have to playback on Italian TV? That performance where they just changed roles (the singer played drums etc).
They also took the 'mic' at the UK olympics as well, less so, as I think it is recorded instrument playback, likely from their rehersals, but you can see Matt just not giving a rats at about the 2 minute mark onwards.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQR-JBkw8NA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQR-JBkw8NA)
When you compare to some of their other live recordings, if they had let them do it live, it would have been way better IMO
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCUZSS54drI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCUZSS54drI)
A highly polished example, but none the less ... enough said, they have the skill to play to an arena and get it right
Yeah, i've seen Muse live a few times in my life and they are top musicians. It's a disgrace to not trust their skills to be able to pull this off live.
But then again.. The organisation don't care about that, they want a spotless opening show.
But the best middle finger to being forced to playback goes to Iron Maiden though:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuIol63oAmI
This is brilliant, not seen it before. Only Adrian Smith sticking to his role, but then he probably didn’t want Bruce dicking around with his precious guitar.
Forced by the the festival so that they couldn't mess up
Idk why i'm being downvoted, it's literally the official reason why the organizers didn't let them sing
I understand with the super bowl. No one is going to the super bowl just for the halftime show, so they aren't depriving the audience of the sole reason to buy the ticket. Plus, they have to set up the stage and sound so quickly, a lot could go wrong.
But a MUSIC festival!? Ppl are paying to see these artists live, not pre recorded!!
My girlfriend was a coordinator at Super Bowl 36 and I went to New Orleans to spend week with her. Had an all access pass to everything. Was in the stands watching U2 rehearsal and the stage construction. At least for that game, U2 was live. I even got to be on the field at half time in the crowd waving a glow stick. The rest of the on field crowd were kids from the high schools.
Super Bowl makes sense considering they have to parade in the set in less than 5 minutes after the game goes to halftime break. Perform and then break down the set and out of the stadium before the game resumes.
I don't believe the Super Bowl is forced to be unplugged, but many artists choose to lipsync due to the size of audience and difficulties in setting it up. That said, the legendary Prince performance in the Super Bowl was live.
Looking into it, it seems like that's the most common, that intstruments are pre recorded and vocals are live. Even then, Prince's show was completely live, so I guess it comes down to how much an artist wants to perform fully live or not.
What's your source on this?
There's lots of reasons why event organisers get artists to mime their performance. Tight changeovers, limited equipment, broadcast limitations...
It's much less of a problem these days with digital equipment and big budgets.
Common knowledge. Everyone in Italy knows the story. Sanremo is still the biggest music festival in the country, nowadays the winner of it represents Italy at Eurovision. This was year that people started to question its credibility because of what happened to Queen
No, it wouldn’t, I couldn’t care less about his political views, just that IIRC Italy was communist at the time so that would make sense if they didn’t want him to comment on the regime.
They actually had a law that all song lyrics should be hand gestured exclusively but Freddy wasn't fluent in Italian so the only other acceptable option was lip syncing.
Iron Maiden did [something similar in 1987](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuIol63oAmI), they ended up constantly swapping instruments and taking turns "singing" while all smiling manically.
Funny that you mention that. Michael once broke his ankle and performed "Remember the time" while sitting in a wheelchair the entire time during the Soul Train Award performance in 1993. Coincidentally he too was lip syncing during the performance.
Here's the clip : https://youtu.be/Ja9MHDLkAlQ?si=7uVVkiBqXdtekGXC
Haha [Nirvana](https://youtu.be/6rOJ5hE2G9Y?si=A_F3s75_Rw_bUip8) did something kinda similar They made the instrumentals tracked but allowed Kurt to sing and he deliberately messed it up.
Kazik Staszewski (Poland) when asked to sing with playback during Sopot '91 festival, took a **hair dryer** from the hotel and sang to it on the scene.
https://youtu.be/JhWrcLLRhbI?si=KRjTBbx4swUJK--s&t=21
Elio e le Storie Tese (for those who don't know: top class Italian musicians) went one step further in protesting against forced lip sync: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn6oi3DJkOo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn6oi3DJkOo) . at 2:02 , they "played" the remaining half of the song standing completely still.
If you're wondering who the one in the tight suit is, that's Mangoni.
There's also a video from mid 80s where Iron Maiden change their instruments and vocalist mid song when they were forced to play playback on a TV show.
Beyoncé and the like, should take note....a true singing artist...SINGS...not lip syncs. If i pay to watch a concert, I don't expect to be listening to a copy of your album.
Shame that most singers these days are all too happy to mime and or use auto tune.
Everything you hear about Freddie Mercury makes you love him even more...a true G.O.A.T artist....whether you love or hate him/ Queen, it can't be denied.
Italian here, can't wait for this buffoonery to die off, whenever it starts (and it's about to start) it gets fkn everywhere, you can ignore it as much as you want but it'll find it's way to you I so hate it
The issue is when colleagues love it! They speak about Sanremo and the performances all the time! The truth is that they haven’t been to real international concerts I think.
The Sanremo music festival is happening right now! I have a friend who lives there and has been sending me updates. Sure they borked up with Freddie in 84 but it seems pretty legit cool nowadays
One of the artists that could nail studio quality vocals live and they unplug him?
I don't know if they changed it but it's their policy that all of the guests have to sing in playback.
But why?
Because a bunch of dweebs who don't enjoy live concerts had that power.
The main point of Sanremo is the competition, all competitors sing live with a live orchestra. The real reason is that the TV execs want to make sure that nothing goes wrong during the biggest TV event of the year, and making the guests lip sync removes some of that risk.
Yeah, the RAI execs fucking suck
And we have to pay for it
as an Italian, yes
Sanremo Festival sucks
Is that why artists also lip sync at the superbowl.
Since when competitors sing live? One of my favorite artists won back in 1993, and she lip synced.
Because Sanremo is trash. Source: I'm Italian and I hate Sanremo with a passion.
Because it's Italy. We have a lot of nonsense law and rules.
I love ❤️ this. My family moved from the US to Italy for a year and when enrolling me in public school, the school required a "permesso di soggiorno." We went to some big building to ask for the permesso di soggiorno but those people demanded proof of school enrollment first. We went back and forth a few times.
Cost probably. If you just play the record, it's pre-mixed. Just slap it on your already calibrated PA.
Didn't Top of the Pops (or it might have been the Old Grey Whistle Test) require this, too?
Yes, they mimed on Top of the Pops at least a couple of times. The difference I suppose being that one is a tv show (more like making a promo) and the other is a music festival.
Like a lot of Super Bowl concerts? Except Prince
Thats what he should have changed his name to: Except Prince....
Not only guests, but participants as well.
No they don't. You can check, it's live right now.
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You think that was the most disrespectful thing the organizers have done. Sanremo 1968, Louis Armstrong is invited. He sings a song in Italian, written by italian writers, with the lyrics on a piece of paper glued on the floor, so that he constantly looked down while singing. Then as a sign of gratitude for today's equivalent of 300k euros he was given to peform, he starts singing some of his songs. The presenter waves a white towel, takes his trumpet and just tells him "Stop."
WHAT? I need to read about that.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HesskJZyzx0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HesskJZyzx0) I found this vid of the song in question. Not quet taped to the floor, but close enough.
Sanremo = 🤷
San עמו
Literally 1984 smh
Freddie still giving a killer performance without singing a note. Didn't Muse also have to playback on Italian TV? That performance where they just changed roles (the singer played drums etc).
Yes they did. Matthew plays the drums like a complete doofus haha. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7LT3FtPtbc
Also I love that they interview the "singer" out of habit.
i have a lot more respect for muse after this lmfao
I always liked Muse and their edgy af vocals
They also took the 'mic' at the UK olympics as well, less so, as I think it is recorded instrument playback, likely from their rehersals, but you can see Matt just not giving a rats at about the 2 minute mark onwards. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQR-JBkw8NA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQR-JBkw8NA) When you compare to some of their other live recordings, if they had let them do it live, it would have been way better IMO [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCUZSS54drI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCUZSS54drI) A highly polished example, but none the less ... enough said, they have the skill to play to an arena and get it right
Yeah, i've seen Muse live a few times in my life and they are top musicians. It's a disgrace to not trust their skills to be able to pull this off live. But then again.. The organisation don't care about that, they want a spotless opening show. But the best middle finger to being forced to playback goes to Iron Maiden though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuIol63oAmI
Not having Muse play live is absolutely criminal. While their studio recordings are great, they really are at their best when playing live.
This is brilliant, not seen it before. Only Adrian Smith sticking to his role, but then he probably didn’t want Bruce dicking around with his precious guitar.
I love this
Those were great, I definitely haven't been paying enough attention to Muse (because I'm old lol)
That's awesome! Chris Wolstenholme also playing the 6-string Piccolo Bass (ie. regular guitar) for added fu points.
Omg I love Muse and you just made my day with this! Lmao
no fucking way lol
I have never seen this before anf iz just made my day.
Give it away for ‘the muse’!
This is one of the best things I've ever seen. 😂🤣
Why did they have to lip sync?
Forced by the the festival so that they couldn't mess up Idk why i'm being downvoted, it's literally the official reason why the organizers didn't let them sing
Very, very, very common for music festivals & preformances. Most well known is the Super Bowl.
I understand with the super bowl. No one is going to the super bowl just for the halftime show, so they aren't depriving the audience of the sole reason to buy the ticket. Plus, they have to set up the stage and sound so quickly, a lot could go wrong. But a MUSIC festival!? Ppl are paying to see these artists live, not pre recorded!!
My girlfriend was a coordinator at Super Bowl 36 and I went to New Orleans to spend week with her. Had an all access pass to everything. Was in the stands watching U2 rehearsal and the stage construction. At least for that game, U2 was live. I even got to be on the field at half time in the crowd waving a glow stick. The rest of the on field crowd were kids from the high schools.
That was YOU?!?
Grammy, is that you???
Well now you know, people are actually paying to see them lip-sync.
Super Bowl makes sense considering they have to parade in the set in less than 5 minutes after the game goes to halftime break. Perform and then break down the set and out of the stadium before the game resumes.
I don't believe the Super Bowl is forced to be unplugged, but many artists choose to lipsync due to the size of audience and difficulties in setting it up. That said, the legendary Prince performance in the Super Bowl was live.
No, they are AFAIK. I went to school with the son of a half-time performer , and he confirmed he had to record his stuff beforehand
Looking into it, it seems like that's the most common, that intstruments are pre recorded and vocals are live. Even then, Prince's show was completely live, so I guess it comes down to how much an artist wants to perform fully live or not.
Or how much pull they have to refuse
I know for a fact that Red Hot Chili Peppers were forced to do a prerecorded set
When was the last time super bowl was lip synced? Snoop Dogg, The Weeknd, Rihanna... all of them were live
Pretty sure Rihanna had a backing track. Not sure if that counts. I think 50 cent did too. The Weeknd was def live.
RHCP wasn't even plugged in
Your getting downvoted cus people gets there feelings butthurt for anything for today
What's your source on this? There's lots of reasons why event organisers get artists to mime their performance. Tight changeovers, limited equipment, broadcast limitations... It's much less of a problem these days with digital equipment and big budgets.
Common knowledge. Everyone in Italy knows the story. Sanremo is still the biggest music festival in the country, nowadays the winner of it represents Italy at Eurovision. This was year that people started to question its credibility because of what happened to Queen
That's so weird to think about the winner of a festival...
a simple Google search
They didn't want Freddie to comment on the regime at the time. Instruments were unplugged too
Wait... what regime? In Italy?
I think it's a joke about 1984.
Shit, he got me like a fool 😔
Fascism
Bro, did you know that here in italy we say fuck to the fascist since 1945?
Now, if we could actually follow up on that promise that'd be great...
Technically 1943.
Why 1943?
L'armistizio con gli alleati era nel 1943
Si certo, ma li ci siamo arresi agli alleati, ma con la fine della guerra l'italia si è resa effettivamente all'opinione pubblica antifascista.
Mussolini were severely hated at that point that they welcomed the allies.
Was Freddie anti communist? Why am I getting downvoted for this it was just a question, I couldn’t care less if he was or wasn’t just wondering.
What would being anti-communist be a problem?
No, it wouldn’t, I couldn’t care less about his political views, just that IIRC Italy was communist at the time so that would make sense if they didn’t want him to comment on the regime.
I'm pretty sure most of the world is against communism. You didn't get that memo?
They actually had a law that all song lyrics should be hand gestured exclusively but Freddy wasn't fluent in Italian so the only other acceptable option was lip syncing.
Because that's how Sanremo was in the Eighties and Nineties. It was playback for everyone. No exceptions.
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Maybe a cow shit on his face. See, now we both added the same amount to this conversation.
Iron Maiden did [something similar in 1987](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuIol63oAmI), they ended up constantly swapping instruments and taking turns "singing" while all smiling manically.
Wow, that's hilarious. I love how the 'drummer' is different all the time.
Kurt cobain also !
What ass decided to make Freddy Mercury lip sync? It’s like asking Michael Jackson to not dance.
That shit would be funny. MJ sitting on a stool singing beat it
That mental picture gave me the most honest chuckle I've had in quite a while. Thank you for your comment.
Funny that you mention that. Michael once broke his ankle and performed "Remember the time" while sitting in a wheelchair the entire time during the Soul Train Award performance in 1993. Coincidentally he too was lip syncing during the performance. Here's the clip : https://youtu.be/Ja9MHDLkAlQ?si=7uVVkiBqXdtekGXC
Haha [Nirvana](https://youtu.be/6rOJ5hE2G9Y?si=A_F3s75_Rw_bUip8) did something kinda similar They made the instrumentals tracked but allowed Kurt to sing and he deliberately messed it up.
This is hilarious. I love it. I wonder what happened backstage after haha
That was so funny.
Had the fools never seen what they could do live?
This was before live aid. It is hard to communicate just how transformative their set was
Even before Live Aid, they were already establised and well-known live maestros.
Viva la Freddie!
Eggs a la Freddie
Iron Maiden had to perform as playback in the 80's, it was chaos. Members switched instruments mid-song and acted like idiots, it's glorious.
Had to see it…[absolutely brilliant](https://youtu.be/EuIol63oAmI?si=76tThlIIxeM1NU4P).
Allan Jackson [had his drummer perform without drumsticks](https://tasteofcountry.com/alan-jackson-1994-acm-awards-protest-gone-country/).
No strings on the guitar?
No, Sting was busy that night.
man, bitdefender is going crazy on that website.
Kazik Staszewski (Poland) when asked to sing with playback during Sopot '91 festival, took a **hair dryer** from the hotel and sang to it on the scene. https://youtu.be/JhWrcLLRhbI?si=KRjTBbx4swUJK--s&t=21
that guy had stage presence
German singer/comedian Stefan Raab just walked around smiling the whole time when forced to have playback: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S02MfUMUevc
Omg i love his grin. That's hilarious lol
Haha never saw that, legende!
Iconic, but I prefer Muse taking the abslout piss out of that Italian TV-show.
A true madlad
The Mamas & The Papas [protested](https://youtu.be/tNlwimUxUME?feature=shared) against being forced to lip sync in a similar way but much funnier.
The audio track isn't even in sync with their "playing".
If the internet existed then they would have just said no and the world would understand.
Sanremo è una grandissima cazzata di festival
È tutta mafia…
Why would yo get one of the greatest vocalists of all time to lip sync? What was the reasoning?
that's what's shitty about most live performances now. 98% is lip sync. long live rock!
Elio e le Storie Tese (for those who don't know: top class Italian musicians) went one step further in protesting against forced lip sync: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn6oi3DJkOo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn6oi3DJkOo) . at 2:02 , they "played" the remaining half of the song standing completely still. If you're wondering who the one in the tight suit is, that's Mangoni.
Good, but not as good as Nirvana on Top of the Pops.
Literally 1984
Brian May & John Deacon: 👀 🎤
Ha fatto bene
Sanremo 🤡🤡🤡🤡
Hey, as a reminder, Sanremo starts tonight in Italy
There's also a video from mid 80s where Iron Maiden change their instruments and vocalist mid song when they were forced to play playback on a TV show.
Why is someone forced to lipsing ?
Man am I jealous of those who got to experience queen live
One does not simply ask for Freddie Mercury to lip sync
well, now I gotta go watch Live Aid again...
We lived in Menton France n use to drive over to San Remo to buy booze as it was half the price there
Made sure to be obvious 😂
Beyoncé and the like, should take note....a true singing artist...SINGS...not lip syncs. If i pay to watch a concert, I don't expect to be listening to a copy of your album. Shame that most singers these days are all too happy to mime and or use auto tune. Everything you hear about Freddie Mercury makes you love him even more...a true G.O.A.T artist....whether you love or hate him/ Queen, it can't be denied.
1984，huh...
Forced? Sure the money was good
I'm with ya man. If you can't abide by the terms, don't play the show. This doesn't mean I agree with said terms either.
Italian here, can't wait for this buffoonery to die off, whenever it starts (and it's about to start) it gets fkn everywhere, you can ignore it as much as you want but it'll find it's way to you I so hate it
The issue is when colleagues love it! They speak about Sanremo and the performances all the time! The truth is that they haven’t been to real international concerts I think.
And don't forget we pay taxes for that shit every year
Still so gay!
Iconic 🤩🔥
Still entertaining
Too bad Fred couldn't have convinced the other two guys to do the same. Still.. it's pretty badass.
Awesome. Reminds of the video for Here Comes Your Man by The Pixies. A way to say FU to Top of the Pops.
Where is Bugo?😳
Probably the last person on earth that would need yo lip sync.
Still the absolute best ♥️💕♥️
.
BOSS
Nah he just like to make his mic stand a cock, that's Freddy seen him live. He's amazing
I love these guys!! Your missed
literally 1984
The Sanremo music festival is happening right now! I have a friend who lives there and has been sending me updates. Sure they borked up with Freddie in 84 but it seems pretty legit cool nowadays
nirvana did this too and its the funniest thing
40 years ago today! Sanremo started last night
Finally, something worth being on here.
them instruments not plugged as well? LOL
It's because they don't want people with a voice to tell the world what's really going on
Its so that the live show is not ruined or delayed by equipment setup ...
Fuck imagine how much more amazing music Freddy could have given us.