- 1 year ago
When one bad performance can erase years of success... Join us as we count down the most career-damaging musical moments that left fans shocked and reputations in tatters! From lip-syncing disasters to controversial political statements, these artists learned the hard way that one misstep on stage can change everything.
Category
🎵
MusicTranscript
00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for musicians
00:11who did irreparable damage to their careers with one disastrous performance.
00:16We're not pacifist punts. We are the violent punts.
00:22Number 10. The Dixie Chicks
00:25I can't find a reason to let go
00:30In 2003, the Dixie Chicks, now known simply as The Chicks, managed to alienate a large
00:37portion of their fanbase through comments they made about President George W. Bush.
00:42Musicians taking shots at politicians is nothing new, but after criticizing Bush and the ongoing
00:49Iraq War, saying they were ashamed that he was from their home state of Texas, they underestimated
00:54just how much of their fanbase would take offense.
00:57You know, when you're over in London, everyone is talking about Americans, like we're all
01:03one, and we all think the same, and that bothered me. And so by saying, you know, the Texas thing,
01:10I was just sort of pointing out, we're American, and we're even from Texas, and we don't agree
01:15with the President.
01:16The Dixie Chicks were labeled unpatriotic, faced death threats, and were blacklisted by
01:20many radio stations.
01:22Natalie Maines issued an apology, but later went back on it. In the long run, they were
01:27celebrated for speaking their minds, but the damage done to their sales and standing in
01:32the country music scene was… undeniable.
01:35Who doesn't know what I'm talking about?
01:39Number 9. The Everly Brothers
01:41The legendary folk rock duo The Everly Brothers had a run of huge success in the late 50s and
01:54early 60s, but by the time the 70s arrived, both Don and Phil were very clearly growing weary
02:01of being in the band. It all came to a head prior to their final ever performance in Buena
02:07Park, California. After Phil arrived at the show and realized that Don was drunk, their
02:12performance was a total mess.
02:15Eventually, Phil decided to smash his guitar and storm off in a fit of rage, leaving Don to
02:28tell the crowd that the Everly Brothers had already been dead for a decade. Sure, they
02:33got back together in the 80s, but they could never truly recapture their fire.
02:37Dream, dream, dream, dream, dream.
02:46Number 8. Creed
02:47Want to hear a story about a band who put on a performance so bad they were sued by four
02:59fans? Well then, the story of Creed's show in Rosemont, Illinois in December of 2002 ought
03:06to do the trick. At the time, Creed had already achieved big success on the charts. But singer
03:12Scott Stapp's growing dependence on painkillers and alcohol was a problem. And on this fateful
03:18night, he was supposedly so out of it that he couldn't remember lyrics, and repeatedly
03:22left the stage for extended periods.
03:25You were one of the biggest rock bands in America.
03:27Right. You know, you don't want to let your friends down, your bandmates down, because it's
03:31hard to describe what you're feeling. I did what I thought I needed to do to keep everything
03:38moving forward. And it worked for a time. Which was to self-medicate.
03:42Yeah, self-medicate, yeah. The lawsuit claimed that Creed's management
03:46knew he wasn't fit to perform, and yet they still took money from the fans. The case was
03:51thrown out, but the band's reputation was left in tatters.
03:57Number 7. Michelle Schacht
04:04Folk-punk singer Michelle Schacht had a pretty devoted following after bursting onto the scene
04:15in the mid-to-late 80s with a string of successful albums. But in 2013, she managed to lose a huge
04:22portion of her fan base when she launched into a rant about same-sex marriage out of nowhere
04:28during a show. It was so out of left field that the venue ended her gig prematurely, and many fans
04:34walked out.
04:35There's only two things you don't discuss in polite company. One is politics, and the other is religion.
04:40And I make a point of talking about both. And the clip that we just listened to, it sounds quite
04:44serious-minded. But it was at the start, as I said, of the encore. But you lost the audience.
04:51That's why I said I listened to the whole thing. Not then, but later on, yeah.
04:53Most of them began to walk out and were very unhappy about it and wanted their money back and so on.
04:57In fact, her entire tour was cancelled, and her claim that her quotes were misinterpreted fell flat.
05:04Factor in that she goes after anyone who uploads her music to YouTube, and it's pretty easy to see
05:09why her star power is virtually nonexistent these days. Not shocking at all.
05:14Don't know when, but it'll be real soon. Going down the road by the light of the moon.
05:20Number 6. Sinead O'Connor
05:22Sinead O'Connor was poised for stardom after her huge hit single,
05:34nothing compares to you. But as a true rebel at heart, she could not sit idly by without speaking
05:40her mind. And so, on what should have been a huge breakthrough performance on SNL, O'Connor took a
05:46moment during a performance of Bob Marley's War to rip up a picture of Pope John Paul II in protest of
05:52the church's handling of a series of abuses that had taken place in her home of Ireland.
05:57And I found his presence in Ireland telling the young people of Ireland that he loved them
06:01hilarious. At the time, without the context, people vilified Sinead and chased her out of the
06:06mainstream. But as the years went on, her display was vindicated many times over. Unfortunately,
06:13the damage to her career and mental state had already been done.
06:16Number 5. Eric Clapton
06:32Eric Clapton sealed his status as a rock legend by the time the 60s had concluded,
06:38following it up with a string of solo hits in the 70s that really marked his name in the mainstream.
06:43But one truly dark moment in 1976 forever stained his legacy. During a performance in Birmingham,
06:51Clapton launched into an unprovoked rant, urging his fans to vote for far-right politician Enoch Powell,
06:58and voicing his anger at the state of England while making sure to use seemingly every racial slur
07:04that popped into his mind.
07:05When I realized what I said, I just was so disgusted with myself. I was so f***ing angry.
07:16And I thought, I needed to apologize to the people that I said that to.
07:21Because it was shocking and unforgivable, and I was so ashamed of who I was.
07:25He would later apologize and claim that he wasn't thinking straight. But for a lot of people,
07:31they never truly looked at him the same way again.
07:41Number 4. Janet Jackson
07:51The most famous moment in the history of Super Bowl halftime shows had virtually nothing to do with
07:57music. Janet Jackson was a true superstar in every sense of the word, living up to the family name
08:04with a run of hits through the 80s, 90s, and 2000s.
08:13But at the 2004 Super Bowl, a disastrous wardrobe malfunction accidentally caused by Justin Timberlake,
08:19dubbed Nipplegate, left her blacklisted by many key areas of the music industry.
08:24Why was Janet blamed? Well, she was an easy scapegoat. Supposedly, Timberlake was not meant
08:30to entirely expose her in that way, but unfortunately, he did. From that moment on,
08:35Janet lost out on a series of opportunities and her sales suffered greatly.
08:40You knew it was going to happen, right? You did know it was going to happen? No, I didn't.
08:44You didn't know it was going to happen? No, I didn't.
08:46So it came as a complete surprise to you? Yes. Really? Yes, it was an accident. It wasn't a stunt.
08:54Was not a stunt? No. Was not premeditated? No.
08:56Was nothing that you had rehearsed? No. Yeah.
09:003. Robin Thicke
09:10As if releasing one of the creepiest hit singles of the era wasn't enough, Robin Thicke ended up losing
09:16a whole lot more than his reputation. In 2013, Miley Cyrus joined him on stage at the VMAs for
09:23performance of Blurred Lines, dancing in a very suggestive and risque manner.
09:34The stunt earned criticism, of course, and most people seem to agree that Thicke came
09:39out looking like a sleazeback. Shortly after, his wife Paula Patton divorced him, and his follow-up
09:44album, which he actually named Paula in an attempt to win her back, sold dismally. Thicke was reduced to
09:50a laughingstock, and has barely been heard from since. And it's not hard to see why.
09:55Lost without you, can't help myself.
10:012. Ashley Simpson
10:04In an era where a lot of pop stars tended to lip-sync, Ashley Simpson will forever be known as the
10:17performer who ended up with the short end of the stick. On what was poised to be a very
10:22important performance of one of her two latest singles, Autobiography, on Saturday Night Live,
10:28Simpson endured a major embarrassment. After suffering from vocal issues that day, it was
10:33decided that she would lip-sync both songs. Unfortunately, during her second performance,
10:39the wrong vocal track played, causing Simpson to be left looking incredibly silly.
10:50She didn't help things by doing a very awkward dance and walking offstage. From that moment,
10:56despite her success, this became the incident that defined her musical career, and her reputation
11:02never recovered.
11:03For me, it was the most humbling experience of my life, because the whole world thinks
11:09everything that you just put your heart and soul into writing is a joke. And that sucked.
11:15Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about
11:20our latest videos. You have the option to be notified for occasional videos, or all of them.
11:25If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
11:311. Milli Vanilli
11:33Milli Vanilli is proof that you can only take a fake band so far before the whole thing falls apart.
11:47The first moment that derailed them came during a performance of their smash hit,
11:51Girl You Know It's True, which was ruined when the backing track started to skip unexpectedly.
11:56Girl You Know It's Girl You Know It's Girl You Know It's Girl You Know It's Girl You Know It's Girl You Know
12:02It's Girl You Know It's Girl You...
12:04But hey, sometimes artists mind it wasn't totally out of the norm. However, upon closer inspection,
12:11it became known that Milli Vanilli didn't even sing their own songs in the studio and had virtually
12:16nothing to do with them apart from being the face of the operation. This shattered the band's image
12:22Immediately. These days, they're used as the prime example of musicians who tried to con their
12:29audiences. They even had to give back their Grammy Award. What other musicians do you think
12:40totally ruined their reputation on stage? Let us know in the comments section below.
12:52We'll see you next time in the comments section below.
Comments