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From forgotten lyrics to lip-syncing disasters, these live performances went down in infamy. Join us as we count down the most cringe-worthy musical moments that artists wish they could erase from history! Technical mishaps, substance-fueled meltdowns, and bizarre creative choices - these shows left audiences shocked for all the wrong reasons.
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00:04Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the Top 50 Most Disastrous Live Performances in the
00:13History of Music.
00:22Number 50. Rob Lowe, 61st Academy Awards.
00:26How much can one misguided performance really hurt a career?
00:31Well, if you're Rob Lowe, quite a lot, actually.
00:34I'm a Midwesterner, which means I am a people pleaser.
00:37Of course.
00:38Right?
00:38If you ask me to do something politely, I'm probably going to find a way to say yes.
00:43The artistic direction of the 1989 Oscars was handed over to Grease producer Alan Carr.
00:50Seems like a home run, right?
00:51Well, seeing Lowe singing a reworked version of Proud Mary alongside Snow White was just about as bizarre as it
00:58sounds.
00:59It was so incongruous.
01:01It was like, what's Rob Lowe doing singing and dancing?
01:04What's he doing with Snow White?
01:05The whole opening ceremony was a real head-scratcher, and it pretty much tanked Alan Carr's career.
01:11He never worked in Hollywood again.
01:13By his own admission, Lowe himself was set back years by the whole thing.
01:18An utterly tone-deaf production on all sides.
01:21For every behind-the-candelabra performance, there's a Snow White Oscar.
01:27Number 49.
01:29Destiny's Child, 106 in part.
01:32Performing on live TV can be a balancing act.
01:34Or, in the case of Destiny's Child's Michelle Williams, a very literal fight to keep herself upright.
01:40I like them boys over there, they lookin' strong tonight.
01:44Strong tonight.
01:45The year was 2004, right at the peak of the group's mainstream success.
01:49During a performance of their hit, Soldier, Williams was unfortunate enough to take a very dramatic tumble mid-song.
01:57Where you at, 106?
01:58Let me see you, baby, and pilers around me.
02:01I got the sound.
02:02With the top down, feeling the sound.
02:04Though she and her bandmates did their best to keep the performance on track, it ended up defining their entire
02:10appearance.
02:11She even admitted that she gets asked about it on a weekly basis, to this day.
02:16I'm a survivor.
02:18I'm tonight's gonna give up.
02:19Number 48.
02:20Charli XCX.
02:22Melt Festival, 2014.
02:24If the crowd aren't getting up and dancing for your biggest hit, you know you're in trouble.
02:30For Charli XCX.
02:32She turned up to her gig at the 2014 Melt Festival, wholly aware of the fact that her collaboration with
02:38Iconopop, I Love It, was her biggest hit.
02:41I got this feeling on the summer day when you were gone.
02:45I crashed my car into the bridge.
02:47I watched, I let it burn.
02:49The problem?
02:50Well, the German crowd didn't seem to know it, despite Iconopop being from their neighbors up in Sweden.
02:55Charli seemed pretty bemused by the whole thing, telling them angrily that she thought the song was a hit in
03:01their country.
03:02I love this f***ing song, it's big in Germany.
03:05Talk about an awkward climax for a show.
03:08I don't care.
03:12I love it.
03:13Number 47.
03:14Backstreet Boys.
03:16Saturday Night Live.
03:17What is the greatest sin that the Backstreet Boys committed when they took to the SNL stage in 1998?
03:23All the locuses always been friends of mine.
03:28Well, they had no way of knowing how badly their production and choreography would age.
03:34Their performance of As Long As You Love Me was just plain corny, even to those who saw it live.
03:40Packing as much 90s cheese into one small routine as possible.
03:44I don't care who you are, the way you're running.
03:49This was boy band mania at its absolute peak, and these guys were not holding back.
03:55Though not as egregious as some other candidates, critics of this performance were quick to brand it as one of
04:02the stupidest in SNL history.
04:05It's gonna get you love me.
04:07Number 46.
04:09Selena Gomez.
04:1147th Annual American Music Awards.
04:14Lyrics can have a real irony to them that shows itself at the most unexpected of times.
04:20You promised the world and I fell for it.
04:24I put you first and you adored it.
04:27When Selena Gomez took to the stage at the 2019 American Music Awards, she delivered a vocal performance that was
04:34pretty shaky.
04:38We had no idea that she had just suffered a panic attack backstage before going on.
04:44However, that doesn't change the fact that her usually steady delivery was uncharacteristically off.
04:50Factor in that she literally sang her own lyric that night that said,
04:55sang off key in my chorus.
04:56And it's one truly rare moment of irony on stage.
05:00I needed to lose you to love me.
05:04Number 45.
05:07Duran Duran.
05:08Live Aid.
05:09Me to you.
05:11When you to make you.
05:15Dubbed the bum not heard around the world, a slightly out-of-practice Simon LeBond would mark one of the
05:21biggest days in music history with an all-time blunder.
05:24With the band chugging through their James Bond theme of view to a kill, LeBond, based on the eye test
05:31alone, looked ready to nail the song's climactic chorus.
05:35Could it be the whole life opening wine?
05:40Unfortunately, when the moment came to let rip, he ended up dramatically squeaking out the wrong notes.
05:51Sometimes, when you reach for the stars, you fall and land on a cloud.
05:56LeBond wasn't that fortunate.
05:58He instead came crashing down, face first, into the mud.
06:08Number 44.
06:10Queens of the Stone Age.
06:12Rock Am Ring.
06:13When a band as tight as Queens of the Stone Age screw up a live show, surely it's going to
06:18be a spectacular sight.
06:20Well, when Josh, Homme, and company played Rock Am Ring in 2001, little did they know that they were in
06:26for a bona fide stinker.
06:28Technical issues were truly at the core of it.
06:36Everything that could have gone wrong did.
06:38Mics, monitors, speakers, and even the smoke machine.
06:42Nothing was working, and the band could only do so much to salvage it with their raw talent.
06:53It was such a disaster that they all got matching tattoos of the date to ensure that they never let
06:59such a terrible show happen again.
07:02Don't tell us all about the world.
07:04Number 43.
07:06Nick Jonas and Kelsey Ballerini.
07:0951st Academy of Country Music Awards.
07:12No list of the most memorable guitar solos of all time would be complete without a mention for Hendrix, Clapton,
07:18Stevie Ray, Van Halen, and a host of other six-string gods.
07:21So tell me, baby, do you think you got what it takes?
07:27Unfortunately, in the age of the internet, a horrifically bad solo is just as likely to remain embedded in the
07:33public's consciousness.
07:34For Nick Jonas, when he took to the stage to join Kelsey Ballerini for a solo, who knows what he
07:41originally had planned?
07:42Yeah, Jonas, everybody!
07:45Under those bright lights, when it mattered most, his attempt to carve out a melody fell completely flat.
07:59There's no defending this one, folks.
08:01Jonas was out of key, out of rhythm, and his attempts to fix it only made it worse.
08:07An embarrassment of the highest order.
08:09Number 42.
08:11Dua Lipa.
08:12The 38th Brit Awards.
08:14Talking in my sleep at night, making myself crazy.
08:19Though we know her for her commanding presence these days, Dua Lipa wasn't always an electric talent on stage.
08:26One, don't pick up the phone.
08:28You know he's on the call because he's drunk and alone.
08:31Two, don't let him in.
08:32Who knows if it was the choreography itself or her just having an off night, but her performance at the
08:382018 Brit Awards was as stiff as a board.
08:42Sure, she was a little less experienced in her career than she is now, but there's no excuse for a
08:48performance that lacking in energy.
08:50If you're in the air, you ain't getting over it.
08:54While the song New Rules was a breakout hit for her, it was clear that she hadn't quite found her
08:59confidence just yet.
09:01You're getting over him.
09:03Number 41.
09:05MC Hammer.
09:06Saturday Night Live.
09:08Few artists from the 90s managed to fall quite like MC Hammer.
09:19When the genre of hip-hop was undergoing a move towards darker and more serious content, rappers like MC Hammer
09:26were immediately seen as surplus to requirements.
09:29An infamous appearance on SNL saw Hammer attempting to recapture his old spark.
09:33Except he decided to do everything but play his biggest hit, You Can't Touch This.
09:44It was clear that the fans wanted one thing from him, and as an artist, it's okay to try and
09:50carve out something new.
09:52Unfortunately, performing songs from the Addams Family movie soundtrack was not going to earn him any good faith.
09:59You know, you might have heard my song.
10:01Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, just can't touch this.
10:05Number 40.
10:06Iggy Azalea.
10:07Splash Festival.
10:08No list of the worst freestyles of all time would be complete without a mention for Iggy Azalea's truly abysmal
10:16showing at the 2013 Splash Festival.
10:19Tire marks, tire marks.
10:21Where do we even begin with this one?
10:23It's just really, really hard to understand what she's saying.
10:27Once assistance arrived and the lyrics were deciphered, things didn't get any better.
10:33Hearing Azalea call herself a runaway slave master was just about as problematic as you might expect.
10:39There's many Italians on sloth and no camera, I don't care, you know?
10:42She was already splitting people down the middle during this period of time, and this controversy sent many people over
10:49the edge.
10:50It's Iggy not jiggle.
10:52Number 39.
10:54Metallica and Lady Gaga.
10:5659th Annual Grammy Awards.
10:59Artists like Lady Gaga and Metallica are veterans at this point.
11:03Professionals at their core who know how to put on a show for their fans.
11:06Unfortunately, despite having crossed their T's and dotted their I's, the duet between Gaga and James Hetfield was about to
11:14go down in Grammys history for the wrong reasons.
11:22When the lights came on and the performance began, something terrible became clear.
11:27A stagehand had unplugged Hetfield's microphone by accident seconds before the performance started.
11:32Sure, Gaga picked up on this and let him share hers, but the damage was done.
11:42Hetfield was understandably angry, but thankfully, the far superior dress rehearsal was uploaded so we could see just how good
11:50this one should have been.
11:54Number 38.
11:56Lorde.
11:5734th MTV Video Music Awards.
12:00You really can't be too hard on musicians who fall ill ahead of a big performance.
12:11However, that doesn't mean we can't judge them on the results.
12:16Lorde is an excellent performer and a capable singer.
12:19That said, she's also a pretty unorthodox dancer who was forced to improvise after catching a flu prior to the
12:262017 VMAs.
12:31With her voice compromised, she decided to turn her own show on its head, instead doing a bizarre dance routine
12:38that certainly left fans confused.
12:40It wasn't the worst thing anyone had ever seen, but without knowing the context, most people were left asking the
12:47same question.
12:48Why?
12:49Don't talk to her, don't talk to her, don't talk to her.
12:54Number 37.
12:56Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke.
12:5830th MTV Video Music Awards.
13:01When it came to doing damage to his own career, Robin Thicke was on a real roll back in the
13:06early 2010s.
13:12After his super hit Blurred Lines simultaneously became the subject of a huge plagiarism case
13:17and accusations of being extremely creepy and immoral, the stage was set.
13:22When Thicc made an appearance during Miley Cyrus' performance at the 2013 VMAs,
13:27little did we know how much worse it could get.
13:30The whole thing was just a little too seedy and weird,
13:34leaving everyone feeling very uncomfortable when all was said and done.
13:37That's why I won't take a good girl.
13:40Sure, Cyrus herself instigated a lot of it,
13:43but to say that this one aged like milk would be putting it lightly.
13:48I'm loving it, I'm talking, talking, talking.
13:52Number 36. Carl Lewis.
13:55The Meadowlands Arena.
13:57Out of all the ways to ruin the American national anthem,
14:01Carl Lewis somehow found something truly special.
14:11For some reason, he was asked to sing the anthem prior to an NBA showdown
14:16between the New Jersey Nets and the Chicago Bulls.
14:19What followed was so strange and unsuitable that it's almost impressive to watch back in hindsight.
14:25And the Rockets, this way!
14:29Uh-oh.
14:31I'll make up for it now.
14:33He delivered a shaky spoken word version,
14:35complete with crowd integration, stunning everyone in the process.
14:39Lewis was a legendary track and field athlete in his heyday,
14:43but there's a reason they leave this kind of thing to the professionals.
14:47For the lands of the free...
14:52Number 35. Iggy Azalea and Moo.
14:55Saturday Night Live.
14:56Iggy Azalea and Danish star Moo took to the stage
14:59for a performance of their collaborative track,
15:01Beg For It, in 2014.
15:04Pulled up looking picture perfect, baby.
15:07High price, but I'm worth it, baby.
15:09What we didn't realize at the time was how inexperienced Moo was.
15:13It was her first appearance on American TV,
15:15and it really came through.
15:23Iggy was in fine form, carrying the performance from the get-go,
15:26but Moo looked uncomfortable and totally out of her depth.
15:30Though she tried to claim that microphone latency issues were throwing her off,
15:34the public wasn't convinced.
15:36The phrase, baptism by fire, springs to mind when we think of this one.
15:40Make you beg for it, I'ma make you beg for it.
15:43Number 34. Corey Feldman, The Today Show.
15:47Where do we even begin when trying to explain Corey Feldman's bizarre appearance
15:52on The Today Show in 2016?
15:56They try to get you down.
15:58They put you on the ground.
15:59The former child star has certainly had his personal battles in recent years,
16:04but it's hard to know why he was booked to perform in the first place.
16:12Everything from the costume design to his odd and jerky dancing was off.
16:17Not to mention that his vocals were truly awful.
16:20It's one thing to enjoy corny or misguided music in an ironic fashion
16:24because of the sheer novelty of it all.
16:27But this was something else.
16:29A truly strange TV moment.
16:34Number 33. Bob Dylan, Live Aid.
16:38Despite being one of the premier songwriters of his or any generation,
16:42Bob Dylan has always been a mercurial live performer.
16:50On a good night, he can be great.
16:53However, more often than not, hearing Dylan mumble through his own material
16:57can cause some fans to not even recognize their favorite song as he plays them live.
17:09His 1985 Live Aid performance was fraught with problems,
17:13and performances from Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood in accompaniment couldn't save it.
17:18The stadium was simply too big for Bob,
17:21and the whole thing fell flat from the get-go.
17:28Number 32. Dexie's Midnight Runners.
17:32Official live video.
17:34Why on earth would a band like Dexie's Midnight Runners
17:38put on one of their worst performances on their own YouTube channel?
17:48Kevin Rowland is by no means a bad singer,
17:50but whether by the way of illness or vocal strain,
17:54he never sounded worse than he does on the band's official live version of Come On Eileen.
18:02It's almost like they uploaded the video without watching it,
18:05and a quick look at the comment section will tell you that it's not a contrarian opinion.
18:10You can tell that he is a good singer,
18:13but he is very clearly struggling on this one.
18:19Number 31. The Pogues. Saturday Night Live.
18:24Celtic rockers The Pogues are known for their fiery live performances.
18:30That's it, son, boy.
18:32However, they were also known for having a frontman in Shane McGowan,
18:35who was liable to show up to gigs utterly intoxicated.
18:40During a particularly volatile time for the band,
18:43McGowan came to their Saturday Night Live performances in pretty bad shape.
18:47Farewell to New York City, boy.
18:49This is a bust of the day.
18:51Understanding the lyrics was damn near impossible at the worst of times
18:54and his struggles to stay on his feet all but confirmed it.
18:58He was fired from the band shortly after due to his addiction,
19:01although he did later return.
19:03Free burn ride on the USA.
19:08Number 30. Chuck Berry, John Lennon, and Yoko Ono.
19:12The Mike Douglas Show.
19:14Chuck Berry performing a duet with John Lennon sounds like a pretty amazing idea in theory.
19:20Unfortunately, despite the mastery of these two icons,
19:23there was one small problem.
19:25Lennon's wife, Yoko Ono, was given a microphone.
19:33Now, there is certainly a time and a place for the avant-garde,
19:38and perhaps on a different day with a different band.
19:41Ono's whales would have found their place,
19:43but hearing Yoko screaming while Berry and Lennon traded vocals was a painful experience,
19:48so painful, in fact, that her mic was cut shortly after.
19:56Even Chuck looked bemused as soon as she made her first contribution to the song.
20:01It was one of the strangest backing vocalist performances in music history.
20:08Number 29.
20:10Christina Aguilera, Super Bowl XLV.
20:13And now, to honor America, five-time Grammy Award winner, Christina Aguilera.
20:21Singing the American National Anthem is one of the biggest honors that can be given to a performer.
20:26However, the repercussions for messing it up can be huge.
20:30In other words, if you get the chance to sing the Star-Spangled Banner, don't screw it up.
20:35Unfortunately for Christina Aguilera, while she started strong,
20:39her Super Bowl XLV performance of the anthem quickly spiraled out of control.
20:44She forgot lyrics, accidentally rearranged them, and came out with an absolute mess.
20:50You're the land of the free, yeah!
20:57Aguilera later apologized for her blunder and hoped that people understood that it was a simple mistake.
21:03But the media had a field day with it.
21:09Number 28.
21:11Hilary Duff
21:12MTV's New Year's Eve 2004
21:20Lip-syncing has been a part of pop music long before Hilary Duff played MTV's New Year's Eve celebration in
21:262004.
21:27But even though the practice is widely recognized,
21:30people still do not like seeing their favorite musician miming.
21:34And if there are any audio issues, it can do irreparable harm to a singer's career.
21:39For Duff, she was very obviously lip-syncing from the get-go.
21:43But when her backing track started to distort her voice, she ended up looking kind of silly.
21:53Hilary did her best to perform through it, but the damage was done.
21:57Number 27.
22:00Katy Perry
22:01Coronation Concert
22:02Help me down, but I'm gonna
22:04Get ready cause I'm tired enough
22:07Perry found herself at the center of quite a lot of ridicule and bemusement after she appeared at the 2023
22:13Coronation Concert in honor of King Charles.
22:16The performance itself was criticized for Perry's inability to hit the high notes of her own songs.
22:22Do you know that there's still a chance for you?
22:26Cause there's a spark in your...
22:28But listeners couldn't help but notice how awkward Perry's choice of song was.
22:33Her track Firework makes reference to American Independence Day on July 4th,
22:38the day that saw the United States break away from the British monarch, King George III.
22:44Oh, and I am like the foe.
22:49Oh, come on, everybody!
22:51Seems like a pretty peculiar thing to bring to the coronation of a new British king.
22:55And it did not go unnoticed on social media.
22:59Number 26.
23:00Oasis
23:01Live at Wembley Stadium
23:10Oasis were at the peak of their chaotic powers in the year 2000,
23:14and that chaos was best summed up with their two Wembley performances that year.
23:20The first night was the band at their very best,
23:22and the gig was documented on their live release, Familiar to Millions.
23:27The second night was also filmed, but was later considered unusable due to Liam's inebriation.
23:34It's a really professional, this gig, yeah.
23:37Is it?
23:37It's a really f***ing smash hit.
23:39According to the man himself, he had spent a little too much time at the bar pre-show,
23:44and after totally ruining the performance, he vowed to never drink heavily before a concert again.
23:51Number 25.
23:52Greta Van Fleet
23:53Saturday Night Live
24:01Despite getting a lot of hate for being 70s knockoffs,
24:05Greta Van Fleet were having a pretty successful 2019 before they appeared on Saturday Night Live.
24:11But with the exposure of the SNL stage came some unexpected side effects.
24:16Their performance was awkward, nervous, and showcased the band's limitations.
24:21Vocalist Josh Kizka took the brunt of the criticism for his underwhelming vocals and poor stage presence.
24:28You're the one I need.
24:32In fact, it was so derivative that some people mistook it at first for a comedy sketch,
24:38which tells you everything you need to know.
24:41Their gimmick, as it turns out, did not go down well with the masses.
24:45Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
24:49-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
24:49-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!
24:5124.
24:53Poison
24:53The 8th MTV Video Music Awards
24:57In the romance bar
25:00Behind the emotions
25:02This performance was…
25:05Interesting, to say the least.
25:07Despite seemingly being at the peak of their powers as a live act,
25:11Once, guitarist C.C. DeVille had consumed a little too much alcohol before the show.
25:16By the time their slot came, DeVille was a mess, so much so that he launched into the
25:21wrong song.
25:22They were supposed to play Unskinny Bop, but C.C. decided to play Talk Dirty To Me instead.
25:27He then proceeded to accidentally unplug his guitar mid-performance before capping it all
25:32off with a scuffle with singer Bret Michaels.
25:41He was booted from the band shortly after, ending their classic era.
25:47Number 23 Guns N' Roses The Warfield
25:51We could have very easily gone for GNR's shambolic 2014 Golden Gods Awards performance of Sweet
25:58Child O' Mine here, but for our money, no performance summed up Guns N' Roses' live
26:08problems more than their 2006 show at The Warfield.
26:12After coming on stage two hours late, Axl Rose proceeded to pause the performance to hurl his
26:18in-ear monitors at a fan who was complaining about his conduct.
26:21He then got the fan in question kicked out of the gig, something he was no stranger to
26:26doing in the past.
26:33Without question, he's one of rock and roll's most unruly divas.
26:39Number 22 Limp Bizkit
26:41So you're gonna be able to tear things up tonight, drive them nuts, just go wild?
26:46This was really their moment.
26:48And to me, Limp Bizkit were the biggest draw in terms of why the young people were making
26:53this pilgrimage to the middle of New York.
26:56Is it right to blame Limp Bizkit for all the problems that took place at Woodstock 99?
27:02Probably not.
27:03But they certainly had a hand in the chaos that unfolded.
27:06After calling on the crowd to break everything through their classic song Break Stuff, Fred
27:10Durst and company basically incited a riot.
27:21The peace and love of the festival's 1969 counterpart was totally lost this time around.
27:27Durst even crowd-surfed on the top of a piece of wood that had been pulled off a barrier by
27:32a member of the audience.
27:34Despite calls to try and calm the audience, Limp Bizkit did the opposite.
27:38Sure, they were made into scapegoats by the media, but they certainly didn't help matters.
27:44Dude, it's not our fault, that's all I can say.
27:46Number 21 Black Eyed Peas Featuring Slash
27:50Superbowl 45
27:58Did anyone really need to see a collaboration between the Black Eyed Peas and Slash?
28:04Well perhaps it would have worked better under different circumstances.
28:07But when Fergie decided to try her hand at singing Sweet Child O' Mine, the results were
28:12disastrous.
28:13And if I sail too long, probably break down and cry.
28:19Not only were the drums out of sync with Slash's iconic riff, but Fergie's vocal delivery
28:24sounded like something out of a local karaoke bar.
28:27And not in a charming way.
28:29Definitely not a performance worthy of a stage like the Super Bowl halftime show.
28:33And it was instantly heralded as one of the worst moments in halftime history.
28:43Number 20 Sex Pistols Winterland Ballroom
28:47Some groups go out with a bang and others go out with a whimper.
28:52You'll get one number and one number only cause I'm a lazy bastard.
28:56During the Sex Pistols infamous 1978 United States tour, they ran into a series of issues.
29:02Things eventually reached a boiling point while at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco.
29:08Right before the encore, Johnny Rotten announced they'd only be doing one song.
29:12A cover of the Stooges' No Fun.
29:21What followed was an oddly accurate performance, where Jaded Rotten used the lyrics as a representation
29:27of his own negative feelings towards the group.
29:30No Fun, my bird, you're no fun!
29:36After the lackluster cover, Rotten cryptically asked the crowd if they'd ever felt cheated,
29:41before storming off and ending the show and his time with the band until their reunion in
29:47the late 1990s.
29:48Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?
29:51Good night!
29:53Number 19.
29:5450 Cent
29:55The 7th BET Awards
29:57Performing at an awards show can be a benefit to an artist's career, as they get to present
30:02their art to a live and televised audience.
30:09It seemed like 50 Cent was off to a great start when he descended into the 2007 BET Awards,
30:15but it soon became clear something was wrong.
30:18He skipped the entire first verse, opting to hop off the stage and do some crowd work
30:23instead.
30:24What's up?
30:25What's the deal?
30:27While he was eventually able to recover, the damage was already done.
30:31Put your hands up!
30:32Put your hands up!
30:34Put your hands up!
30:36When questioned about it afterwards, the rapper ended up pinning the blame on the aerialist
30:41who inadvertently bumped him, throwing him off track.
30:44While it was an understandable explanation, it still doesn't make the near minute of
30:48silence mid-performance any less uncomfortable.
30:51She's dead!
30:53Fighting the water, ladies and gentlemen.
30:55Fighting the water!
30:57Number 18.
30:58The Pussycat Dolls
31:00The 34th American Music Awards
31:02Sometimes, all it takes is one performance to reveal a true group dynamic.
31:07I'm gonna loosen up my buttons, babe, but you keep frottin' me.
31:12Headed by Nicole Scherzinger, the Pussycat Dolls were known for their sultry lyrics and dancing.
31:17During their appearance at the 2006 American Music Awards, they began their hit buttons.
31:22Without one of their members, Melody Thornton.
31:25Baby, can't you see?
31:26His clothes are puttin' on me.
31:29Things had been going wrong already with one of their chairs toppling over mid-song.
31:33Things went from odd to bizarre when Thornton suddenly ran on stage just in time for the final chorus,
31:40and immediately commanded attention with several vocal runs.
31:50The rest of the performance became a battle for the spotlight between the two divas.
31:54The timing made it seem like Thornton was crashing her own group, making it evident just how fractured they were.
32:01But I see!
32:0617.
32:08Madonna
32:08The 64th Eurovision Song Contest
32:11Even the Queen of Pop isn't immune from flopping.
32:14An icon like Madonna performing a huge event like Eurovision should've been a highlight, but it ended up being the
32:20complete opposite.
32:25It wasn't her best vocal showing, with even one of her most iconic hits, Like a Prayer, sounding off-key.
32:31The addition of divisive political symbols only made things worse.
32:35What made things even worse was her team's reaction.
32:38Rather than own the underwhelming appearance, they instead uploaded a completely auto-tuned version on YouTube.
32:50People soon saw through the ruse when the real audio was released.
32:54In an era where practically everyone has access to a video camera and internet, we can't help but wonder who
33:00they were trying to fool.
33:0716.
33:09Lana Del Rey
33:10Saturday Night Live
33:11Although it's hard to believe, now given her huge fanbase, her career nearly died just as it was beginning.
33:24Lana Del Rey's sudden ascension to success in the early 2010s led to her getting plenty of opportunities, including being
33:32the musical guest on Saturday Night Live.
33:35Things immediately went wrong during a performance of her breakout hit, Video Games.
33:39Her unique vocal techniques didn't translate well, resulting in a slightly disjointed and seemingly uncontrolled presentation.
33:47It's you, it's you, it's all for you.
33:50Her second song, Blue Jeans, didn't go much better, resulting in her being deemed one of the worst in the
33:57show's history by some on the network.
33:59But I will love you till the end of dawn
34:03While she was eventually able to overcome the rough set, to this day, she's still reluctant to perform on live
34:10TV.
34:1015.
34:12Green Day
34:12The second iHeartRadio music festival
34:15Even if someone's anger is justified, seeing them act out on it publicly is nothing short of uncomfortable.
34:22Give me a f***ing break, one minute left.
34:25Green Day was mid-song at the iHeartRadio festival in 2012, when their lead singer, Billy Joe Armstrong, suddenly snapped
34:33after assuming that their time was being cut short.
34:36He stopped performing and launched into an expletive-ridden rant, complete with pulling rank and calling out newer artists.
34:43I'm not f***ing Justin Bieber
34:44When they inevitably ran out of time, Armstrong and bassist Mike Durnt smashed their instruments and walked off.
34:51The spectacle was so intense that the band issued an apology and an announcement that Armstrong was going to rehab.
34:57It was a dark moment, but luckily they were able to reconcile with the event just a few years later.
35:02We'll be back.
35:0414.
35:06Britney Spears
35:07The 24th MTV Video Music Awards
35:102007 was undoubtedly a rough year for the princess of pop.
35:14Every time they turn the lights down
35:18With several different familial issues going on at the time, the MTV Video Music Awards were most likely the last
35:25thing on her mind.
35:26Still, she showed up to perform her newest hit, Gimme More.
35:29Although, by the end, some were asking for the exact opposite.
35:37From the beginning, her lack of energy was apparent and even appeared to be half-heartedly lip-syncing.
35:43It was clear she was just going through the motions, resulting in a completely out-of-character performance.
35:49She was slated by critics and her peers, and while she was able to recover professionally, it became an unfortunate
35:55representation of the personal and mental struggles she was facing.
36:0413.
36:06Whisky-A-Go-Go
36:08They're as well-known for their dramatics as they are for their sheer musical ability.
36:13It's no secret that the Gallaghers, the brothers behind Oasis, have an explosive relationship.
36:25That's been apparent since their first tour.
36:27When one infamous concert nearly caused them to call it quits, Liam had indulged in some chemical encouragement prior to
36:34the show.
36:35And by the time he hit the stage, it was clear just how intoxicated he was.
36:44The result was a truly chaotic night, where the singer reportedly mocked the audience and even struck his older brother
36:50with a tambourine.
36:51While the crowd didn't seem too mad, the same couldn't be said for Noel, who ended up being so upset
36:56that he temporarily quit the band.
37:0312.
37:05Roseanne Barr-Jack Murphy Stadium
37:07Roseanne Barr-Jack Murphy Stadium
37:13It's no secret that comedians push boundaries to get laughs, but there's a time and place for everything.
37:19And during the Star Spangled Banner isn't one of those times.
37:22While kicking off a game between the San Diego Padres and the Cincinnati Reds, she was tasked with singing the
37:28anthem.
37:28As soon as she took the mic, things went wrong.
37:37She immediately began screaming the lyrics, later claiming it was because she couldn't hear herself.
37:42As if that wasn't enough, she tapped off the rendition with vulgar gestures, in an attempt to parody the players.
37:49However, it only served to make her look even more disrespectful.
37:52The backlash was severe, with even the president at the time, George H.W. Bush, calling it a disgrace.
38:0411.
38:05Kanye West
38:06Saturday Night Live
38:07He's known for his eclectic shows, but for this one, he bit off a little more than he could chew.
38:16In the original version of Love Lockdown, Kanye utilized autotune to help with the sound.
38:22When it came time to perform the piece on Saturday Night Live, he attempted to emulate that by singing through
38:27a vocoder.
38:33It didn't translate well to a live setting, with the autotune only being apparent some of the time,
38:39and his higher notes being cut out and replaced entirely by a random female vocal.
38:44Somewhere far from home, in the danger zone
38:47A decade later, another SNL appearance, in which he wore Trump merchandise and expressed support for the divisive politician, was
38:54also problematic.
38:56They bullied me backstage. They said, don't go out there with that hat on. They bullied me backstage. They bullied
39:03me!
39:0410.
39:05Carolyn Marcille
39:06Quebec Coliseum
39:07It's one thing to sing the national anthem poorly. It's another thing entirely to not know it at all.
39:20When Carolyn Marcille stepped up to perform at a 2005 hockey game, it was clear how nervous she was.
39:26That became more apparent when she had to restart twice due to her forgetting the lyrics.
39:36She was determined to finish, even with the crowd already viciously booing her. She left to get the lyrics, and
39:42when she returned, she immediately slipped and fell.
39:45That ended up being the final straw.
39:50When she left the ice again, she didn't return.
39:53While it was a disaster, what makes it worse is that her voice sounded fine. Meaning, she could've pulled it
39:59off had she known the words.
40:019. Kesha
40:02Saturday Night Live
40:04While she completely rebranded herself in recent years, she used to have an entirely different image.
40:16Known for her party girl aesthetic, Kesha's early work embodied the culture of the early 2010s. Supporters were excited to
40:23see her bring that energy to Saturday Night Live in 2010. And she did. But it quickly proved to be
40:29too much.
40:3010.
40:34Between decking herself out in glow-in-the-dark paint for one number and featuring dancing astronauts in another, both
40:42numbers became visual overload.
40:4410.
40:44Did anyone ever stop to think, maybe we are the aliens?
40:5010.
40:51It ended up overshadowing her voice in the process, and left her with a reputation that took years to shake.
40:56Given her new independence and image as an artist, we can only hope that she'll one day get a chance
41:01to fully redeem herself.
41:0310.
41:04I said your love, your love, your love, your love, it's my turn.
41:088. Metallica & Guns N' Roses
41:11Olympic Stadium
41:12Two legendary bands on tour together. What could possibly go wrong? The fans of Metallica & Guns N' Roses learned
41:20that firsthand after a 1992 incident in Montreal, Canada.
41:2410.
41:24At least eight police and ten concertgoers sustained minor injuries in the melee that followed.
41:29Things started off rough with the former, wherein a pyrotechnic issue caused James Hetfield to be burned.
41:43This forced them to call their set early so it could get medical attention. And things only went further downhill.
41:50The audience waited over two hours for Guns N' Roses to appear. When they did, technical problems of their own
41:56caused them to call it quits after nine songs.
41:58The tipping point came when Axl Rose made an inflammatory comment about quitting, causing a riot to break out that
42:05resulted in over $600,000 of damage to the venue.
42:09The band played about six songs before Axl Rose told the audience, quote,
42:12We got it together in Europe only to have it come apart here. In case anyone is interested, this is
42:17going to be our last show for a long time.
42:197.
42:20Mariah Carey
42:21Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest
42:25When someone is known for their voice, seeing them falter feels… even worse.
42:33Mariah Carey has been lauded for her vocals since the beginning of her career, leading to high expectations when she
42:39performed for Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2016.
42:42Instead, they were treated to pure chaos. Her ear monitor wasn't working, leading to her becoming frustrated and letting the
42:49audience sing instead.
42:51She already is bringing her hand to her ear, signaling that she is having some issue.
42:58When the problems continued into We Belong Together, she stopped singing and let the backing track take the lead.
43:11Carey accused the event of deliberately sabotaging her, which they vehemently denied. No matter whose fault it was, it was
43:18clear that the true losers of the situation were the viewers themselves.
43:226.
43:23Milli Vanilli
43:26Some artists can bounce back from a bad show, and others… lose everything.
43:30I'm a love girl. I'm just a love girl.
43:34In the late 1980s, Milli Vanilli quickly became household names, even winning a Grammy in 1990.
43:40Their blossoming career ended nearly as soon as it began, after a failed backing track during a 1989 Lake Compounce
43:47performance revealed that the act wasn't singing live.
43:50You're out, you know, ditch. You're out, you know, ditch. You're out, you know, ditch. You're out, you know, ditch.
43:55You're out, you know, ditch. You're out, you know.
43:57Although they got away with it at the moment, it was later scrutinized again after the duo admitted to not
44:02supplying their own vocals in the music.
44:04The concert and the video footage accompanying it was the ultimate proof, resulting in the two returning their Best New
44:11Artist award and the duo being dropped by their label.
44:14They weren't able to recover, making the scandal their permanent legacy.
44:18You have to lip-sync in front of a half billion people.
44:215. Creed All-State Arena
44:24You know a show is bad when all footage of it has been essentially wiped from the internet. However, the
44:30memory of this Creed concert lives on.
44:33Have you guys ever went to a rock concert and been so unimpressed that you literally wanted your money back?
44:38Well, that's what happened in 2002 at a Creed show in Illinois.
44:42Fans weren't expecting anything out of the ordinary, much less Scott Stapp being unable to perform. The vocalist who had
44:49been battling alcoholism following a car accident had supposedly been so drunk that nobody could understand him.
44:55According to Stapp's 2012 autobiography, he admitted by this point in time he was heavily using pain medication and drinking
45:02every day.
45:03After a few songs, the issue became so apparent that they were forced to stop. Naturally, this upset the audience.
45:09So much so, that a few even ended up suing them for failing to finish.
45:13While the case was dismissed, the backlash was so severe that the band had to apologize for Stapp's actions.
45:224. Red Hot Chili Peppers
45:25Saturday Night Live
45:27While Saturday Night Live can help boost a musician's career, it can also inadvertently expose some of the cracks in
45:33an act.
45:34Sometimes I feel like I don't have a partner
45:41When the Red Hot Chili Peppers accepted the gig, they were on top of the world.
45:45But that certainly didn't make them immune to a rough set on the long running sketch show.
45:50Their guitarist, John Fruscianti, had been struggling privately for some time, leading him to develop an addiction and fight with
45:57his bandmates.
45:58I don't wanna feel like I did that dance
46:04That came through during their live performance, where he appeared to deliberately play the whole thing off-key, throwing everyone
46:10else off in the process.
46:18Anthony Kiedis even accused him of doing poorly on purpose, leading to the group becoming even more fractured at their
46:24peak.
46:253. Fergie
46:262018 NBA All-Star Game
46:36There are some things an artist can't come back from, especially in the age of the internet.
46:41Fergie is known for her non-conventional vocals.
46:44While they sound great in her own music and in her collaborations with the Black Eyed Peas, it doesn't always
46:49work well in a live setting.
46:51Who's brought stripes and bright stars?
46:57This became apparent during her rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner at the 2018 NBA All-Star Game, where she
47:04threw her own twist onto it.
47:06Needless to say, it didn't go over well.
47:08Her unnecessary runs and random dynamic changes confused everyone, from the viewers to the players themselves.
47:14For the land of the free
47:21It quickly became known as one of the worst covers of the anthem, with Roseanne Barr even claiming her infamous
47:27performance was better in comparison.
47:31Brave
47:38Let's play some basketball!
47:412. Ashley Simpson
47:43Saturday Night Live
47:44Once again, Ashley Simpson
47:48This was a masterclass in how to lose everything in just a few seconds.
47:53In the 2000s, Ashley Simpson was a rising star, even scoring a spot as the musical guest on Saturday Night
47:59Live.
48:00Think like I'm falling with my head on something real
48:05I like the way they feel
48:08Her first number went just fine.
48:10When it came time for her second, things went off the rails.
48:14Just as she was about to begin, a vocal track from the first song began to play instead, and the
48:19band went along with it, causing Simpson to be even more lost.
48:25In a moment of panic, she attempted to dance it off before running off stage.
48:30While she had a legitimate health issue that explained the lip syncing, the damage to her reputation was already done.
48:40Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest
48:46videos.
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48:50If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
48:561. Led Zeppelin Live Aid
48:59It hurts to see legends struggle on stage.
49:06When Led Zeppelin initially quit, people were desperate for a reunion.
49:10So when fans heard they would be returning for a set at Live Aid, they were ecstatic.
49:15The day of the show, three replacement members were there instead, including famed drummer Phil Collins.
49:21Unfortunately, this ended up hindering them rather than helping them.
49:24He appeared not to know the tracks and played what he wanted, while Jimmy Page struggled with an out-of
49:30-tune guitar.
49:311.
49:35Robert Plant's voice had also changed considerably since their heyday, and to top it off, they were having sound issues.
49:42It was such a mess that Page himself described it as an atrocity, while putting the blame solely on their
49:47substitute drummer.
49:482.
49:53But what infamously bad musical performance sticks out in your memory?
49:57Let us know in the comments below.
49:592.
50:002.
50:002.
50:023.
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