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Don't
Erase Milli Vanilli From Pop Music History
March 15-April 15th Pop Article.
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Milli Vanilli were shamed when it
was discovered that they didn't sing one note on their debut
album Girl You Know It's True. The album went platinum
worldwide and the duo even won the coveted Best New Artist
Grammy in 1990. The Grammy was later taken away after the
scandal broke.
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Milli Vanilli became the laughing
stock of the entertainment industry. They were mocked on
comedy shows and often you could see throngs of Milli Vanilli
fans throwing away their copies of Girl You Know It's
True on the news. The group tried to rebound with a
second album--one that they actually sang on, but it was
too late. Lack of promotion and acceptance from the public
prompted the album to stall. Several years later, Rob Pilatas,
one half of the group, died in a drug related suicide. Rob
documented his troubles following the demise of the group
on a well aired episode of VH-1's Behind The Music.
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Everyone laughed at Milli Vanilli
Many of their fans turned their back on them. The record
company stopped pressing copies of Girl You Know It's
True.
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When Girl You Know It's True
first came out, everyone was digging Milli Vanilli. Okay,
so they had a name that didn't make much sense and they
wore spandex, but they were a popular group. It was almost
as fun to watch them dance and jump around and give each
other high fives as it was to listen to the songs.
Milli Vanilli dominated the pop charts in between late 1988
and 1990. Their debut album had five hit singles--Girl You
Know It's True, Baby Don't Forget My Number, Blame It On
The Rain, All or Nothing, and Girl I'm Gonna Miss You. All
of their videos were in heavy rotation on MTV--this was
a feat considering it was the late 90's. During this time
period Aerosmith, Guns N Roses, White Snake, New Kids On
The Block, The Cure, Warrant, and Don Henley were in heavy
rotation. This was a heavy white male orientated time period
in MTV history. Madonna was one of the few females to get
heavy airplay on MTV during the 88-90 era. Her Like A
Prayer album kept her in rotation. Bobby Brown had good
rotation in the 88-89 time period and crossover acts like
Neneh Cherry had good rotation, but during this era most
black videos were scene during Yo MTV Raps, and even though
Milli Vanilli were a pop act, they were still black males
so it was great to see them getting so much exposure.
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The songs were good and the front
men entertained us with their looks and their late 90's
dance moves. So why erase Milli Vanilli from pop music history?
Why can't any music lover walk into their favorite record
store and pick up a copy of Girl You Know It's True?
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Milli Vanilli is a dark spot in
music history as far as the industry is concerned. Who knew
the truth and who didn't remains a mystery. Milli Vanilli
were the epitome of pop music success before the scandal
broke--catchy songs, good looks, and high record sales.
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Is it about artist image or vocal
talent? Did the image of two handsome, athletically fit,
good dancers help the listeners to enjoy the songs more?
Does it really matter that they didn't sing the songs? Think
about Britney Spears, does anyone care about her vocal talent.
People tune in to look at Britney.
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Rob and Fab had the looks and some
other guys had the vocal talent. At the end of the day as
long as the songs are good and the people are entertained
that's all that matters. Isn't it?
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| Don't erase Milli Vanilli from pop
music history and don't be ashamed to say that you liked
Milli Vanilli. Milli Vanilli should not be looked at as
a dark spot in music history. Girl You Know It's True
should be reissued so that music lovers can easily purchase
it without having to go to Ebay or the Amazon.Com Marketplace.
People will buy the CD for the songs and they will fondly
remember Rob & Fab dancing around entertaining us on
MTV. |
