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Why did miming become acceptable?


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Old 26-07-2015, 13:20
pearlsandplums
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I'm watching the nation's top 20 80s songs and this thought came to me. From one of the clips (don't leave me this way) it seems you MUST mime on to totp. Was there a reason for this or just because it's "easy "?
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Old 26-07-2015, 13:28
little-monster
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I never knew the reason why people mimed on TOTP either

But then miming on a pop tv show is hardly a crime compared to a concert you are paying to go and see.
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Old 26-07-2015, 13:34
pearlsandplums
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I never knew the reason why people mimed on TOTP either

But then miming on a pop tv show is hardly a crime compared to a concert you are paying to go and see.
It's very odd. I've heard some huge acts (rod Stewart) sing minimal amounts live. I don't understand why anyone would go and see Britney / Cheryl Cole. Not a single live note
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Old 26-07-2015, 13:47
dellzincht
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Because if you insist on playing live on TOTP you run the risk of this happening.
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Old 26-07-2015, 13:50
Arcana
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There were occasional live performances. From the 80s I remember New Order playing Thieves Like Us live. So it could be done.

There were practical difficulties to playing live with lack of rehearsal time, lack of control over the sound, studio orchestra often having no feel for the music, bolshy musician's union etc. That said, no doubt some 'singers' were very happy that lip-synching was the norm.
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Old 26-07-2015, 14:00
mgvsmith
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The miming was largely to do with practical reasons associated with studio space and fitting in so many acts in a short recording time. So it wasn't because it was easy.
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Old 26-07-2015, 14:02
PhilH36
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It's very odd. I've heard some huge acts (rod Stewart) sing minimal amounts live. I don't understand why anyone would go and see Britney / Cheryl Cole. Not a single live note
I've seen Rod Stewart live and he definitely wasn't miming.
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Old 26-07-2015, 14:03
Doghouse Riley
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There's always been some miming, from way back in the late fifties and probably before. In those days the reasons were "technical," these days, it's "convenient," apart from the fact that a proportion of contemporary "artists," can't sing live.

To be fair, running around on stage like a scalded cat during a performance, which is the penchant of many, must make actual "singing," (a minor contribution to the "experience"), difficult.
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Old 26-07-2015, 14:04
ashtray88
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Some pop groups also performed live, for example Mis-Teeq(except for the chorus..)...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywXRyozAqPI
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Old 26-07-2015, 14:18
Mr Dos
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Back in the day, on TOTP, they often had a half-way solution - backing tracks and live singing. I'll never forget the day when Jimi Hendrix should have been doing 'Hey Joe' and the music for 'Simon Smith and his Amazing Dancing Bear' started in the background.

A bemused Jimi, live on the mic, 'Uh-huh - I think this is someone else's song'.

In today's world of miming music videos and autotune X factor, Jools Holland is still flying the flag for real musicians, with guitars actually plugged in. Whenever someone like Graham Norton says 'and now, performing their latest hit . . .' you know the 'musicians' are acting, not playing.
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Old 26-07-2015, 16:21
barbeler
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Because if you insist on playing live on TOTP you run the risk of this happening.
I bet nobody will ever beat this one
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Old 26-07-2015, 16:39
SpaceCake
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I bet nobody will ever beat this one
Never seen that before
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Old 26-07-2015, 16:47
the chauffeur
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never had an issue with people miming on TOTP, was all part of the fun. i imagine that if we had actually heard the acts singing/playing live we wouldn't have bought the records.
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Old 26-07-2015, 17:10
JasonWatkins
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I think the reasons for miming on TOTP were really just practical more than anything.

Each artist would have needed a certain amount of rehearsal time as well as their own personal set up - band/click track/whatever else.

Also, with the line-up of each show needing to be 'current', it's likely that people were probably fairly heavily booked up as well so would have only really had the time to come in for a few hours, knock out a generic performance and be on their way again.

I know in the last few years of it's life they did insist on live performances wherever possible though, as far as i can remember.
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Old 26-07-2015, 17:50
unique
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they had a period in the 90s where they encourange bands to play live, but it was a logistical nightmare. some artists at least, played some parts live along to backing tracks as it didn't require much setup and soundchecking. drums are a paint to setup and soundcheck properly

a lot of the acts - as that's perhaps a better term to use, on TOTP weren't renouned for incredible live performances, so if they did play live they wouldn't have sounded terrible, especially if vocals were "enhanced" in studios. plus it wasn't ever a serious music show, so i doubt many people caren't if they played live or not, and perhaps people enjoyed it more because of the outfits and dance routines and stuff, instead of the band concentrating on playing live, such as the performances on The Tube tv show

i remember pete waterman saying something along the lines of he didn't want his bands singing live as they would sound worse than on the record and it would affect sales, so there was probably a lot of similar thoughts, either from the labels or the bands themselves
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Old 26-07-2015, 18:05
DiamondDoll
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I bet nobody will ever beat this one
Thanx. So funny.
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Old 26-07-2015, 18:35
ShaunIOW
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Probably because music has become style over substance and image, looks and dance moves are more important than talent and being able to actually sing and play an instrument.

I remember a few punk and metal bands boycotting TOTP as they refused to mime - which is probably why those types of bands ended up with less singles success as less coverage.
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Old 26-07-2015, 18:39
ShaunIOW
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they had a period in the 90s where they encourange bands to play live, but it was a logistical nightmare. some artists at least, played some parts live along to backing tracks as it didn't require much setup and soundchecking. drums are a paint to setup and soundcheck properly

a lot of the acts - as that's perhaps a better term to use, on TOTP weren't renouned for incredible live performances, so if they did play live they wouldn't have sounded terrible, especially if vocals were "enhanced" in studios. plus it wasn't ever a serious music show, so i doubt many people caren't if they played live or not, and perhaps people enjoyed it more because of the outfits and dance routines and stuff, instead of the band concentrating on playing live, such as the performances on The Tube tv show

i remember pete waterman saying something along the lines of he didn't want his bands singing live as they would sound worse than on the record and it would affect sales, so there was probably a lot of similar thoughts, either from the labels or the bands themselves
I remember that as well, and my reaction was if they can't sing live then they have no talent so don't deserve success.
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Old 26-07-2015, 18:43
mimicole
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I'm watching the nation's top 20 80s songs and this thought came to me. From one of the clips (don't leave me this way) it seems you MUST mime on to totp. Was there a reason for this or just because it's "easy "?
That's on my "To Watch" list for tomorrow.
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Old 26-07-2015, 19:46
kirbyreed
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i don't know about top of the pops but these days most of the big pop acts do it so they can put on a bigger show.
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Old 26-07-2015, 19:54
CLL Dodge
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There were occasional live performances. From the 80s I remember New Order playing Thieves Like Us live. So it could be done.

There were practical difficulties to playing live with lack of rehearsal time, lack of control over the sound, studio orchestra often having no feel for the music, bolshy musician's union etc. That said, no doubt some 'singers' were very happy that lip-synching was the norm.
Every time New Order played live on TOTP their songs went down in the charts.
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Old 26-07-2015, 21:45
dellzincht
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Every time New Order played live on TOTP their songs went down in the charts.
Although people still bought Blue Monday by the bucketload.
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Old 26-07-2015, 21:55
Littlegreen42
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Some songs require miming as the vocals were processed to sound a certain way in the studio and wouldn't sound right in a live setting.
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Old 26-07-2015, 22:53
degsyhufc
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Muse had some fun when they had to mime on a tv show. They swapped instruments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efsrvBal2rA
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Old 26-07-2015, 23:35
Hollie_Louise
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never had an issue with people miming on TOTP, was all part of the fun. i imagine that if we had actually heard the acts singing/playing live we wouldn't have bought the records.
I've always felt the same. If someone wants to mime on a TV show it doesn't bother me. I'm no fan of people miming at gigs but if you're going to watch Britney Spears for example, you know what you're going to get so it's hard to be annoyed.
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