ABSTRACT
In the spring of 1990, the Franco-German pop singing and dancing duo Milli Vanilli was awarded the Best New Artist Grammy for 1989. The award prompted a spate of newspaper articles with titles like “That Syncing1
Feeling” (Detroit News, July 31 1990) and other media commentary concerning various performers, including Milli Vanilli, who allegedly lipsynched to pre-recorded vocals in concert (Madonna, Michael Jackson, Paula Abdul, and many others were similarly accused).2 Most of the commentary was adamantly opposed to the practice, though virtually all of it also admitted that the main audiences for the performers in question, mostly young teenagers, did not seem to care whether their idols actually sang or not.3 In November, Milli Vanilli’s producer created fresh controversy when he admitted that not only had the duo lip-synched their concerts, they had not even sung on the recording for which they were awarded the Grammy, which was then rescinded, much to the embarrassment of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), the Grammys’ institutional sponsor. In response to these waves of scandal, legislators in many American states followed the lead of those in New York and New Jersey by introducing bills mandating that tickets and posters promoting concerts during which performers lip-synch state that fact; stiff
1 There is no consensus as to whether “lip-synch” or “lip-sync” is the proper spelling. I prefer the former but retain the latter in quoted materials.
