Gene Simmons On Lip-Syncing

Gene Simmons And Tommy Lee Slam Lip-Syncing

More of broad topic versus a celebrity feud. Gene Simmons/Tommy Lee bashed Rihanna and Madonna for lip-syncing.

What you guys think as far as lip-syncing? Even Mariah Carey & Faith Hill have said their voices are not what they used to be when younger. Would it be bad if they lip-synced at 60?


I don't enjoy lip-syncing, but i think Madonna deserves a bit more slack I dunno.

I think if they recorded it themselves at a studio (therefore it IS their voice, not someone else's) and then played that recording while they performed, it should be fine. It's very hard to sing and dance at the same time. Back when I danced for the Uni, it could get difficult to dance and talk at the same time, depending on the genre of dance we're talking about (like Shakira? I could never, ever maintain a decent singing voice while moving my torso around like she does. She's either awesomely amazing, or she lip-syncs.)

But if someone else is singing the song and they are taking credit for the voice, that's when it becomes an issue for me because that seems to land on the wrong side of the line.

Then again, I'm perfectly ok with ghost-writing-- in fact, I looked into being a ghostwriter for awhile. And that seems like essentially the same thing as claiming someone else's voice as your own. So maybe I'm just a dirty hypocrite.

To me, there is nothing more true or as inspiring as a live performance. If a band/singer can no longer perform a song, it is a sad day, but should be left that way. If we want to hear it from when they were young, there are studio versions for that.

If you're a singer, chances are I came to watch ya sing at a performance.

Getting old is something that happens to everybody. Hell, Iron Maiden has been around a long time, I don't expect them to be live for too much longer.

Better to bow our gracefully and keep your legacy in higher standing than to attempt to force yourself to continue if you simply cannot because of your age and put yourself in a poor light.

But if you're young, just standing in one place, and are lip syncing, you're probably just terrible without sound editting equipment.

I understand that its hard to sing and dance...I certainly couldnt do it.


but its still nice to know that your favorite singer can actually sing with all this autotune shiznit going around.

I don't like to say somebody is a good singer unless they sound good on stage (or acoustically).

This.
If you can't sing anymore then don't bother. I go to concerts to hear the live performance, or else I'd stay home listening to the cd.

If Michael Jackson were still alive. You wouldn't pay to see him?

To see him "perform" Thriller? Remember the Time? or any of his classics? cause he did lip-sync extensively throughout his career like his sister.

I go to concerts to see the performance and hear them live. If they can only perform and not sing anymore, why should I pay full price for the ticket? Do both or just don't tour anymore.

Choreography is used to fill the gaps of interest. When you've got a full band playing a song, it's always interesting; when you've got one person on stage, with no instrument, reciting weak lyrics, it gets boring.

I think that's up to opinion. Celine Dion, its just her- and that woman can sing. well worth what i paid in Las Vegas imo. But thats different, that's comparing bands vs most solo-acts. Most "vocalists" soloists focus to much on hitting those notes that they cant be bothered to play an instrument. Celine Dion, Whitney, Carey, Franklin, Clarkson, Aguilera, Braxton, Hill etc...

And the few of them that can pull it off are doing so with either a powerful voice or lyrics, or both. They keep attention with a focus. Put a pop artist on stage with one of their shittier songs and see if they can pull it off without choreography to keep them afloat.

One of the singers I really enjoy live is Pink - she has done some incredible acrobatic choreography, and does sing live while she does it. As a result, her voice clearly suffers, and goes in and out while she's whipping around the stage. As mentioned, it's just not physically possible to sing while doing the dance moves these performers do.

My opinion is that a singer should be able to reproduce what I heard on the album, if not better, when live, in some fashion. I once said somewhere that a singer should be able to get almost the same song sitting on a couch while sick with nothing electric at all. If they can't, I won't respect their vocal talents. There's a group with a female lead singer from a year or so doing this on youtube, but I can't remember who it was now, will edit if I can find link!

Are you generally opposed to pop music and dancing- period?

In fairness, I don't think any singer is better than their album. They have the assistance of the studio to make their voices flawless. Celine is good, Mariah is good, but they sound a slightly better on their albums. Why because singing for nearly 2 hours your voice gets strained. When I saw Kelly Clarkson live, I was shocked to hear that her voice was deeper/raspier. The albums make her voice out to lighter/feminine.

I've only seen P!nk on dvd, but she really is an awesome performer.

I'm opposed to people without talent taking air time from people who do. Dry-humping on stage and calling it dancing is not a talent in my eyes. If they don't fall under those categories, I'm fine with them usually.

So what about Madonna, Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson? What's their reason for success/longevity? They all lip-synched and did heavy choreography.

Opinion, but I would disagree. Dave Matthews is a good example - I (and many others) generally find his live performances to be superior to his studio album ones. That's why he's released so many "Live" CD sets. I don't know if I can quite describe it, but the excessive amount of work that goes into modeling a studio album track to be just "perfect" can ruin some of the nuances of the song.

Sheryl Crow is the same way. I think she's an amazing vocalist, song-writer, musician. And she does sound 100% better live. The studio albums usually maker her more "poppy." My Favorite Mistake sooo much better live.

They found an audience. Just like Bieber, just like Miley Cyrus, just like iCarly, just like The Backstreet Boys, N'sync, etc. Big business is great at selling people ***, so much so that it's affected the general intelligence level of several generations of America.

I'm saying that Choreography is space-filler, and it's successful space-filler, otherwise it wouldn't be used. Just like McDonalds puts space-filler in their hamburger patties. It still sells phenomenally well but it doesn't necessitate quality, in fact if you need filler, it's usually because the core product isn't of high enough quality to meet the standard required to be successful.

Tikal,

Are you saying you dont like Madonna? If that is the case I really have to question our friendship! :-p

Found it: Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Gold Lion). You can hear the imperfections in her voice, and that gives it a more authentic (hah!) sound, and I really appreciate it. She can hit the notes with out help from software. When I see a video like this, I really appreciate both versions, studio and live, for the art that they are.

Sick, accoustic, live version (right on the money @1:16):


Studio version:

In all fairness though, I listened, she has a nice voice. But her octave range is prolly 2-3 max. Singers who are more gifted/talented with the 4-5 range have a different president to set I think. And I'm sure its more strenuous on the throat. (e.g. Faith Hill & Adele surgery)

Agreed. I still think you need to be in the same ballpark though when you go live. There's too many singers out there where back in the Milli Vanilli days (am I too old?) would have been laughed at, but now it's all ok.

To bring it back to OP, I guess my feeling is if you can come close to what I hear on the album when you're live at a random local conert just playing on stage, I'll give carte blanche to let you lip-synch as well when you're in less than ideal circumstances. That would include super bowl where missing a note can be "huge", or dance heavy routines like Rihanna or P!nk.

As you said, Gene Simmons isn't doing a 5 octave range, and if he's off a bit, who cares. If Mariah misses a note because she's dancing, people will notice.

Muse is pretty damn good live imo, better than studio versions, but that's just my opinion!

idk... I'm kind of old school when it comes to music... I like musicians for what they can play and do on stage, not the show or the dancing, that's just a plus.

In that way, I usually like bands better, or songwriters... I really like artists who can write their own music, too :3

And I can't stand music from Kesha or Nicki Minaj... specially live acts... tho tbh all I've heard live from Nicki Minaj was at the Grammys and it sounded pretty awful, but then again, it's just me :3

Madonna... imo, she has some good songs, but her popularity isn't entirely because of her music, but because of her shows. So, those are two different things then.

No wonder my music is strange to you.

/shakes head disapprovingly

I go to concerts or musicals to hear live music. I go to ballets to see dance.

Woah! How did I overlook this gem?!? They came to mind along with...

I discovered the band "Combichrist" live. When I went back home, I checked the songs I had heard at the concert on youtube. None of the studio version came close to what I had heard live. One was mind blowing, the other was very good but "flat".

I personally like all kinds of music but when I go to a concert, what I want is to hear something unique. I mainly went to metal and other rock concerts but every single concert was unique. There was always something that couldn't be heard on any of the studio records or even any other concert of the current tour (Volkerball for example, the concert in Nimes was unique, period).

A live should be something unique, not a copy pasta. This is why you pay the sum it costs, because you want to be blown away, not to go back to work and say "guys omg, i just saw X person in concert, omg omg". The thing you want to tell your colleagues when you go back to work is "dude, i went to X concert, the performance was mind blowing, better than any studio record, best concert ever".

I went to see Shakira once and I have to admit that she's rather good and for what I remember, she was live. Though, it's maybe because I'm not a big fan of this kind of music but, her overall concert performance was nowhere near what I have seen in a typical metal concert.