How ELO became the first band embroiled in a lip-syncing scandal
Audiences have always had a tricky relationship with acts that lip-sync, but until recently, doing so was a fairly common practice. Just look at one of Michael Jackson’s biggest moments in music history: his comeback at the MTV Music Video Awards in 1995. The crowd roared, and energy from the screen was palpable. But most of the performance was a backing track. The first time this kind of thing stirred something ugly was when ELO got accused of the same crime in 1978.
It’s not so unusual to stumble across an old video where it’s fairly obvious the musician is playing along to a backing track or miming along to their own songs. It might have irked people back then, but it was somewhat expected, especially for performances requiring high-energy dance choreography or ones that were so high-stakes they couldn’t afford to go wrong. But if it’s something we already know about, it somehow makes it less of a cop-out.
It’s also why we’re so forgiving now when we watch old episodes of Top of the Pops or other talk shows where it was a done thing, especially knowing the various ways certain artists tried to rebel against their lip-syncing policy by either sabotaging the performance, miming badly, or doing strange things (like eating a banana) during the entire set. On a basic level, it’s a threat to artistic integrity. In a more complicated reading, it sometimes feels like some kind of manipulative ploy to disrespect your audience, like they’ve paid money and time to be there, and you can’t afford to be authentic back.
But this wasn’t so straightforward with ELO’s incident in ’78. Performing in August at The Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan as part of their Out of the Blue tour, things took a turn when their promoter accused them of using backing tapes throughout the performance and confiscated them so they couldn’t pull such a move again. Obviously, this part of the story was never confirmed, and it remains open-ended as to whether they actually did get them taken off them by the promoter.
But, of course, context is key, and while ELO’s Jeff Lynne lip-syncing wasn’t even the most scandalous thing he could have done, the tapes weren’t actually used to fool the audience or cover up some sort of incompetence when it came to actual talent. In fact, they were used as basic technical support, especially for certain songs on Out of the Blue, which required a base level of rhythmic guidance so everybody could keep on track throughout.
With technology well and truly not on their side, the tracks also allowed certain parts (so-called “bad-libs”) to go unnoticed, making the whole thing run a whole lot smoother. Their sound mixer was also on hand to provide backing vocals, synths, and other elements to make it the best possible experience for the audience and distract them from the elements that prevented them from putting on a good show.
The lawsuit that came after obviously twisted this narrative somewhat, making ELO out to be yet another faux act who went up on stage and fake-performed in front of a sea of adoring fans. But the reality was far different, and actually provided a failsafe that focused on the blend of a technical means to an end to enhance the music and make sure nothing went wrong. Or if it did, which was a likely development considering the equipment they were playing with, the audience would still be having the time of their lives.
