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Britney Spears and lip-syncing
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In this Aug. 9, 2009 file photo, Britney Spears arrives at the Teen Choice Awards in Universal City, Calif. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, file)
An Australian court has ruled that Britney Spears must disclose to her audience that she lip-syncs. Promotional items distributed for the concerts must reveal she isn’t always singing.
Britney is variously described as “furious” and “upset.” Whatever our feelings about lip-syncing, it’s older than rock and roll.
When I was a little fellow and my sister was in high school, we watched American Bandstand when it was a daily TV show.
As far as I know, every act that appeared on American Bandstand lip-synced. No one seemed to mind.
Odds are, when you see an act on television, on DVD or at a movie theater, you are seeing people lip-sync.
Think “The Sound of Music.” When it came out, Mad Magazine drew a cartoon of Julie Andrews, changing the lyrics to the title song to “I’m not singing now, I am pre-recorded.”
In 1939, July Garland recorded a beautiful song called “Somewhere over the Rainbow,” which she lip-synced for the movie “The Wizard of Oz.” Admittedly, she didn’t lip-sync the song when she performed it in concert.
MTV itself was almost 24 hours per day of lip-syncing. It was, basically, an all-video channel when it began. Lip-syncing was the foundation of MTV.
Think of your favorite video of any genre. Odds are, the act is lip-syncing.
If the outcry against lip-syncing succeeds in persuading more acts to sing live at every performance, fan disappointment could be very high. The recordings we like are, after all, usually the result of a multitude of takes, with the best bit from each one edited into the final version. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard a truly live album that I like.
There are many exceptions to lip-syncing, a lot of acts singing live on TV or in person – but it may be an exception rather than the norm.
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