These musicians imploded in the worst location possible for someone in their profession. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the instances where a musician or group’s public goodwill began a steep decline, after onstage incidents.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo and today we're counting down our picks for the instances
00:11where a musician or group's public goodwill began a steep decline after on-stage incidents.
00:17Mariah Carey's team doing major damage control tonight following a show-stopping,
00:22jaw-dropping New Year's Eve debacle which unfolded on live television.
00:2630. Fiona Apple
00:30That I didn't because I'm not going to do this like everybody else does it.
00:33There's no denying the talent, creativity, and stage presence of Fiona Apple.
00:39This performer truly has a style all her own, one that served Apple well when her debut album
00:45title arrived in 1996. One of that album's singles, Sleep to Dream, earned Apple a Best
00:51New Artist trophy at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards. Then she made a speech.
00:58See, Maya Angelou said that we, we as human beings, at our best can only create
01:04opportunities. And I'm going to use this opportunity the way that I want to use it.
01:09The Fiona Apple, This World is BS speech was seen at the time as out of touch and ungrateful,
01:15considering she was in the middle of accepting an award. Time has seen Apple's speech get
01:19reappraised by some, but the singer's career definitely took a downturn in the post-title
01:24years. And she's never quite attained the same commercial success since this era.
01:29You shouldn't model your life about what you think that we think is cool and what we're wearing
01:33and what we're saying and everything. Go with yourself.
01:3629. Brass Against
01:45You might be forgiven for not having heard about Brass Against.
01:49The group first garnered attention back in 2016,
01:52after their band of brass-infused cover material earned a cult following. However,
01:57Brass Against also ushered in some bad attention after an onstage incident back in 2020.
02:12The group's live performances were, historically speaking,
02:15always a place where anything felt like it could happen at any time.
02:19That said, nobody expected lead singer, Sofia Urista, to publicly urinate on a fan during
02:26their festival set. The act wound up getting Brass Against banned from performing at any
02:31NASCAR-connected events, and essentially killed any goodwill the group had earned up until that point.
02:4628. Oasis
02:48Do you think your album's gonna be a big success tomorrow?
02:52I think it's gonna be, yeah, totally.
02:53Why can't you remember some of the words tonight?
02:55Too pissed off, I'm not.
02:57The eventual destruction of Oasis wasn't something that occurred overnight, nor was it the result of
03:01a single onstage cock-up. Instead, it was the opposite, a slow and cringe-worthy implosion,
03:08thanks to the combustible nature of the Gallagher siblings.
03:11Do you think you're gonna beat them with your album this time?
03:14I'm not in competition anymore with a Blur and that British Blur,
03:18you know what I mean? It took them five years to get number one, right?
03:20The pair's incessant squabbling and disagreements were played up in the press
03:24during Oasis's 90s heyday, but this tension eventually spilled over into live performances
03:29as well. This was where fans' curious obsessions with Oasis's interpersonal struggles began to
03:35turn into distaste, since these same fans began experiencing poor gigs. Concerts were marred by
03:42drunken antics, slurred vocals, and subpar musical execution.
03:47You want the old stuff?
03:48Yeah, yeah.
03:49Fair enough.
03:51I'm out, but you're gonna leave me alone now, yeah?
03:53Number 27. Amy Winehouse.
03:56Okay, can I ask you something? As an audience, don't you think they look so handsome?
04:03It's never fun for fans to watch the slow decline of their favorite artists.
04:07Devotees of Amy Winehouse would likely give anything to hear the singer perform again,
04:12but that wasn't the case during the twilight years of her career.
04:15There were reports of fans booing the rehab singer back in 2011 when a performance in Belgrade,
04:21Serbia became infamous for Winehouse's inability to stand, never mind sing.
04:33Society has come a long way in that short a time,
04:36and there just might have been a better support system for Winehouse
04:40had those shows occurred in the modern day. That said, there was little anybody else could do at
04:45the time with regards to the fizzling out of Amy Winehouse and her subsequent complicated legacy.
04:59Number 26. Green Day.
05:01Jesus Christ, we've got four minutes left?
05:06The f*** am I gonna do with four minutes?
05:09This California punk band's DIY roots seemed far away in the rear view during
05:14an infamous onstage tirade at the 2012 iHeartRadio Music Festival.
05:19It all went down when Green Day's Billy Joe Armstrong went on a tear
05:23after the group's set was allegedly being cut short by organizers.
05:27Give me a f***ing break. One minute left. One minute f***ing left.
05:32You're gonna give me f***ing one minute?
05:35It's unclear today as to whether or not Armstrong meant the rant as a symbolic middle finger to
05:40festival politics. Instead, the takeaway for many was that Green Day were out of touch,
05:45pretentious rock dinosaurs, the same sort of style that was raged against by punk originators.
05:51The band survived, but it didn't seem unfair to argue that perhaps,
05:55just perhaps, Green Day were living on by legacy alone.
05:59I've been around since f***ing 1980 f***ing eight.
06:05And you're gonna give me one f***ing minute?
06:08Number 25. Justin Bieber.
06:11Everybody knows my name now, but something about it still feels strange.
06:16Achieving fame at an early age is never easy, even for the most well-adjusted kids.
06:21That said, Justin Bieber definitely experienced some growing pains during his bad boy phase.
06:26The successful young singer basically followed the rock and roll rulebook when it came to poor
06:31behavior, from showing up late to gigs to arrests and negative publicity. The Biebs even managed to
06:38shock his fans during a gig back in 2012 when he actually stopped performing in Arizona to,
06:43well, vomit. It made headlines on websites such as The Hollywood Reporter
06:48and helped Bieber eventually turn his career around in a more positive direction.
06:52What if you had it all, but nobody to call? Maybe then you'd know me.
07:01Number 24. Waves.
07:04I can't concentrate, my brain's damaged over you.
07:08You'd be forgiven for not being familiar with the San Diego-based rock band known as Waves.
07:13This was despite the alternative group's early success back in the late 2000s.
07:17However, a notorious gig in Barcelona, Spain resulted in a full-blown band meltdown right on
07:23stage. Pitchfork reported in 2009 how the band, admittedly performing at the ungodly hour of
07:342.20am, didn't seem into their set. Soon, bottles were being thrown, and Waves dug their heels
07:41deeper into resentment. Lead singer Nathan Williams mocked the crowd, and notably fought
07:46with drummer Ryan Ulsch, all in plain view of a very confused music festival.
07:52We're not done yet! Get off that stick! Get back here! Hey! Hey!
08:02Number 23. Grateful Dead.
08:04Must be getting early, clocks are running late, ain't my number morning sky.
08:13The long and strange trip of the Grateful Dead is undeniably one of the formative cornerstones
08:18of 1960s American psychedelia. However, some fans are split as to whether or not the creative spirit
08:24of the band outlasted the demise of their spiritual leader, Jerry Garcia.
08:30Every silver lining's got a touch of grey.
08:35To be fair, the Dead toured relentlessly over a 30-year-plus span, but it's this longevity
08:41that ultimately came back to bite them. This all comes down to reports of inconsistent performances
08:46and a traveling roadshow that seemed more concerned with milking nostalgia than attempting
08:51anything new. Various Dead splinter groups have since toured performing the band's music,
08:56but opinions vary as to whether or not the band should have continued after Garcia's death.
09:04Number 22. Mariah Carey.
09:07Mariah Carey's team doing major damage control tonight following a show-stopping,
09:12jaw-dropping New Year's Eve debacle, which unfolded on live television.
09:16Every musician has been there. You want to deliver the goods on stage,
09:20but the sound is not working. You can't hear anything, and the vibe is just off.
09:24Mariah Carey had nothing to prove to anybody back in 2016 when she performed on Dick Clark's
09:30New Year's Rockin' Eve. Her legacy as one of music's greatest voices was secure,
09:37but that didn't stop armchair historians from suggesting that perhaps Carey's past
09:42successes were just that — in the past. Reports surged that Carey couldn't hear
09:47her backup vocals, and this resulted in her losing both her mark and the beat.
09:51It was the sort of mess that a lot of people, fans and critics alike,
09:55had a lot of fun with after the fact.
09:57So she not only could not hear herself, she couldn't hear the music.
10:02Number 21. Enrique Iglesias.
10:05So what's the accusation? That he didn't sing it, or that — because he was singing
10:09before autotune, I feel like. He was, and I think that was his problem.
10:13Here's a question. If we like a pop star enough, does it really matter whether or not they can
10:17deliver the goods on stage? It's a valid argument, particularly in the face of AI-created music and
10:22autotuned singer-songwriters. Enrique Iglesias may be the son of the world-famous musician Julio
10:28Iglesias, but that didn't necessarily mean that talent was going to stay near the tree.
10:33But then what about the studio recording? It sounds good.
10:36Doctored it up.
10:37Doctored it up?
10:38Doctored it up.
10:39Even before they had the technology?
10:41It's possible, or he just took it take by take to hit the key properly.
10:45Articles and think pieces from both 2023 and 2024 referenced Iglesias' reported
10:51lip-syncing scandals, as well as evidence of some extremely poor on-stage performances.
10:57These articles continued to question whether or not Iglesias enlisted studio singers to
11:02work on his albums. So startling was the real-life evidence of the star's fall from musical grace.
11:08From the coast of Ipanema to the island of Capri.
11:12Number 20. Creed.
11:14Part of what held this rock band back from even more monstrous success
11:18was the reputation they garnered as a horrendous live act.
11:28The group's frontman, Scott Stapp, is infamous for ruining sets, primarily due to his problems
11:34with substance use disorder, sometimes forcing the band to end shows early,
11:39and other times performing so poorly that audiences wished they had.
11:43In 2003, four concertgoers were so outraged by a poor Creed performance
11:49that they actually sued the group. Even though the case was eventually thrown out,
11:53the incident cemented Creed's bad reputation, and the group never returned to their peak popularity.
12:00Number 19. Lindsay Lohan.
12:02In the early 2000s, it seemed like every current or former teen celebrity was trying out the whole
12:08singer-actor double threat thing. However, for every Miley Cyrus, there are some like
12:13Lindsay Lohan, whose singing career never took off in the way that she'd hoped.
12:28Responses to Lohan's work were mixed, and she did herself no favors when she appeared
12:32on Good Morning America to promote her single Rumors. It was extremely obvious that the
12:37performance was lip-synced, and critics were quick to call Lohan out. Her label put out a
12:42statement assuring fans that while there was a backing vocal track, Lohan was singing as well.
12:48People were unconvinced, however, and the performance became a defining moment of
12:52Lohan's foray into music. Number 18. Carmen.
12:59Carmen were a romantically involved, later husband-and-wife duo,
13:03who started making it big by performing covers on YouTube.
13:13The duo were eventually asked to perform on Saturday Night Live in 2012,
13:17and saying that it didn't go well would be a massive understatement. Audiences were left
13:21unimpressed by their performance, with many criticizing the duo's stage presence, vibe,
13:26and music. It was also unfortunate that Carmen happened to perform the night that Whitney Houston
13:31passed away, as people were feeling extra apathetic towards their type of sound. The
13:36reviews of their set were scathing, and what could have been the duo's breakout moment ultimately
13:41marked their fate. Number 17. The Replacements.
13:45As a punk-turned-alternative band, it's somewhat unsurprising that The Replacements would have a
13:50reputation as a wild-card live act. The group were infamous for getting wasted at their own
14:01concerts, often turning sets into what felt more like drunken karaoke. While for some,
14:08this was part of the group's charm, it definitely turned off other would-be fans,
14:13and held them back from mainstream success. From getting banned from SNL for performing
14:24as some of the show's rowdiest and drunkest musical guests ever, to notoriously playing
14:29the worst set ever at the famous New York club CBGB, it could definitely be said that
14:34The Replacements were their own worst enemies. Number 16. The Sex Pistols.
14:39At the height of The Sex Pistols' popularity in January 1978, the group went on an ill-fated
14:45North American tour that would inevitably lead to the dissolving of the band. Throughout the tour,
14:50tensions within the band led to rampant infighting, and the negativity translated
14:55into their live shows. At the end of the tour, during a concert in San Francisco,
15:01singer Johnny Rotten made it clear that he was finished with the project,
15:05as he spent the set mocking the audience and barely singing along to his band's music.
15:13The next day, he flew to New York and announced that he was leaving The Sex Pistols.
15:17The band was finished soon after. Number 15. Michelle Shocked.
15:22Michelle Shocked was never a huge star by any stretch, but the alt-folk singer had a
15:26decently-sized following up until an infamous 2013 concert in San Francisco. True to her name,
15:33concertgoers were shocked when the singer made clear her feelings towards Proposition 8,
15:37the banning of same-sex marriage in California. Shocked expressed her belief that marriage is
15:49only legitimate between a man and a woman, and though she maintained that she was not homophobic,
15:54many were unconvinced. Shocked's career quickly fizzled out following these comments.
16:18Why Shocked thought that this would fly in San Francisco of all places is anyone's guess.
16:24Number 14. Guns N' Roses.
16:39Despite their status as rock legends, Guns N' Roses have garnered a reputation as a live band
16:44whose performances can range from epic rock spectacles to sloppy, unrehearsed diva theatrics.
16:55Over the years, Guns N' Roses have played a number of sets that they'd probably rather forget.
17:01Some examples would be a concert in 1991 where a visibly inebriated Slash could
17:06barely play the opening riff to Welcome to the Jungle,
17:15and a 2010 performance in Dublin where the group were booed off stage in response to Axl Rose's
17:21volatile attitude towards the crowd. The group also has a habit of starting their shows hours
17:36late, which paired with the inconsistency of their musicianship has led them to losing a
17:41lot of their credibility. Number 13. Robin Thicke.
17:45Following the release of his 2013 single Blurred Lines, Robin Thicke's career took off,
17:50then burned, all within a short span of time. The song itself, for which he was later sued by
17:56Marvin Gaye's estate, was part of Thicke's problem, with many critics arguing that the
18:00lyrics were misogynistic and trivialized consent. However, it was Thicke's live performances in the
18:06months that followed that truly sank his career. Thicke performed an outrageously vulgar and
18:11unanimously loathed live rendition of Blurred Lines at the VMAs with Miley Cyrus, soon after
18:17Thicke's wife Paula Patton left him. In response, he begged her to take him back
18:21in subsequent live performances and even released an album called Paula.
18:26This only turned even more people off the falling star. Pretty cringe, Robin.
18:31Number 12. Miguel.
18:32Part of the reason that you don't hear from this once up and coming R&B singer anymore
18:37may be in part due to this incident. At the 2013 Billboard Music Awards,
18:42Miguel landed onto a couple of fans while attempting to stage dive, injuring two of them.
18:47One of the fans' lawyers spoke to TMZ about a potential lawsuit immediately after the incident,
18:59but that lawsuit never materialized. The other fan, however, did file a lawsuit against Miguel
19:04in 2015 in order to help cover the cost of her medical bills and lost wages.
19:10For any artist, a lawsuit is a bad look, and for Miguel, the stage dive incident became
19:15something that people still remember about his career.
19:26Number 11. Greta Van Fleet
19:28In 2018, Greta Van Fleet captured the world's attention with nostalgic rock anthems that
19:33hearkened back to the days of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. At the height of their popularity
19:43in early 2019, Greta Van Fleet appeared on, you guessed it, SNL to give America a taste of the
19:49rock showmanship associated with the bands that inspired them. The set, however, was disappointing
19:55to say the least. The sound of the band was muddy, the songs seemed under-rehearsed, and the members
20:00all looked extremely nervous and sheepish on stage, making for an extremely awkward performance.
20:06Time will tell if the group is able to recover from the negative press that they received from
20:10this performance.
20:11Number 10. Eric Clapton
20:14One of the most prolific rock musicians of all time,
20:16Eric Clapton is famous for his role in bringing the blues to Britain. Still, you'd expect that
20:21someone with such fondness for blues music would have a better grasp of its history.
20:25And to me, it sounded like they were in a fantasy land. I mean, to me, see, for you,
20:31perhaps, Ed, the plantations and the cotton fields would have been a place of abject
20:36misery and hardship. For me, it was paradise. In 1976, during a concert in Birmingham,
20:42Clapton launched into a crass and hateful rant involving various racial slurs,
20:47said that all foreigners should leave England, encouraged people to vote for a far-right
20:51politician, and used the slogan, Keep Britain White.
21:11This concert immediately sparked outrage throughout England,
21:14with many artists denouncing Clapton and inspiring the Rock Against Racism movement.
21:21Number 9. Sly Stone
21:40Vocalist Sly Stone was the frontman of one of the most well-regarded funk acts of the 60s.
21:51However, the careers of Sly and his band, The Family Stone, imploded quickly in the mid-70s.
21:57The group became notorious for ruining live performances with members no-showing,
22:01refusing to play, or passing out from substance use disorder. While this already added a
22:06bittersweet taste to Sly's legacy, the vocalist dealt his career a death blow while performing
22:12solo at Coachella in 2010. Sporting a strange blonde wig and clearly not in any mental state
22:18to perform, Sly performed a feeble and cheerless set with subpar vocal work and incoherent ranting.
22:24Regrettable, considering that this performance was intended to mark Sly's comeback.
22:40Number 8. Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake
22:43This one is just unfortunate.
22:49At the 2004 Super Bowl, musical guest Janet Jackson experienced what was later described
22:57as a wardrobe malfunction. At the end of their performance together, Justin Timberlake tore off
23:01Jackson's rubber bustier, briefly exposing her breast to millions of stunned audiences.
23:18While this finale was planned, Jackson's representative claimed it was supposed to
23:24expose her red lacy bra, not her breast. Dubbed Nipplegate, the incident prompted a proposed
23:30$550,000 fine by the Federal Communications Commission, had MTV banned from producing
23:36future halftime shows, and caused Jackson's music and videos to be blacklisted by television
23:41and radio stations, effectively ending her career.
23:45Number 7. The Everly Brothers
23:47Ah, brotherly love. Country pop legends The Everly Brothers were fundamental to the history
23:52of American music, with dozens of hits throughout the 50s and 60s. Sadly, the years were not kind
23:58to brothers Don and Phil, whose careers slowly declined up until one fateful night in 1973.
24:04When Don showed up to play the duo's set at Winnipark, California, Phil was furious to find
24:08out that his brother was completely drunk. After a booking agent had to stop the show due to Don's
24:13condition, Phil smashed his guitar and stormed offstage, while Don proclaimed,
24:18"'I'm through with being an Everly Brother.'"
24:20"...and halfway through the third song, Don's voice just quit, and that was it.
24:28And Phil took that Everly Brothers guitar, and it's almost like he went up on his tiptoes and
24:36had that guitar up like that, and popped her on the floor and that guitar exploded."
24:40They wouldn't reunite for another 10 years.
24:42"'I think we needed the time away from each other. We'd never,
24:45ever been away from each other. We'd been working together,
24:48been strapped together, singing on one microphone for 20 years then.
24:52That's a long time for two young guys to be pushed together and held together.
24:57You know, you gotta find yourself and go do other things and your own identity.'"
25:026. Maroon 5, Travis Scott, Big Boi
25:06Accepting the 2019 halftime gig was in and of itself a bad look for Maroon 5,
25:10Travis Scott, and Big Boi, as Rihanna, Pink, and Cardi B reportedly all passed
25:16on their offers to perform so as to stand in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick.
25:20On top of that, it was hinted that the performance was going to include a cover of
25:24Sweet Victory from SpongeBob SquarePants. However, the performance only made a passing
25:29reference to the SpongeBob episode before abruptly switching to sicko mode,
25:34further irritating an already skeptical national audience.
25:37While all the artists involved are still doing fine, they certainly earned some lasting ill will
25:42because of the halftime show that they probably shouldn't have played to begin with. Read the room,
25:47guys. 5. Fergie
25:50Fergie's solo career has waxed and waned since she spun off from the Black Eyed Peas.
25:55She's had some big hit songs, and though she never quite reached the heights of stardom that
25:59she was shooting for, she was never irrelevant either. However, after her performance of the
26:04American National Anthem at the 2018 NBA All-Star Game, it may be safe to say that
26:09things are over for the singer. Fergie's baffling rendition of the Star-Spangled
26:19Banner was shockingly bad, so much so that many of the All-Stars were having
26:24trouble containing themselves and could be seen holding back laughter on camera.
26:35The performance immediately became subject to severe ridicule.
26:424. The Chicks
26:44During a 2003 concert in England, the vocalist of The Chicks, then known as the Dixie Chicks,
26:54Natalie Maines, denounced the U.S.'s invasion of Iraq and lamented that President Bush was
26:59from their home state of Texas. This went over fine in England, but triggered a major controversy
27:04in the U.S., where many felt that these comments were anti-American. Celebrities and fellow
27:23musicians slammed the group, people burned their records, and some radio and television
27:27stations boycotted their music. For years, this controversy was a major obstacle for The Chicks'
27:52career, though it seems that the group have begun to make a well-deserved comeback, even changing
27:57their name in 2020 due to its historic connotations.
28:013. Sinead O'Connor
28:03Clarity is key when you're making a point. At the end of her infamous 1992 performance on
28:24Saturday Night Live, O'Connor ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II and declared
28:29Fight the Real Enemy in protest of the Catholic Church. While the act was O'Connor's response to
28:48various stories that had just come to light about corruption and misconduct within the institution,
28:53many viewers misinterpreted her call to action. It was seen as an anti-Catholic sentiment,
28:58and the backlash was brutal, with O'Connor's record sales in the U.S. suffering considerably.
29:14O'Connor continued to make music and perform, but her career never fully recovered.
29:192. Ashley Simpson
29:21Another SNL mishap, though infamous for very different reasons.
29:25In 2004, Ashley Simpson was making a name for herself with a couple of big hits on the radio,
29:30until it all came crashing down during one calamitous performance.
29:34During Simpson's second song of the night, it was revealed that the singer had lip-synced her
29:38previous performance when the incorrect vocal track was played over the monitors,
29:42without Simpson mouthing along. Unsure of how to react, a visibly shaken Simpson
29:57attempted to cut the tension by awkwardly dancing around, until the show cut to commercial.
30:13While it's doubtful that Simpson's career would have set the world ablaze,
30:16this incident certainly removed all doubt moving forward,
30:19with media outlets mercilessly vilifying and mocking the young artist.
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30:481. Milli Vanilli
31:02Perhaps the most notable lip-syncing scandal of all time,
31:05German-French R&B duo Milli Vanilli shocked the world when the recording of their vocal
31:09track skipped during a 1989 MTV Live performance. Already a bad look for the duo, things only got
31:31worse for them as this incident led to the revelation that all of the vocals for all of
31:36their live shows and albums were performed by other people. The group were subsequently torn
31:41to pieces by the media and former fans, compelling Milli Vanilli to return the Grammy that they'd won
31:46that same year. About their live performance, singer Rob Pilatus would later state, quote,
32:09I knew right then and there it was the beginning of the end for Milli Vanilli.
32:13Feel like defending any of these artists? Let us know in the comments.
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