I've always been a bit perplexed by the outrage over these guys. Why does it matter whether the guys dancing on
TV were in the
studio when the
record was recorded? It's interesting, sure -- in fact, it's pretty cool -- but it's got nothing to do with the
record, which sucks or does not suck on its own merits, entirely apart from the funny pictures. When you hear a Milli Vanilli
song on the
radio, where exactly do these
Fab and Rob characters come into the picture? They aren't singing, you can't see them dancing, okay. Forget about them. They're unrelated. Yet people act as if the charade thing somehow "invalidates" the record. Look, if you put a picture of
Jimmy Page on the cover of a
Rolling Stones record, what effect would that have? None. If you put a picture of
Fab and Rob -- or
DMan -- on the front of a
Rolling Stones record, it's the same deal: Completely irrelevant. I can't imagine why anybody would be bothered by it. The stuff inside is the same.
The whole episode is an interesting
marketing stunt, a fabulous
hoax, and a window into the bizarre notions that people have about reality. It's got nothing to do with music, though.
It's not all that new, either. Tone-deaf actors in
movie musicals have been lip-synching for decades. I've read that
The Byrds didn't play most of the instruments on their first album; they were too raw, and the
label brought in ringers. Ditto
the Monkees, for God's sake.