Why did so many bands in the 60s mime / lip-sync on TV shows?

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I've noticed in the vast majority of "performance" clips from many 60s TV show, bands like the Stones, CCR, The Kinks, etc. are just miming to their hit record, maybe with live vocals. Certainly there were shows at the time, like Ed Sullivan, where groups actually performed, and most of these bands certainly were capable of performing in front of an audience.
From a technological / logistics perspective, it almost seems like it would be more complicated to set a band up to mime rather than just actually play.

I just never understood this. Thoughts?

 

I'm no authority but if were to venture a guess, I would think different technical situations called for miming- plus the band's or managers fear that the hit single's sound won't be present in the broadcast and they'd look bad.

 

Because most of these TV Shows back then were not set up for live music. Plus it sounded like crap. It was not always bad when they "faked" it. The Stones on Ed Sullivan in the late 60's doing Gimmie Shelter with a live vocal by Mick was pretty good. The Beatles faking it on David Frost was cool. The record played but they did added live vocals over it.
I remember Jan and Dean on SHindig faking it to Surf City and Dean forgot the words....On the local Ch 9 station in Los Angeles had a afternoon show and had some great artist on it. They all faked it, The Doors, New York Dollls but the kicker of all time was the Carpenters on it and Karens Drums had no symbols......lol She would hit it was supose to be but nothing was there. If I remeber right the shows was first hosted by Sam Riddle and later by the real Don Steel.

 

How would no mics be "more complicated" than not having to worry about sound balance, 60-cycle hum, whatever?

I believe there would be money/union issues, as well. But it's definitely easier to mime -- or to sing to tracks -- than to perform live.

 

I guess you're right.
I was just thinking about the whole issue of having a live drummer and other live noises clashing with the played-back recording, or having to prepare a backing track if they decided to do live vocals. I mean, it wasn't THAT hard in the 60s to set up some mics and plug in amps, especially in a small venue like a television studio, but yeah I guess just playing the record is easier. The results just usually aren't very convinicing IMO. As a musician who's played in bands at bars and clubs, I think I would find miming to an audience a LOT harder thensimply plugging in and playing.

 

Probably the same reason groups mime at the Super Bowl today---it's cheaper/faster/easier/less hassle/sounds-just-like-the-record/MP3-so-the-kids-don't-get-confused-from-actually-hearing-a-real-musical-instrument-in-person kind of thing.....

 

>I was just thinking about the whole issue of having a live drummer and other live noises clashing with the played-back recording<

With some of the Who's, the Stones' and the Beatles' mimed appearances, we often see the drummer "air-drumming" about 10 inches on top of his cymbals... It does look ridiculous, esp. on hindsight today...

Interesting thread !

 

Many of the 1960s bands would have to haul The Wrecking Crew around with them to do an actual live performance without embarassing themselves. Jan & Dean would also need The Fantastic Baggies, The Matadors and Jill Gibson to sing (backup ).

 

That's my understanding. I think the shows had to pay out more for live performances.

 

But think this through...this would be an "issue" for the (at most) few hundred people there in the studio, vs. potentially millions out there in TV land. If it was a complete mime job, there was no clash because there usually weren't live mics on in the studio during the performance (although occasionally very skilled audio engineers would mix the sounds of the audience clapping in time with the recording).

As noted, often as not the drummer played "air drums."

They either sent the record's backing track over from the studio, or in some cases, the band pre-recorded a unique backing track prior to the show, then sang live vocals over that.

Harder than you think, especially given that most TV engineers of the time had no experience with miking rock bands in general or dealing with a volume considerably louder than they were used to.

Believe me, I do hear you. I certainly felt cheated when bands lip-synched. And it's why it's such a treat when you come across a genuine live performance of a 50s or 60s artist on YouTube.

But TV shows weren't interested in making it "easier" for bands to play in those days. They were a lot more interested in their own ease, and their bottom line.

 

MikeM sez it all. There's also an illusion of "reality" that faking a live set can keep going.

When you listened to a 45 back in tha day, you would imagine shiny, happy musicians playing and singing in such a way the variety shows of the 60's tried to emulate. You wanted to see the faces, not some mic in a guy's face. You wanted to see the drummer, not a whole setup of cymbals, mics and acoustic walls between you and the performance. You didn't want to see all the cables and gewgaws get in the way of seeing who the band was. Teevee could give you that visceral thrill, and all it took was a little suspension of disbelief.

 

I'm glad this thread has popped up. I wonder about this stuff every time I get excited about a dvd release of an old tv show or special only to be disappointed due to the obvious miming.

IIRC, Ian Anderson mentions, on his segment of the Rolling Stones: Rock N Roll Circus DVD, that Tony Iommi's guitar playing was mimed to Jethro Tull's previous guitarist who had left shortly before the taping of that special.

 

Anyone remember that old clip from some old TV show (Sullivan maybe) of the Doors doing "Touch Me"? It sounded like they were just playing the record, but they had a bunch of old farts in suits playing violins, looking like they were very serious about what they were doing. Hilarous!

 

That, in a nutshell, is what TV USED to be all about, a "suspension of disbelief". It isn't anymore.

 

Of course, the best of the best of the best of the best is Nirvana miming Smells Like Teen Spirit on Top of the Pops:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4LaNWObKl8M
Sooooooo funny!

 

However, some artists were not too accomplished at faking it. The worst lip-synching attempt I ever saw was Cilla Black doing her hit "You're My World" on some old show. Every word, it looked like she was gulping for air!

 

There were some very good performances on '60s TV that weren't mimed, depended on the show,I think. The Beatles, Byrds, Stones all did some good live material on TV.
Sometime in, (I think late '66 or early '67), the UK Musicians' Union banned miming for supposed "live" shows like Top of the Pops, which led to the use of live vocals in front of a pre recorded backing track. One hilarious example that I remember had Hendrix and the Experience on stage ready to go when "Simon Smith and His Amazing Dancing Bear" by the Alan Price Set started up, quick as a flash Hendrix leaned into his mike and said, "I don't know that one".

 

I'm no so sure about that. How about John Cougar doing I Need a Lover on American Bandstand?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=gKG4idNX7nU

 

Actually it was the Musicians Union who imposed strictures on group/bands performing live on TV shows, and all recording artists were members, of course.

I can't remember the exact reasoning behind it, although I believe it was notionally to do with protecting the interests of un-signed session (professional) musicans who were also members - there were very specific conditions to be met before live performances were allowed to be broadcast, live or recorded.

 

Getting a good sound out of a band involves more than just sticking a couple of mics in front of them - thus the complaints back in the 60s of poor sounding live acts on TV. TV studios weren't in the audio recording business and wouldn't spend the time, equipment or effort involved in multi-miking or mixing. Also, they wouldn't want the band doing soundchecks while everyone else stood around. The band was treated just like the magician - you go on at 6:16, do your 3 minutes and get off before the juggler arrives. No soundcheck, no rehearsal and we certainly aren't going to risk a live performance where anything can go wrong! It's so much safer if you just mime (in their eyes).

 

I think Shindig had the best track record as far as live performances go. They had a lot of lip-syncing, but I think more bands actually played live on that show than any of the others. I didn't really care back then if they faked it or not, but now I really love the live ones I can find. In fact, I don't even know if I knew if they were faking or not, it wasn't an issue then!

John Lennon was a terrible lip-syncer ( that can't be a word). He would just go off on purpose to look silly. I think he really, really hated it!

 

Interesting thread.

 

That's what I've always been told...

 

I was watching the first couple chapters of Beatles Anthology over the weekend, and even my not-so-musically-savvy girlfriend could notice when the clips were live versus lip-synched, pointing out the shots where Ringo's cymbles clearly weren't moving at all when he "played" then. I'm not sure if he was stopping short of hitting them, or just had them clamped down tight, but once you notice it, it was pretty distracting!

Funny, we had the same conversation about why so many acts seemed to do this back then, and I came up with similar reasons (i.e., TV studios not being ideal for sound recording, not being able to replicate the sound of the original recording, etc.).

 

Now in the UK, the Musicians Union tried to "protect" working musicians by restricting the amount of pre-recorded music played on air. So bands rerecorded their hits in the BBC studios so that the recording could be aired as if it was being played live. They knew that if they just played the record, the Union would recognize it but by pre-recording a different version everyone could at least pretend it was live! This gave the musicians the chance to be "live" but still get a good sound and not make too many mistakes! Either the Union reps didn't catch on or accepted the unspoken truth.

On TV, this extended to bands performing over a pre-recorded backing track with a live vocal. It was assumed that as long as the vocal was live, most people couldn't figure out whether the backing track was or not. They would even be promoted as being live because legally they had to.