On this day in 1990, the manager for recent Grammy winners for Best New Group Milli Vanilli held a press conference to tell everyone his act was a fraud. They did not do any of the singing on their best-selling record and they lip synced their shows. It was a startling revelation for a pre-Auto Tune world where singers were supposed to sing and musicians were supposed to play. While there were always suspected fakes out there, this was one of the most public humiliations of the kind.
Well, here on Rocks Off, the shit just got REAL! In honor of this momentous occasion, we've decided to bring you the 10 most no bullshit, it doesn't get any realer than this, artists ever. Strap in and hold on.
10. Keith Richards
Some believe that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil. I think it was Keith Richards. Who could survive the constant punishment that man has subjected his body to for 50 years and live to tell about it? If he isn't a minion of Satan, he must be a robot.
9. The Clash
London Calling wasn't just a great rock record, it was a call to arms at a time when popular music had backslid into cheese and cocaine. The Clash, like the Who in the 60s, were the middle finger conscience of a young, pissed off generation.
8. Ted Nugent
Long before Nugent was a gun-toting conservative railing against pussy liberals and even well before he got hair sprayed for his pop turn with the Damn Yankees, Terrible Ted was crushing rock and roll and taking no prisoners. I once saw him hock a massive loogie on stage and spit it about 20 feet. Like the honey badger, Ted just didn't give a shit.
7. The Stooges
It isn't often that someone gives himself over the music in the way Iggy Pop did with the Stooges. The guy looked like a walking track mark and the music felt like meth addiction before that even existed.
6. Motorhead
When heavy metal was turning coiffed and pretty, nobody brought the sick and nasty like Motorhead. Sticking to their guns at a time when they probably could have ridden a gravy train of hot chicks and LA parties so many other rockers were doing it proved they had brass balls wrapped in stainless steel.