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Speaker 1: Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio Elizabeth Dutton.

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Speaker 2: Hey Saren, it's so good to see you. You too

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Speaker 2: showing up today?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, well you know I had time thought it.

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Speaker 2: Make it me too.

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Speaker 3: I missed you, so I got a question for you

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Speaker 3: now that I've seen you. Do you know what's ridiculous?

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Speaker 2: Yes? I do.

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Speaker 3: Do you want to share?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not that this person is ridiculous. This person

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Speaker 2: is a font of ridiculousness.

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Speaker 3: Oh so Devo new so.

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Speaker 2: It is a listener of ours. I think it's Ali

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Speaker 2: Wilkins double O seven Ali Wilkins double O seven on Instagram.

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Speaker 2: This was all passed along to me today.

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Speaker 4: Uh.

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Speaker 2: This person has provided us with a number of ridiculous

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Speaker 2: things that are just making it to me today. Ali

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Speaker 2: in particular, Alie, this person gave us. Apparently Adidas Mexico

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Speaker 2: had Panadai issues that look like conscios, which, like that

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Speaker 2: makes sense. Then there's Pasta Garoffalo did a mash up

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Speaker 2: of PlayStation It's like Pasta Garoff is like one of

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Speaker 2: the oldest pasta brands.

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Speaker 3: I thought it was like a riff on Jimmy Pasta Company.

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Speaker 2: There you go, their shape like the little does like

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Speaker 2: shapes on the controller, the square and the ex whatever.

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Speaker 2: It's clever. Good for them. But here's the one that

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Speaker 2: that kind of jumped out today. They linked to a

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Speaker 2: post from Interstellar Underscore Isabella who had news of a

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Speaker 2: scandal at the Minnesota seed Art competition.

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Speaker 3: A scandalo scandalo.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so one of the most popular seeds used in

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Speaker 2: the seed art competition. Which are you familiar with this?

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Speaker 3: I believe that's in you like glue seeds to paper.

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Speaker 3: Basically art with seeds. Yeah, it's like kids arts and

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Speaker 3: crafts totally.

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Speaker 2: But like at a high level, thirty thousand.

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Speaker 3: Feet ends up looking like mosaic.

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Speaker 2: Yes, exactly. And one of like the primo supplies for

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Speaker 2: that are yellow mustard seeds because they're really easy to die,

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Speaker 2: and they were like a perfect round shape and the

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Speaker 2: perfect size, and everyone is just like, oh my god.

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Speaker 3: I poppy seeds are also big, You're too.

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Speaker 2: Tiny, but I'm sure they use them for yeah whatever.

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Speaker 2: So here's the thing though, for the Minnesota seed Art

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Speaker 2: competition that you have to use crops grown in Minnesota,

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Speaker 2: and someone rated out that yellow mustard seeds are not

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Speaker 2: grown as a big crop in Minnesota.

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Speaker 3: Huh.

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Speaker 2: So they are now banned from after the I guess

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Speaker 2: people have been working their fingers to the bone on

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Speaker 2: these things, and so after this year's like which is

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Speaker 2: happening end of August. So it has happened now that

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Speaker 2: I'm realizing, we're already in September. So yeah, okay, so it's.

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Speaker 3: Flip the calendar.

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Speaker 2: Oh so they're not going to be able to do

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Speaker 2: them anymore. And so you know, you can use black

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Speaker 2: or white mustard seeds, of course, but those just aren't

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Speaker 2: as great as yellow seeds. Ron Kelsey's apparently the superintendent

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Speaker 2: of farm Crops with what I don't know, he has

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Speaker 2: asked the Minnesota Farmers Association for yellow mustard to be

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Speaker 2: grown as a we need it for the art in

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Speaker 2: order to support the seed art competition, which is ridiculous

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Speaker 2: and I love it. Thank you Ali Wilkins. God, I

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Speaker 2: hope it's Sally and not a Ley or whatever. Wilkins

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Speaker 2: double O seven Brava. You've done it again. Yeah, goofball.

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Speaker 3: That is ridiculous. Thank you, Ali, Thanks for dude. Way

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Speaker 3: to go Minnesota, keeping it Minnesota.

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Speaker 2: God bless it.

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Speaker 3: If you got a second, I got one for you.

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Speaker 3: I do all right, I know you've heard of this band.

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Speaker 3: I'm gonna tell you a story of today. Well, this

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Speaker 3: group not really a band, but I bet you could

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Speaker 3: pick up and sing one of their hits if I

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Speaker 3: just started singing or humming it right now. Okay, I

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Speaker 3: mean I won't do that, but I bet you could,

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Speaker 3: right Because this group was once everywhere. They were once

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Speaker 3: of the world's most iconic up and coming act they were.

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Speaker 3: Not only did they win the Hearts of the People, Elizabeth,

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Speaker 3: they also won a Grammy for the Best New Recording Art.

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Speaker 2: Oh wow.

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Speaker 3: Yes, they were young, famous pop stars. They had it all.

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Speaker 3: But then, Elizabeth, Oh but then today, I want to

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Speaker 3: tell you the story of Milli Vanilli. Oh no, this

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Speaker 3: is Ridiculous Crime, a podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, heists,

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Speaker 3: and cons. It's all ninety verd of free and ridiculous. Okay,

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Speaker 3: Elizabeth seven, have I got a wild one for you today.

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Speaker 3: I've already told you what it's about, but this is

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Speaker 3: also a very touching one. So get ready for a

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Speaker 3: roller coaster of emotion, a bumper car ride of feelings.

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Speaker 2: Oh I love it. We're at the carnival today, baby, I'm.

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Speaker 3: Telling you Milli Vanilla. You remember them right, said they want.

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Speaker 2: Best New Artist. Isn't that like sort of a cursed category?

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Speaker 3: Yes?

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Speaker 2: Are you going to talk about that? I just cut you.

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Speaker 3: No, no, no, no, you can please. I actually did

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Speaker 3: not prepare to talk about the history of the Best

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Speaker 3: New Recording Artists for the Grammys, but you're.

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Speaker 2: Usually prepared to talk about just money.

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Speaker 3: A lot of there's been a lot of bad winners

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Speaker 3: over there. Yeah, yeah, it is kind of known as

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Speaker 3: it's kind of like the Madden cover for sports.

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Speaker 2: I don't know what you mean by that, but.

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Speaker 3: Yes, exactly. Now, did you have the single?

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Speaker 2: I don't think I did.

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Speaker 3: Did you have the cassette tape the album? Did you

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Speaker 3: have the CD?

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Speaker 2: I don't think I did.

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Speaker 3: Did you not like Million?

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Speaker 2: I really wasn't. It wasn't a fan, but like I can't.

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Speaker 3: Really imagine you would be.

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Speaker 2: But you, my brother and I were very young.

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Speaker 3: And most of us start out that way.

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Speaker 2: They had like some songs that we could like kill

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Speaker 2: for each other by putting kind of weird.

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Speaker 3: Aling okay, totally messing the lyrics, like his thing girl.

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Speaker 2: You know it's true, I smell pooh and like that's

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Speaker 2: all I ever hear anyone never says it, and so

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Speaker 2: Traviy destroyed it, which is good.

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Speaker 3: Way to go, TRAVI. You know what, whenever I think

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Speaker 3: of Milli Vanilly, I always just think of my boy Langston.

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Speaker 3: What I'm blank this cat, right, he had dreads and

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Speaker 3: I had dreads. We were both, you know, as you

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Speaker 3: much like you and your brother. We were young at

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Speaker 3: the time, were a little bit older, and we were

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Speaker 3: all much older actually. But anyway, when we'd roll out together,

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Speaker 3: sometimes some smart ass would pop off. They'd be like, hey,

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Speaker 3: which one of you is milling? Which you later this

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Speaker 3: was like in college years, right, they'd be like, oh, damn,

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Speaker 3: I thought Millie Vanilly broke up, right. It's tough when

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Speaker 3: you're like in like a rhyming circle, you're that a

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Speaker 3: freestyle and someone's like, girl, you know it's true. Oh oh,

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Speaker 3: and that's like all they.

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Speaker 2: Do, bad brains and punch them in the face.

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Speaker 3: Hus on. Yeah. No, So that's what I hear when

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Speaker 3: I hear the words Millie Vanilla, I think of my

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Speaker 3: boy lank and but the duo, right, the associations are

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Speaker 3: numerous for everybody. Now, let's just get our party sorted.

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Speaker 3: Who were Milly and who were Vanilla Million.

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Speaker 2: Captain Milly and then Admiral Vanilli and yeah.

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Speaker 3: And and to nearly the 's it's such a fun

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Speaker 3: word to say. I'm gonna be saying that a lot.

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Speaker 3: So it's a perfect name.

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Speaker 2: You're gonna say it so much, it's gonna lose meaning totally.

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Speaker 3: It's hard to sound like nonsense. Yeah, I mean it rhymes,

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Speaker 3: it has this rhythmic consonance to it, and you gets

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Speaker 3: got that good.

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Speaker 2: Illy at the end.

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Speaker 3: Totally sounds like nonsense because of that, but also expensive

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Speaker 3: nonsense like oh it's Millie Vanilli. It's like sounds like

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Speaker 3: some overpriced gelato you bought in Brooklyn, Like, oh, this

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Speaker 3: is Milli Vanilly. So anyway, so the real deal Millie Vanilly,

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Speaker 3: the o G Millie Vanilli. The two guys two brothers,

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Speaker 3: but not brothers with a hard R, brothers with an A. Right,

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Speaker 3: they were exotic brothers, right with a dropped French R. Now,

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Speaker 3: this first came before them was this other guy who

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Speaker 3: I do think you know, Terrence Trent Darby. Oh yeah,

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Speaker 3: remember him, wishing well?

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Speaker 2: Wishing well? Yeah, right for him?

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Speaker 3: He had them high cheekbones, the dread black of white

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Speaker 3: music video, We're looking so pretty like you know. Now,

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Speaker 3: he set the stage for Americans because at the time,

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Speaker 3: you have to understand, in the early eighties, both most

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Speaker 3: of us, you know, brothers and everybody else, we're all

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Speaker 3: like pretty much high on Michael Jackson and Prince at

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Speaker 3: the time they were like a black pop star. And

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Speaker 3: then all on comes nineteen eighty seven. Suddenly there's this

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Speaker 3: high voice black dude singing all pretty and emo like

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Speaker 3: before emo was a big right. So this cat with

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Speaker 3: a dredge, he's got a British accent. We're like, who

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Speaker 3: is this guy? He exotic, right, so that makes him

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Speaker 3: all special. And being Americans, we are still susceptible to

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Speaker 3: the questionable charms of the British accent. So even the brothers,

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Speaker 3: we're still like, man, that dude's saying real nice, right.

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Speaker 3: So anyway, the whole world, the whole pop music world,

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Speaker 3: they all fall in love with Terence Trent Derby and

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Speaker 3: his huge hit as you know, wishing Well. Right, fast

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Speaker 3: forward one year, we skip over to the continent. Now, right,

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Speaker 3: the year is now nineteen eighty eight. There is a

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Speaker 3: dance seminar held at a dance club in Munich, Germany.

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Speaker 2: Waited a German dance seminar.

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Speaker 3: Yes, di imagine that, and we are going to count

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Speaker 3: on the tools and of false So now history is

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Speaker 3: about to be made in this Munich dance club, right,

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Speaker 3: but of course no one there knows it. But there's

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Speaker 3: one man there. His name is Robert Pilattis. He meets

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Speaker 3: another man named Maxim Sylvanian Morvan right, and both men

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Speaker 3: are dancers, but they're also singers, Elizabeth. They share the

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Speaker 3: same dream of pop stardom, a life on the stage

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Speaker 3: in the footlight. They they could be a backup dancer

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Speaker 3: or the main act, but they know their future is

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Speaker 3: on the board.

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Speaker 2: They just have to dance.

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Speaker 3: Yes, they're born for it in the boards. By the way,

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Speaker 3: that's what we show folk called the planks of wood

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Speaker 3: that comprise the stage. So I'm just gonna let you

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Speaker 3: behind two by fours anyway. Millie meets Vanilli right, So actually,

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Speaker 3: in all honesty, rob Mett Fobb.

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Speaker 2: Because Vanilla Vanilli met Manilli Relly, I can't say, can

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Speaker 2: you say it backwards?

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Speaker 3: Vanilli Milli Vanilli Milli? Tough way?

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Speaker 2: It's really hard for me.

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Speaker 3: For a second, You're like, where did the sells go,

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Speaker 3: so Vanilli icye, No, right, Milli Vanilli Robert polattis right.

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Speaker 3: So they go and they realize after the whole Terrence

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Speaker 3: Darby fame, they're like, we could have this too. I mean, yes,

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Speaker 3: we are Germans, but why not us exactly? So let's

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Speaker 3: meet Milly and Vanilly. Robert polattis born nineteen sixty five

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Speaker 3: in Munich in the summer June eighth. If you're into

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Speaker 3: the details at all, No, we should have though that name.

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Speaker 3: I mean, dang, he really missed his shot anyway, rob

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Speaker 3: He started his life out in a Bavarian orphanage. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: he spent his first four years there until he won

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Speaker 3: the orphan lottery and he was adopted out to a family.

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Speaker 3: But it wasn't quite the wind he'd hoped for because

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Speaker 3: in his new home, at school and on the playground,

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Speaker 3: he was often bullied. The German kids would, of course

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Speaker 3: pick on his ethnicity. They called him Kuntakinte as in

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Speaker 3: Alex Haley's The Roots the character Yes. So luckily for

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Speaker 3: him he had music. He had a love of music.

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Speaker 3: So he leaves his adoptive home behind he goes out

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Speaker 3: on his own as a teenager. He soon find steady work,

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Speaker 3: quick money as a model. The guy's really striking to

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Speaker 3: look at. He even has talents though beyond just skin deep.

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Speaker 3: He's a great breakdancer, which pays well. Later, he gets

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Speaker 3: hired as a backup singer for a German entry for

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Speaker 3: the nineteen eighty seven Eurovision song Context. Yeah. The group

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Speaker 3: is called Wind. They were a German Schlager music group.

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Speaker 2: Elizabeth, sounds like, do you have Wind?

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Speaker 4: No?

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Speaker 2: What did you hear?

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Speaker 3: Who told you?

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Speaker 4: That?

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Speaker 3: Was a host?

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Speaker 2: So I don't smell anything.

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Speaker 3: You may be wondering, is there and what is German

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Speaker 3: schlager music?

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Speaker 2: Great question, your music, Elizabeth.

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Speaker 3: I'm so glad you asked me. Anyway, Schlager music very

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Speaker 3: German music phenomenon. The word schlogen it means to hit,

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Speaker 3: like as in to punch, right, and you'll find this

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Speaker 3: word in many languages. It's it's the same borrowed word

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Speaker 3: or its cognates, and it's punch literally means musical hit.

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Speaker 3: In most of the languages. German means to strike or

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Speaker 3: to hit, but in most times he means a musical hit. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: so you have basically the same word in Estoni and Russian, Derbian, Turkish, Romanian, Finnish, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Czech, Dutch, Swedish, Latvia, Norwegian, Danish.

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Speaker 2: And Hebrew hit music.

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Speaker 3: I'm telling you, they all used to punch, punching lag yeah,

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Speaker 3: schlag or they're a cognate in their language, right, So

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Speaker 3: this is the word schlagen in terms of German music.

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Speaker 3: What does it refer to? It refers to pop music, right.

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Speaker 2: I thought it was like the Bronx, like I want

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Speaker 2: to punch people music.

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Speaker 3: Oh no, yeah, no, not like that. So in the

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Speaker 3: nineteen twenties and thirties there's this renaissance of schlagra music, right,

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Speaker 3: which then of course falls away because there's a little

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Speaker 3: interruption between that and the second revival in the post

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Speaker 3: war period. World War Two got in the way of

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Speaker 3: the two revivals, right, So in the fifties and sixties,

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Speaker 3: post hitler schlagra music becomes this rather harmless way to

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Speaker 3: express the collective German identity. Okay, right, so they're like,

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Speaker 3: they get into it. They could do it to a beat, right,

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Speaker 3: So the folk music pretty much it reaches its popularity

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Speaker 3: peak in the sixties in Germany Austria. But once again

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Speaker 3: you're asking Saren what is Schlago music?

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Speaker 2: Popularity music?

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Speaker 3: A great question, Elizabeth, okay, one I've you to answer.

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Speaker 3: So what is schlager music exactly? Elizabeth? You have to understand.

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Speaker 3: Schlager music has been called quote, Germany's most embarrassing musical genre.

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Speaker 2: Oh dear.

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Speaker 3: In twenty seventeen that I found that the All described

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Speaker 3: schlager music as quote, the oral equivalent of nuclear war.

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Speaker 3: It is an ubra that makes Christian rock seem subversive?

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Speaker 2: What could this possibly?

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Speaker 3: The All also added that schlager music quote contains lyrics

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Speaker 3: that are maximally chirpy, predictable, simplistic, and very very very

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Speaker 3: very rhyming. If your average terrible pop song rhymes ten

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Speaker 3: times in thirty seconds, the Schlager hit rhymes fifty times

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Speaker 3: in thirty seconds. Like if your golden retriever learned German

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Speaker 3: and then wrote a song.

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Speaker 2: Is this like, am I now starting to understand Eurovision?

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Speaker 3: Yes, you are starting to understand Eurosion understood?

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Speaker 4: Like?

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Speaker 2: Why why these?

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Speaker 3: It's like camp folk music?

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Speaker 2: Okay, and so that's what Eurovision is.

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Speaker 3: Slager music has been a big champion in the Eurovision contest.

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Speaker 3: They've won numerous times. Schlager music has won all of

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Speaker 3: Europe's like, oh lock is so fun, right, Okay? Anyway,

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Speaker 3: so one writer for The Guardian they noted that Schlager

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Speaker 3: music is quote about being on holiday country, living life

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Speaker 3: on the autobon, living with animals, and living with animals

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Speaker 3: on the autobon.

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Speaker 2: Exactly hitting animals on the A.

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Speaker 3: I think it's more like they're in the car with you,

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Speaker 3: but us, but maybe right, I do not know. But

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Speaker 3: there is this one look out for my shepherd. So

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Speaker 3: there's this one German woman, right, she's she learned later

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Speaker 3: in life that she was hard of hearing, right, and

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Speaker 3: it is likely even in life, Yeah, she didn't realize

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Speaker 3: she apparently she didn't know right. So she gets tested

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Speaker 3: and she finds out that her heart of hearing this

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Speaker 3: dated back to childhood and has been going on undiagnosed.

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Speaker 3: She just was like how people hurd right. So then

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Speaker 3: eventually she discovers that, oh no, it's my ears are

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Speaker 3: not up to stuff compared to most of other people's,

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Speaker 3: you know, processing Okay boom. The German woman concluded and

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Speaker 3: I quote that she must have simply tried Waldens is

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Speaker 3: the womb to develop some sort of self p action

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Speaker 3: mechanism against the musical tastes of my parents. In other words,

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Speaker 3: I tried to evolve natural protection against schlagger music. So

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Speaker 3: that's how bad schlager music is is basically German country music. Specifically,

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Speaker 3: they compare it to text mechs border music. That's like yeah,

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Speaker 3: but it's it's like well. Schlager music has also gone

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Speaker 3: through a German disco revival. There was disco Schlager in

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Speaker 3: the seventies. So this picture like Rhinestone Laterholzen and umpa

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Speaker 3: pap music. But the accordion player he kind of looks

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Speaker 3: like like a leather daddy and he's got like a

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Speaker 3: giant mustache.

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Speaker 2: Oh, I'm trying so hard to okay, so.

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Speaker 3: Excited disco Schlager revival.

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Speaker 2: Is there a serious XM channel for this time?

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Speaker 3: Oh, that's a good question. We should look that up.

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Speaker 3: I do not have an answer for that. I'll get eventually.

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Speaker 3: There's another revival in the eighties, and this is where

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Speaker 3: this is blossom of cheesy German folk music. Finds a

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Speaker 3: young Rob pilattis finding his voice and he joins the

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Speaker 3: group Win and their version of Schlager Music competes at

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Speaker 3: the annual Eurovision Song Contest, which I told you up top,

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Speaker 3: and surprise they do really well. In fact, they win

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Speaker 3: second place.

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Speaker 2: Oh well, yeah, this gives.

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Speaker 3: You young Rob a taste for the limelight of success

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00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:12,000
Speaker 3: and pop start. I mean he's like I've won small

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Speaker 3: of this. Now cut over to my man, Fob morvaon

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00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:20,960
Speaker 3: Government named Fabrice Maxim Sylvan Morvan Street named Fob. He

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00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:23,640
Speaker 3: was born on the Caribbean island of Guadalupe in nineteen

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Speaker 3: sixty six. He was a spring baby born May fourteenth,

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Speaker 3: son of German mother American soldier father Fabrice. Raised in Paris, right,

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Speaker 3: very international. He also, much like Rob, has a love

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Speaker 3: of music. For him, it's all about Bob Marley, the

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00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:41,120
Speaker 3: Jackson Five, the Beatles Queen. These are his people, right yeah,

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Speaker 3: like iconic group, very iconic, Gary anthemic.

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Speaker 4: Right.

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Speaker 3: So he turns at eighteen, Fob he left Paris behind.

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Speaker 3: He moves to Germany because that's like where everything is

347
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Speaker 3: in the eighties, that's really going on in Europe for

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Speaker 3: the dance clubs.

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Speaker 2: Okay, I had no idea the dance club.

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Speaker 3: Scene, that's the spot, right, So this is where his

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Speaker 3: musical education begins. Well, his begins at the same place

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Speaker 3: in German. Noah wes. He listens to Parliament Funkadelic, he

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00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:05,600
Speaker 3: cops some run DMC albums. He listened to Sly in

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Speaker 3: the family Stone. He gets the brother gets funked up, right,

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00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:10,280
Speaker 3: So then he also gets hip to the Gap band.

356
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Speaker 3: So now he's like, I want to become a musician's

357
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Speaker 3: like them, and how do they make me feel? I

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00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:18,120
Speaker 3: want to do that for the world. Right, So now

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00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:21,200
Speaker 3: we have these two young Germans and they both bowstring,

360
00:17:21,359 --> 00:17:24,960
Speaker 3: pulled back arrow, ready to fly, Elizabeth, both take a

361
00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:27,560
Speaker 3: little break, okay, and then when we get back, I

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00:17:27,560 --> 00:17:51,920
Speaker 3: will tell you how they become Milli Vanilly nice. All right, Elizabeth,

363
00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:54,280
Speaker 3: we're back, yes, all right, where were we? That's right?

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Speaker 3: Germany in the eighties scene of disco, like post disco

365
00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:03,919
Speaker 3: club music, things are just popping off. Pop music is

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00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:07,320
Speaker 3: just being made. People are They're creating new dances, new fashion.

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Speaker 3: It is everything a young person wants to be involved with.

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00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:13,280
Speaker 3: It's if you're like a backup dancer, you know, which

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00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:17,520
Speaker 3: is what these guys essentially are models and you know whatever. Anyway,

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00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:20,080
Speaker 3: eventually it just takes a little bit of a matter

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00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:24,399
Speaker 3: of time before their pats cross how did their pass cross, Elizabeth.

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Speaker 2: I don't know.

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Speaker 3: You tell me, well, they met at another dance seminar,

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Speaker 3: and remember, I don't so what happened when the two

375
00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:33,120
Speaker 3: backup dancers and the models finally meet. Did they feel

376
00:18:33,119 --> 00:18:34,960
Speaker 3: as spark? Did they immediately know they have a dance

377
00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:37,960
Speaker 3: did they have a dance off? Did they resent each other? What?

378
00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:39,080
Speaker 3: What was their response?

379
00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:41,439
Speaker 2: I think that they like broke down, they knew, like

380
00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:42,240
Speaker 2: we're cool.

381
00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:46,239
Speaker 3: You called it, as Rob said, quote, something clicks between us.

382
00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:48,199
Speaker 3: Maybe it's because we're both black people who grew up

383
00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:50,960
Speaker 3: in foreign cities that don't have too many blacks. So

384
00:18:51,040 --> 00:18:52,280
Speaker 3: he gets right to the heart of it. He's like,

385
00:18:52,359 --> 00:18:54,280
Speaker 3: I saw him, he saw me, and boom, we were

386
00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:58,399
Speaker 3: like he knows exactly. So they saw past what everyone

387
00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:00,000
Speaker 3: else saw, and they saw each other and they unders

388
00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:02,600
Speaker 3: stood each other from the jump right. But wait, from

389
00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:05,920
Speaker 3: our researcher Andrea, she found that actually they met three

390
00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:09,800
Speaker 3: years earlier, in nineteen eighty five in Los Angeles. What Yeah,

391
00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:13,920
Speaker 3: apparently they don't remember me for the first time. Anyway.

392
00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:17,600
Speaker 3: The im s is Rob Pilatus. He was a breakdancing

393
00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:20,679
Speaker 3: boogaaloo badass. Right, He's the breakdancer. Fob is more of

394
00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:23,440
Speaker 3: the singer dancer. So Rob is over there breakdancing, and

395
00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:26,200
Speaker 3: he's such a limber, limb young dancer. He gets invited

396
00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:29,520
Speaker 3: to compete in a breakdance competition in New York in

397
00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:30,520
Speaker 3: nineteen eighty four.

398
00:19:30,760 --> 00:19:32,480
Speaker 2: Oh, that's like through the center.

399
00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:34,760
Speaker 3: Yes, I mean, he's like he's going up against crazy legs.

400
00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:37,359
Speaker 3: I mean, this is a real legit breakdancing eighty four. Right,

401
00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:39,600
Speaker 3: he's popping in lock and head spinning, crab dancing his

402
00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:42,000
Speaker 3: way to America and he gets there. Now, while he's

403
00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:44,359
Speaker 3: in the US, he pops over to La to see

404
00:19:44,359 --> 00:19:46,680
Speaker 3: what's going on in the entertainment capital of the world.

405
00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:50,760
Speaker 3: And who was in town, Elizabeth attending a dance seminar?

406
00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:55,560
Speaker 3: You guessed it New York Yankees, Great Yogi Berra. No,

407
00:19:55,560 --> 00:19:57,360
Speaker 3: I'm kidding, it was fab more Von.

408
00:19:57,680 --> 00:19:59,800
Speaker 2: I just in my head when I think when I

409
00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:03,959
Speaker 2: hear seminar, I just see like lines of chairs, like

410
00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:05,880
Speaker 2: a hotel conference room.

411
00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:10,679
Speaker 3: There's some kind of like visual presentation, and then me

412
00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:18,000
Speaker 3: like next exactly imagine that but with dance. So apparently

413
00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:20,800
Speaker 3: they met in La at that dance seminar, but they

414
00:20:20,960 --> 00:20:23,520
Speaker 3: wouldn't be until three years later in Munich that they decide,

415
00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:25,560
Speaker 3: you know what, we should start a group together. We

416
00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:28,359
Speaker 3: obviously so much alike, right, so they decide, yes, it's

417
00:20:28,359 --> 00:20:30,439
Speaker 3: a great idea. They started a group. They call it

418
00:20:30,760 --> 00:20:34,879
Speaker 3: Empire Bizarre. Empire Empire Bizarre, pretty good band name in

419
00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:37,560
Speaker 3: my opinion. I mean, Milli Vanilli is like they it's

420
00:20:37,560 --> 00:20:40,440
Speaker 3: just amazing, right, the Empire Bizarre, I mean that's really

421
00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:42,160
Speaker 3: they're two for two in my opinion. Okay, they should

422
00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:44,840
Speaker 3: getting jobs naming new bands, like forget saying you just

423
00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:45,639
Speaker 3: name new bands.

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00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:48,680
Speaker 2: Anyway, Empire Bazar Empire Bazaar sounds like one of those

425
00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:51,120
Speaker 2: fake Instagram like clothing stores.

426
00:20:51,520 --> 00:20:54,119
Speaker 3: Just a scan, definitely sounds like that, or like a

427
00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:58,320
Speaker 3: band for Scott Wheeland after Stone Temple Pilots Rip.

428
00:20:58,520 --> 00:20:58,760
Speaker 2: Yeah.

429
00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:01,720
Speaker 3: Right. So anyway, they hire a third member because we

430
00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:03,560
Speaker 3: need somebody who can sing, So they get this woman,

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00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:07,680
Speaker 3: Charlene Shuling, and together the trio record a single called

432
00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:11,120
Speaker 3: Dances Right Dance and so it was a dance club

433
00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:14,600
Speaker 3: pop song. As you might imagine, all three they danced

434
00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:18,360
Speaker 3: as they sang. They played their own instruments. Yeah, oh yeah.

435
00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:21,440
Speaker 3: Rob sang lead while playing bass guitar. So they were

436
00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:24,520
Speaker 3: legit musicians. They managed to sell some records like in

437
00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:26,040
Speaker 3: the club scene, like and they saw like you know,

438
00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:29,120
Speaker 3: thousands of records, but mostly they stayed what they were,

439
00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:32,520
Speaker 3: starving artists, subsisting on their shared dream. So now they

440
00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:34,879
Speaker 3: didn't know this at the time, but stardom was best

441
00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:39,400
Speaker 3: approaching Elizabeth look out. Yes, so enter the bad man.

442
00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:41,600
Speaker 3: This is the kind of scumbag you meet in many

443
00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:44,960
Speaker 3: music business cautionary tales. Oh no, in this case, his

444
00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:48,720
Speaker 3: name is Frank Ferrian, but that's his street name, government name,

445
00:21:48,920 --> 00:21:51,760
Speaker 3: Franz Reutza, Franz Royce. So as you can tell from

446
00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:54,639
Speaker 3: his original name, Franz was a German or a German

447
00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:57,000
Speaker 3: was a German. Anyway, as Frank Ferran he becomes a

448
00:21:57,040 --> 00:22:00,680
Speaker 3: German record producer, so he is real baby energy. But

449
00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:03,639
Speaker 3: it turns out this dude predates the war as in

450
00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:06,479
Speaker 3: World War Two. He was not part of the post

451
00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:09,359
Speaker 3: war baby boom. He was born in Hitler's Germany in

452
00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:12,639
Speaker 3: nineteen forty one. That was the energy. Old Franz Reuta

453
00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:16,000
Speaker 3: well no aka Frankie Ferrian was born into just.

454
00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:19,520
Speaker 2: Like the other lady like wanted her body deafened itself

455
00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:23,480
Speaker 2: to the bad musics. He like his ears through tell me.

456
00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:27,040
Speaker 3: I want to epic sing about the exploitations. So he

457
00:22:27,119 --> 00:22:29,600
Speaker 3: goes on to become a German pop music producer who,

458
00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:32,960
Speaker 3: by the mid eighties was really slinging right. His big

459
00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:35,560
Speaker 3: innovation was to select people who look good, who look

460
00:22:35,640 --> 00:22:38,360
Speaker 3: hip and sexy. Then he'd have them lip sync songs

461
00:22:38,359 --> 00:22:41,800
Speaker 3: by people who had good voices. Yeah, He'd hire session musicians,

462
00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:44,040
Speaker 3: a session singers and cut a record. Then he'd hire

463
00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:47,480
Speaker 3: some models and dancers to perform it. Instant pop music hits. Right.

464
00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:49,960
Speaker 3: This is because he knew this work, because it worked

465
00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:53,199
Speaker 3: for him. His personal success in music dated back to

466
00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:55,960
Speaker 3: the nineteen seventies, when he had a minor hit covering

467
00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:59,080
Speaker 3: the song al Capone, which he then retitled Baby Do

468
00:22:59,160 --> 00:22:59,879
Speaker 3: You Want to Bump?

469
00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:03,760
Speaker 2: Wait wait wait wait. First of all, I'm not familiar

470
00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:06,560
Speaker 2: with the song al Capone, and how does one get

471
00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:09,119
Speaker 2: from al Capone to Baby do you Want to Bump?

472
00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:10,640
Speaker 3: I do not know.

473
00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:11,959
Speaker 2: Explain this to me, sar.

474
00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:14,480
Speaker 3: It's so amazing, Baby.

475
00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:15,040
Speaker 2: Do you want to Bump?

476
00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:15,840
Speaker 3: Exactly?

477
00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:17,240
Speaker 2: Like, what do we need by bump?

478
00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:20,160
Speaker 3: We know what we mean, but it makes al Capone

479
00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:25,000
Speaker 3: suddenly a very different figure. He's like DJ Coyled all

480
00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:29,480
Speaker 3: of a sudden another one. Anyway. The performing name for

481
00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:34,080
Speaker 3: uh Frank Ferry and aka Franz Route was Bonie m

482
00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:39,160
Speaker 3: so Bony Capitol Letter in the seventies the seventies. Yes,

483
00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:41,399
Speaker 3: he would do the singing, but for the performances, he

484
00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:44,120
Speaker 3: had in a ruben dancer named Bobby Farrell lip sync

485
00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:46,239
Speaker 3: and dance for him. So he's got this face for

486
00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:49,240
Speaker 3: radio pretty much. Yeah. So that's the mold set, right,

487
00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:51,080
Speaker 3: this is he's like, oh, I got to do this again, right,

488
00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:53,800
Speaker 3: So Frankie Faerre And he's also, by the way, a

489
00:23:53,880 --> 00:23:55,879
Speaker 3: legit singer. I mean he was a backup singer. His

490
00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:58,520
Speaker 3: biggest claim to fame was he provided the backup vocals

491
00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:02,679
Speaker 3: for Meatloaf Oh Yes in a lesser known single, Rock

492
00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:06,320
Speaker 3: and Roll Mercenaries. He was uncredited, but the track was

493
00:24:06,359 --> 00:24:09,280
Speaker 3: released in nineteen eighty six, which means Frankie was working

494
00:24:09,359 --> 00:24:11,480
Speaker 3: in the biz when he signed Robin fab to be

495
00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:12,480
Speaker 3: his next big EA.

496
00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:16,120
Speaker 2: I am one hundred gonna start telling people that I'm

497
00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:17,600
Speaker 2: a background singer. Now I'm uncreditbed.

498
00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:19,960
Speaker 3: I'm uncredited, thank you, yes.

499
00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:22,440
Speaker 2: But you can hear me on all sorts of fantastic hits.

500
00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:23,320
Speaker 3: I think you should do that.

501
00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:24,359
Speaker 2: I think I will.

502
00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:27,920
Speaker 3: So anyway, Frankie Farian he'd heard about these two good

503
00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:31,520
Speaker 3: looking brothers, these dancers backup singers known as Robin Fab

504
00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:33,680
Speaker 3: in the club scene, right. So at this point they're

505
00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:36,879
Speaker 3: well known in the Munich club scene, right. So they're hyperstylists.

506
00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:39,080
Speaker 3: They're super attractive because I remember their model good looking.

507
00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:41,520
Speaker 3: They also dress super cool in the ways that they're

508
00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:44,359
Speaker 3: basically the leading edge of cool and Munim club scene.

509
00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:46,679
Speaker 3: So the more of this Frankie Ferian hears about them,

510
00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:48,800
Speaker 3: the more he likes, and soon he's like he starts

511
00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:51,080
Speaker 3: coming up with an idea to make himself wealthy. He's like,

512
00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:53,840
Speaker 3: I got a new boney m. So he gets word

513
00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:55,600
Speaker 3: to Rob and Fab and he's like, I look to meet,

514
00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:58,160
Speaker 3: so he invites him over to the studio in Frankfurt, Germany.

515
00:24:58,240 --> 00:24:59,840
Speaker 3: The pair stoked to be invited out to a p

516
00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:02,600
Speaker 3: is the studio producer who's heard about them, So Robin

517
00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:05,240
Speaker 3: Fab they travel to Frankfurt. They show up at Frankie

518
00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:08,000
Speaker 3: Ferry in spot. He puts the business charm on, which

519
00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:10,760
Speaker 3: typically works wonders on young starving artists shows you know.

520
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:13,720
Speaker 3: So Frankie Ferry, he plays in the demo he'd recently recorded.

521
00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:17,800
Speaker 3: Rob later recalled that fateful meeting and everything in his

522
00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:20,280
Speaker 3: life changes, and I quote, we got a call to

523
00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:22,639
Speaker 3: come to the studio and we said, all right, that's it.

524
00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:25,240
Speaker 3: We were just dumb little kids, so he said, let's go.

525
00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:28,200
Speaker 3: When we got to the studio, girl, you know it's true.

526
00:25:28,359 --> 00:25:30,239
Speaker 3: Was just a demo, and he asked us of our

527
00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:33,000
Speaker 3: opinion of it, and we if we could sing it,

528
00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:35,640
Speaker 3: and we said, yeah, we could sing it. And he said,

529
00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:38,080
Speaker 3: oh beautiful, I believe it. But next week we have

530
00:25:38,119 --> 00:25:40,359
Speaker 3: shows to do, so don't Troy. I'll make you into

531
00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:45,400
Speaker 3: a millionaire. So there all week shows next week. He's

532
00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:47,040
Speaker 3: just met him and he's like, I got shows next week.

533
00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:49,080
Speaker 3: You're ready. You're a try on this spandex.

534
00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:50,119
Speaker 2: He's hot seating him.

535
00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:52,239
Speaker 3: So he's got the bootprint ready, the song recorded. All

536
00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:54,359
Speaker 3: he needs is his frontmen. He makes the pair sign

537
00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:57,320
Speaker 3: his standard deal with the double contract, and the date

538
00:25:57,359 --> 00:25:59,960
Speaker 3: of the contract signing is January first, nineteen eighty eight.

539
00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:03,240
Speaker 3: The contract stipulate so Robin fab will record ten songs

540
00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:07,000
Speaker 3: per year. I couldn't find any limit on how many years,

541
00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:10,040
Speaker 3: just ten songs per year until I say stop. So

542
00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:13,000
Speaker 3: they signed the contract without of course, any legal advice whatsoever.

543
00:26:13,359 --> 00:26:15,520
Speaker 3: Now Frank Ferry has his talent right where he wants

544
00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:17,600
Speaker 3: them under lock in contracts, so he gets down to

545
00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:19,800
Speaker 3: business of exploiting them. He has them coming to a

546
00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:22,080
Speaker 3: studio and shows them. He goes, he goes, show me

547
00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:23,960
Speaker 3: what you can do, right, and so they cut a

548
00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:26,480
Speaker 3: track and it's not at all what he wants and

549
00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:30,359
Speaker 3: he's like, oh, this sucks. Rights Veryan would later recall quote,

550
00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:33,040
Speaker 3: these two guys come into the studio, they recorded, but

551
00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:36,320
Speaker 3: they didn't have enough quality. So he's like, you know,

552
00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:37,919
Speaker 3: not in it. So he goes to plan A. He

553
00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:41,000
Speaker 3: hires session musicians and session singers and he has them

554
00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:44,879
Speaker 3: record the track. The singers are this guy, John Davis,

555
00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:47,520
Speaker 3: Brad Howell, the twin sisters Jody and Linda Rocco, and

556
00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:50,960
Speaker 3: finally Charles Shaw. So the album's done recorded April nineteen

557
00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:53,480
Speaker 3: ninety eighty eight Fairy and he whips out his standard

558
00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:56,040
Speaker 3: deal with the Devil contract has all the session singers

559
00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:58,440
Speaker 3: signed the contracts forbidding that they will ever reveal that

560
00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:01,040
Speaker 3: they were the ones actually singing the record and not

561
00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:04,200
Speaker 3: Robin fab Of course, they all agreed to stay mum,

562
00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:08,359
Speaker 3: so the secrets, of course are hard to keep. Charles Shaw,

563
00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:11,840
Speaker 3: let's talk about him for a second. Chuck us, army veteran.

564
00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:14,280
Speaker 3: He had cross paths with Frank Ferry and somewhere along

565
00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:17,640
Speaker 3: his winding path through life he wrangled six grand out

566
00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:19,960
Speaker 3: of Fairy and to perform his part on Girl. You

567
00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:23,040
Speaker 3: know it's true he did the rap part. Oh god,

568
00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:24,480
Speaker 3: all right, so Elizabeth.

569
00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:25,800
Speaker 2: He shouldn't tell anyone.

570
00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:28,639
Speaker 3: So Frankie Ferry he gets greedy, controlling. He didn't know

571
00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:31,560
Speaker 3: how to win over his stable. The session singers entirely.

572
00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:34,439
Speaker 3: So Shaw starts making noise about how he wants credit

573
00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:36,240
Speaker 3: or more money, and so he did what you know,

574
00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:38,919
Speaker 3: made sense to his businessman brain. He threatened Fairy and

575
00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:40,920
Speaker 3: then he'd rat him out to the music press. Right,

576
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:44,080
Speaker 3: So now the guy's like, you know, Faryan's like, no,

577
00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:46,280
Speaker 3: Kotobs has come on. I can give you maybe like

578
00:27:46,359 --> 00:27:48,960
Speaker 3: a couple of hundred dollars mole or whatever. He's trying

579
00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:51,360
Speaker 3: to like low bomb. So Shaw's like, no, I'm going

580
00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:52,879
Speaker 3: right to the press. So Farry and what does he do.

581
00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:55,120
Speaker 3: He's like, oh, yeah, sends you are fires, take your

582
00:27:55,240 --> 00:28:00,720
Speaker 3: mic for wrapping, and you go right. So he's like,

583
00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:03,840
Speaker 3: all right, so he leaves. Now just remember that name

584
00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:06,280
Speaker 3: Charles Shaw, okay, because that dude's gonna be out there

585
00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:09,800
Speaker 3: plotting his revenge for now. Charleshaw disappears from view. Well,

586
00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:13,639
Speaker 3: Millie Vanilli takes center stage, and now, Elizabeth, did you

587
00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:15,399
Speaker 3: know how they came up with the name Millievanilly? I

588
00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:16,919
Speaker 3: told you about it, but I had to tell you

589
00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:19,360
Speaker 3: how they came up with it. So Rob Plot he says,

590
00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:21,800
Speaker 3: it's quote, a fantasy name. He said that, like, oh,

591
00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:25,080
Speaker 3: their pop stardom success, the words Millie Vanilli were something

592
00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:27,200
Speaker 3: of a fairy tale. Right. It all happened so fast,

593
00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:29,720
Speaker 3: it's just like, oh, just out of like magic, right

594
00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:31,960
Speaker 3: in a beat of a flood of a butterfly's wing.

595
00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:34,879
Speaker 3: Suddenly Millie Vanilli was on the lips of everybody around

596
00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:35,320
Speaker 3: the world.

597
00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:35,560
Speaker 4: Right.

598
00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:38,160
Speaker 3: But Rob said, you know, at one point he had

599
00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:40,640
Speaker 3: the story of a friend who's traveling down in Africa

600
00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:42,640
Speaker 3: and he couldn't believe it. But quote, there was no

601
00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:45,880
Speaker 3: soap and no coke, but there was Millie Vanilli. So

602
00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:47,480
Speaker 3: that's how wild MILLI I.

603
00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:49,160
Speaker 2: Thought this was still the story of how they got

604
00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:53,640
Speaker 2: I'm telling you like what is everywhere?

605
00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:56,800
Speaker 3: Everywhere? He says, his magical quality is my point. It's

606
00:28:56,840 --> 00:28:59,480
Speaker 3: like a spell cast, right, the words they conjured, the

607
00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:02,680
Speaker 3: silly magic right into the world. The story is this

608
00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:05,440
Speaker 3: that Millie Vanilli comes from a trip that they robbed

609
00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:08,880
Speaker 3: fabit taken together to Turkey, and in Turkish the phrase

610
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:12,520
Speaker 3: is used as an advertising slogan. It apparently means positive energy.

611
00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:15,640
Speaker 3: Oh really, Yeah, there's another story though, that is actually

612
00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:19,240
Speaker 3: a nickname of Frank Farryan's girlfriend. Her name was Ingrid Sigeth,

613
00:29:19,520 --> 00:29:22,800
Speaker 3: but Frank Ferrin called her Millie, right, So fob just

614
00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:25,240
Speaker 3: paired that with a rhyming nonsense word to evoke the

615
00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:27,000
Speaker 3: sound and feel of a very big British band at

616
00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:28,000
Speaker 3: the time, scritty poaliitti.

617
00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:29,400
Speaker 2: So which is it, guys?

618
00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:31,360
Speaker 3: And then there's a third version of the story where

619
00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:35,080
Speaker 3: the name was borrowed from a long defunct Berlin discothech. Yeah,

620
00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:37,000
Speaker 3: the truth is is probably one of those stories, or

621
00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:39,320
Speaker 3: maybe like they were just like like one was eating

622
00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:41,000
Speaker 3: vanilla yogurt and the other one dropped his bread and

623
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:43,560
Speaker 3: he's like, you got your Milli in my Vanilli. I

624
00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:44,440
Speaker 3: don't know what the story is.

625
00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:48,680
Speaker 2: Elizabeth, but do we know that it is like currently

626
00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:50,480
Speaker 2: used in Turkey? Is it is?

627
00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:52,840
Speaker 3: It is an expression, It is an advertising slogan, so

628
00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:55,440
Speaker 3: that part we do know is true. Right. What we

629
00:29:55,560 --> 00:29:57,640
Speaker 3: know at this point is the summer of nineteen eighty

630
00:29:57,680 --> 00:30:00,320
Speaker 3: eight is upon us, and Millie Vanilli has just entered

631
00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:03,520
Speaker 3: the chat. So the crowds get these in Europe, they

632
00:30:03,520 --> 00:30:06,520
Speaker 3: get an eyeball, these two beautiful black men and spandex

633
00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:07,880
Speaker 3: biker shorts, thigh.

634
00:30:07,800 --> 00:30:10,720
Speaker 2: High twenty black.

635
00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:15,400
Speaker 3: Leather Doc Martin boots, black blazers, black leather biker jackets,

636
00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:16,080
Speaker 3: you know, like.

637
00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:18,440
Speaker 2: Just like straight up so they like big jackets and

638
00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:20,080
Speaker 2: little tight pans exactly.

639
00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:22,520
Speaker 3: Big up top, tight on bottom. And the eurocrowds they

640
00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:26,280
Speaker 3: are loving it, like the braided extensions are floating and

641
00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:29,680
Speaker 3: whirling about like a dancer skirt when they go right

642
00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:32,400
Speaker 3: in totally and they lip sync the hell out of

643
00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:34,480
Speaker 3: those pop songs right if they hadn't recorded them, but

644
00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:36,800
Speaker 3: they knew the lyrics to lip sync them, so it

645
00:30:36,880 --> 00:30:39,440
Speaker 3: was like, oh, this is amazing. They look so good.

646
00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:41,719
Speaker 3: They just look phenomenal doing it, right, But this at

647
00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:43,720
Speaker 3: this point they believe it's just the warm up. This

648
00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:46,000
Speaker 3: is like you know in bands they go to Europe

649
00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:48,280
Speaker 3: and American bands go to Europe to build a name,

650
00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:49,640
Speaker 3: and then they come back here and they do their

651
00:30:49,720 --> 00:30:52,040
Speaker 3: real tour. That's what they think they're doing, right, So

652
00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:54,680
Speaker 3: then they'll go back to the studio and record their album.

653
00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:57,320
Speaker 3: But as Rob tells it, quote, we would ask Frank

654
00:30:57,360 --> 00:30:59,280
Speaker 3: when we're going to be allowed to give some input

655
00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:01,120
Speaker 3: and he would say, ah, yeah, but right now we

656
00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:03,120
Speaker 3: need you to go out to do promotion. Of course

657
00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:05,040
Speaker 3: you'll get to do it. Just walk with us. That's

658
00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:06,280
Speaker 3: how he strung us along.

659
00:31:06,480 --> 00:31:09,200
Speaker 2: So they didn't wonder why they had never recorded anything.

660
00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:12,239
Speaker 3: No, no, they're out on tour. So the tour all

661
00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:14,880
Speaker 3: summer right, really built up and name for themselves. A

662
00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:16,600
Speaker 3: lot of people know Million Vanilli Is at this point

663
00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:19,160
Speaker 3: in Europe. Right November nineteen eighty eight, their summer tours

664
00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:21,800
Speaker 3: down behind them, their debut album drops. They've built up

665
00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:24,560
Speaker 3: the name boom. First, it's only available outside the US,

666
00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:26,920
Speaker 3: only available in Europe. Okay, now you could not buy

667
00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:28,880
Speaker 3: it in America. But then in March of the next year,

668
00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:32,040
Speaker 3: in nineteen eighty nine, the album hits American Star sholves,

669
00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:35,200
Speaker 3: and at the same time the songs hit the radio, airwaves,

670
00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:38,880
Speaker 3: videos drop on MTV, the pop shock wave starts, and America.

671
00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:41,400
Speaker 3: Milli Vanilli's album was given a new name, You Know

672
00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:43,840
Speaker 3: It as Girl You Know It's True. The album gets

673
00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:49,320
Speaker 3: You remastered, remixed, and songs replaced interesting. Five singles came

674
00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:52,040
Speaker 3: out of that album. Five singles. All five singles made

675
00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:54,479
Speaker 3: it to the top five of the Billboard Hot one

676
00:31:54,560 --> 00:31:55,080
Speaker 3: hundred lists.

677
00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:56,640
Speaker 2: Really, I don't think I could name five.

678
00:31:56,920 --> 00:32:00,240
Speaker 3: Yeah, maybeither three of them five to number one. It

679
00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:03,840
Speaker 3: on the Rain was another one. Yes, Dave, how many

680
00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:05,880
Speaker 3: can you go? Blame it on the rain, Girl, you

681
00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:07,800
Speaker 3: know it's true. Blame it on the rain. That's it.

682
00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:12,760
Speaker 3: That's Can you keep it going? Can you get a

683
00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:13,400
Speaker 3: third one?

684
00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:13,960
Speaker 4: Oh?

685
00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:18,800
Speaker 3: Wait, wait baby, don't forget my number? Baby, don't forget

686
00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:23,360
Speaker 3: my number. Yes, Producer Dave, that's three. Can you keep

687
00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:29,400
Speaker 3: it going? Uh, girl, I'm gonna miss you. Yes, that's right,

688
00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:34,200
Speaker 3: and uh, I've got all or nothing?

689
00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:40,000
Speaker 2: But oh, you little stinker you were reading that is correct?

690
00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:44,560
Speaker 3: Producer Dave got them all, whether or not Wikipedia help him.

691
00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:48,200
Speaker 3: So at this point the album's out, everybody is like

692
00:32:48,360 --> 00:32:52,000
Speaker 3: into it. They're all singing along to all the various

693
00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:55,640
Speaker 3: hits and uh. At this point though, the band is desperate,

694
00:32:55,840 --> 00:32:57,960
Speaker 3: the fearing that someone will find out because they have

695
00:32:58,040 --> 00:33:00,320
Speaker 3: not been able to record their album and now.

696
00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:02,800
Speaker 2: Out and it's like over a year at this point.

697
00:33:02,640 --> 00:33:04,400
Speaker 3: And they're having to travel the world and perform and

698
00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:06,160
Speaker 3: they're always wondering, will this be the day that our

699
00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:08,680
Speaker 3: secret comes out? Any time they perform.

700
00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:10,760
Speaker 2: Who who's singing the actual stuff?

701
00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:12,760
Speaker 3: Like, I mean not really. I mean they do know

702
00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:15,040
Speaker 3: that there's some other singers, but it's like, what do

703
00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:16,480
Speaker 3: you want to know? You want to know who else

704
00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:19,120
Speaker 3: is doing your job? I mean no, Yeah, this guys

705
00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:21,200
Speaker 3: sound good. Don't ever let me meet them. So as

706
00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:23,320
Speaker 3: Rob tells it, quote after Frank Reassy the album and

707
00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:24,720
Speaker 3: he told us that it was too late to stop

708
00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:27,240
Speaker 3: now because the single was such a big success. He said,

709
00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:29,160
Speaker 3: now you have to go through with it. I'll cover

710
00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:31,640
Speaker 3: you guys, nobody will find out. He said, here, I'll

711
00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:34,000
Speaker 3: give you twenty thousand advanced money. We had never had

712
00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:36,000
Speaker 3: Hippo falls. We went along with it. We played with

713
00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:38,800
Speaker 3: Faia and now we know but it's too late.

714
00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:41,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, you do get too far into it.

715
00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:44,160
Speaker 3: That's exactly what happened to them. So at this point

716
00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:46,480
Speaker 3: we have them tick tick ticking up to the first peak,

717
00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:49,840
Speaker 3: and the roller coaster ride is about to begin. But Elizabe,

718
00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:51,280
Speaker 3: I'm gonna leave you there at the peak of that

719
00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:53,280
Speaker 3: roller coaster. We're gonna take a little break, coming right

720
00:33:53,360 --> 00:34:11,640
Speaker 3: back and tell you about the rest of this through ride.

721
00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:19,640
Speaker 3: Elizabeth March nineteen eighty nine, Million Milli begins their North

722
00:34:19,640 --> 00:34:21,000
Speaker 3: American publicity blitz.

723
00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:21,600
Speaker 2: Yeah.

724
00:34:21,640 --> 00:34:23,840
Speaker 3: They perform at the Soul Train Awards. They perform at

725
00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:26,280
Speaker 3: the Edit Aids Benefit put on by their label Arista

726
00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:28,800
Speaker 3: Records in Toronto. They pick up a Juno Award for

727
00:34:28,880 --> 00:34:32,319
Speaker 3: International Album of the Year. Meanwhile, they also perform over

728
00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:35,840
Speaker 3: one hundred concerts across America. Whoa, the buzz is not

729
00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:38,680
Speaker 3: only lit, it's gone. Yeah. Yeah, So at every single

730
00:34:38,719 --> 00:34:41,560
Speaker 3: concert their lip syncing all of their hits, all five

731
00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:42,640
Speaker 3: five of them.

732
00:34:42,680 --> 00:34:44,959
Speaker 2: That's not too uncommon, No, that's the thing.

733
00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:47,719
Speaker 3: Yeah, right, But anyway, and so Bob said it was

734
00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:50,680
Speaker 3: a strange agony to be performing, but not really in

735
00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:53,240
Speaker 3: his words, quote, we sang along every night at Divere concerts,

736
00:34:53,280 --> 00:34:55,520
Speaker 3: but the audience was not allowed to heal our voices

737
00:34:55,800 --> 00:34:58,000
Speaker 3: we can sing and that so all while you forget

738
00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:00,840
Speaker 3: that it's not your voice, but were afraid to tell anybody.

739
00:35:00,880 --> 00:35:03,359
Speaker 3: When people find out you're not really singing, your credibility

740
00:35:03,400 --> 00:35:07,319
Speaker 3: is shot. You just a joke? Yeah, yes, Rob, pretty much.

741
00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:10,200
Speaker 3: That's the truth. Brother, So Rob, he spoke to this.

742
00:35:10,239 --> 00:35:13,600
Speaker 3: There's a psychological imprisonment, this distortion of reality that they

743
00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:16,040
Speaker 3: started going through. You said quote. One of the weird

744
00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:18,279
Speaker 3: psychological things about doing what we did is that after

745
00:35:18,320 --> 00:35:21,720
Speaker 3: you perform one hundred concerts, slowly but surely, you begin

746
00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:25,160
Speaker 3: to believe you really are the singer scooze you up,

747
00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:27,040
Speaker 3: you're out on stage and you just catch yourself thinking

748
00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:29,680
Speaker 3: that it really is your own voice. Right, that's gotta

749
00:35:29,680 --> 00:35:32,200
Speaker 3: be weird, right to start hypnotizing yourself and pop songs

750
00:35:32,239 --> 00:35:34,200
Speaker 3: until you believe you are the singer of the songs.

751
00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:34,920
Speaker 2: Yeah.

752
00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:37,560
Speaker 3: Anyway, Meanwhile, the record company Fat Cats, they make sure

753
00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:39,560
Speaker 3: that no one will question their end of the video,

754
00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:41,799
Speaker 3: so BMG and Frankie Ferry, and they make sure that

755
00:35:41,880 --> 00:35:43,960
Speaker 3: neither Rob nor Fab ever speak to a lawyer or

756
00:35:43,960 --> 00:35:46,239
Speaker 3: even an agent, and instead they slap a label on

757
00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:48,520
Speaker 3: the back of each album that pushes the lie a

758
00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:52,000
Speaker 3: former BMG marketing director, Carston Hayne. He said, quote, the

759
00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:53,680
Speaker 3: record company made sure that it was written on the

760
00:35:53,719 --> 00:35:55,680
Speaker 3: back cover of the singles and the album that the

761
00:35:55,760 --> 00:35:58,680
Speaker 3: vocals were Robert and Fabrise. The record company did this

762
00:35:58,760 --> 00:36:00,759
Speaker 3: on purpose in order to avoid all the questions, so

763
00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:02,359
Speaker 3: they could say to the media, look at the cover,

764
00:36:02,480 --> 00:36:03,200
Speaker 3: what does it say?

765
00:36:03,719 --> 00:36:05,440
Speaker 2: Wait, so they didn't have agents.

766
00:36:05,719 --> 00:36:08,200
Speaker 3: No, So the reason why there were questions was because

767
00:36:08,280 --> 00:36:11,160
Speaker 3: Robin fab weren't good at lip syncing as much. I mean,

768
00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:13,239
Speaker 3: they were pretty good, right yeah, but you know, but

769
00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:14,600
Speaker 3: that was a big part of the deal. But also

770
00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:16,600
Speaker 3: they look the part, and so to the untrained eye,

771
00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:19,040
Speaker 3: they were pretty convincing, right right. Then there would be

772
00:36:19,120 --> 00:36:23,200
Speaker 3: their on camera interviews. That's when the questions blossomed. Oh no,

773
00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:25,320
Speaker 3: but do you think it was odd that two euro

774
00:36:25,480 --> 00:36:28,080
Speaker 3: brothers with thick German and French accents was sing an

775
00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:31,160
Speaker 3: unmistakably American accented pop singing voices?

776
00:36:31,680 --> 00:36:34,120
Speaker 2: A little bit weird? Right, you're looking back.

777
00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:37,000
Speaker 3: Looking back at the time. I heard this when it

778
00:36:37,080 --> 00:36:38,840
Speaker 3: was new. I heard this when it was pop music,

779
00:36:38,960 --> 00:36:40,640
Speaker 3: and I told my sister, who was a big fan

780
00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:43,000
Speaker 3: of them, I'm like, that's not them. There's no way

781
00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:46,000
Speaker 3: you're getting that voice out of that. Do you hear them?

782
00:36:46,040 --> 00:36:48,960
Speaker 3: That's talking like this, Megan, And then they're singing like this,

783
00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:53,759
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, no, it's very thick accent, right, So that

784
00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:56,479
Speaker 3: becomes a problem for them. And so now the next

785
00:36:56,520 --> 00:36:58,319
Speaker 3: month April eighty nine, a month or so under their

786
00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:01,399
Speaker 3: Populitz in America Robin fab they seek legal protection because

787
00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:03,480
Speaker 3: they start realizing it's going to be so long before

788
00:37:04,040 --> 00:37:06,240
Speaker 3: someone's gonna be left holding his bag. Now, they signed

789
00:37:06,239 --> 00:37:09,879
Speaker 3: a contract with Galen Morey Associates for legal representation. They

790
00:37:09,880 --> 00:37:12,280
Speaker 3: want someone to fight for their legal right to sing

791
00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:15,080
Speaker 3: their own songs, which they weren't really their own songs,

792
00:37:15,080 --> 00:37:16,560
Speaker 3: but anyway, they wanted to be able to sing on

793
00:37:16,600 --> 00:37:18,880
Speaker 3: their next album and on their next tour. Now, at

794
00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:21,280
Speaker 3: the time, Sandy Galen was a top agent in Hollywood,

795
00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:23,919
Speaker 3: so they felt finally protected. They have somebody to fight

796
00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:27,480
Speaker 3: their producer. Meanwhile, they also began to taste some of

797
00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:29,520
Speaker 3: the fruits of their success. They moved into a home

798
00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:32,919
Speaker 3: in Beverly Hills. It was a rental, but they shared

799
00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:34,600
Speaker 3: a house right you know, for the summer. They began

800
00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:36,640
Speaker 3: to like, you know, now they're also touring, so they

801
00:37:36,640 --> 00:37:38,359
Speaker 3: really didn't get to like be in their house much.

802
00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:39,120
Speaker 3: They probably there.

803
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:42,239
Speaker 2: For like a week space you say, but they're also

804
00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:43,000
Speaker 2: they're good buddies.

805
00:37:43,040 --> 00:37:45,560
Speaker 3: I don't know anyway, So they performed at some big

806
00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:48,440
Speaker 3: summer shows. You know, this is their first taste of trouble.

807
00:37:48,560 --> 00:37:50,759
Speaker 3: And rather than me is telling you about Elizabeth, I'd

808
00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:54,359
Speaker 3: like to close your eyes and to take sure it's

809
00:37:54,440 --> 00:37:57,799
Speaker 3: July twenty first, nineteen eighty nine. You are hot, You

810
00:37:57,840 --> 00:38:00,600
Speaker 3: are sticky with humidity. You smell like some tan lotion

811
00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:03,560
Speaker 3: and other people's sweat. You are at a summer tour

812
00:38:03,640 --> 00:38:06,840
Speaker 3: event for the show MTV Club. You, along with tens

813
00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:09,680
Speaker 3: of thousands of teenagers, are currently in the Lake Compounds

814
00:38:09,719 --> 00:38:11,360
Speaker 3: theme park in Bristol, Connecticut.

815
00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:13,720
Speaker 2: My god, count even build to perform today?

816
00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:21,440
Speaker 3: Are was not Wassaurtone Loak and Millie Vanilly The moment

817
00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:24,040
Speaker 3: you are in a throng of screaming teenagers and on

818
00:38:24,120 --> 00:38:27,520
Speaker 3: stage is Milli Vanilly. You wonder how you got here?

819
00:38:27,719 --> 00:38:29,719
Speaker 3: I do, and I'll tell you it's not pretty. You

820
00:38:29,800 --> 00:38:31,840
Speaker 3: signed up to be a chaperone for a Girl Scout

821
00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:34,359
Speaker 3: Troops trip to a theme park. You thought you'd ride

822
00:38:34,360 --> 00:38:37,080
Speaker 3: some rides some cotton candy, maybe get a sunburn instead.

823
00:38:37,080 --> 00:38:39,680
Speaker 3: You're listening to cotton candy, and you do indeed have

824
00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:42,520
Speaker 3: a good sunburn going, and you're indeed on a roller

825
00:38:42,520 --> 00:38:45,879
Speaker 3: coaster of emotion. So at the moment the duo Milli

826
00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:48,920
Speaker 3: Vanilly is bouncing around on stage, dancing and singing. At

827
00:38:48,920 --> 00:38:51,680
Speaker 3: the same time, they are a whirl of braid extensions

828
00:38:51,680 --> 00:38:54,520
Speaker 3: and black leather jackets, and you're like, in this heat anyway.

829
00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:57,400
Speaker 3: There's also the spandex It's a whole thing. As the

830
00:38:57,520 --> 00:39:03,080
Speaker 3: mostly teenage crowd sings along with girl you know It's true. Ooh, ooh, ooh,

831
00:39:03,120 --> 00:39:05,239
Speaker 3: you want to go home so badly. Oh yeah, but

832
00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:07,560
Speaker 3: you have at least three more hours of this. You

833
00:39:07,600 --> 00:39:11,200
Speaker 3: wonder how much longer this MTV club show can possibly last.

834
00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:13,680
Speaker 3: The Girl Scouts left this part of the trip out

835
00:39:13,719 --> 00:39:16,680
Speaker 3: of the planet, and then you hear it, the same

836
00:39:16,800 --> 00:39:20,080
Speaker 3: lyrics over and over again. Girl you know it, Girl,

837
00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:23,560
Speaker 3: you know it. Girl, you know it. Girl, you know it, Girl,

838
00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:26,799
Speaker 3: you know it. The song is skipping on stage. The

839
00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:28,600
Speaker 3: two performers don't know what to do, so they just

840
00:39:28,680 --> 00:39:31,239
Speaker 3: keep dancing as the song keeps skipping. Girl you know

841
00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:34,400
Speaker 3: It's girl, you know it. On the inside, Rob is

842
00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:36,200
Speaker 3: thinking I knew right down and it was the beginning

843
00:39:36,239 --> 00:39:38,960
Speaker 3: of the INFAMI. When my voice got stuck in the

844
00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:42,520
Speaker 3: computer and it just kept repeating and repeating my voice,

845
00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:45,680
Speaker 3: I panicked. So the song just continues to skip. The

846
00:39:46,280 --> 00:39:48,480
Speaker 3: dude who's working the soundboard, Dude, couldn't you just hit

847
00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:50,239
Speaker 3: the fast forward button? But nope?

848
00:39:50,320 --> 00:39:53,000
Speaker 2: Why is it skipping on like a digital track? I

849
00:39:53,040 --> 00:39:53,600
Speaker 2: would assume.

850
00:39:53,880 --> 00:39:55,719
Speaker 3: So the kids are just beginning to realize this is

851
00:39:55,760 --> 00:39:58,520
Speaker 3: not intentional. This is not a DJ cutting up the record.

852
00:39:58,560 --> 00:39:59,840
Speaker 3: This is a CD scratching.

853
00:40:00,040 --> 00:40:03,600
Speaker 2: They don't have a microphone held up to a record player, Like,

854
00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:04,800
Speaker 2: how is this skipping?

855
00:40:05,440 --> 00:40:08,319
Speaker 3: Well, it's a CD skip, a skipping CD, so it's

856
00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:12,480
Speaker 3: like digital skip. Yeah. Right. Also, backstage, you see Millie

857
00:40:12,520 --> 00:40:15,439
Speaker 3: or Vanilli run off stage. It turns out it was Rob.

858
00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:16,920
Speaker 3: He'd later say, I didn't know what to do. I

859
00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:19,200
Speaker 3: just ran off the stage. So your eyes follow the

860
00:40:19,239 --> 00:40:21,280
Speaker 3: fleeing pop star and as you see him run smack

861
00:40:21,360 --> 00:40:25,480
Speaker 3: dab into downtown, Julie Brown, the legendary MTV VJ with

862
00:40:25,560 --> 00:40:28,400
Speaker 3: the hip British accent, she stops Rob. It looks like

863
00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:30,719
Speaker 3: she's clearly urging him to go back out on stage.

864
00:40:30,840 --> 00:40:33,439
Speaker 3: Bob is still out there. He's dancing over the skipping song.

865
00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:34,240
Speaker 2: He's skipping.

866
00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:36,799
Speaker 3: He's a trooper. So you clearly see a few mouth

867
00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:39,200
Speaker 3: f bombs, and then there's a head nod and Rob

868
00:40:39,239 --> 00:40:41,759
Speaker 3: agrees to go back out on stage. He rejoins his

869
00:40:41,920 --> 00:40:45,600
Speaker 3: partner Fob, because why, Elizabeth, you already know the answer.

870
00:40:45,800 --> 00:40:49,160
Speaker 3: The show must go on. The fifteen thousand or so

871
00:40:49,320 --> 00:40:51,640
Speaker 3: kids watching the show are never really the wiser. The

872
00:40:51,640 --> 00:40:54,040
Speaker 3: ones who do figure it out, they know it's a

873
00:40:54,040 --> 00:40:56,600
Speaker 3: CD skipping. They aren't bothered because you know, their performers

874
00:40:56,640 --> 00:40:59,480
Speaker 3: are lip syncing at a show in Bristol, Connecticut theme park.

875
00:41:00,080 --> 00:41:03,319
Speaker 3: Maybe they wouldn't be singing. There's no negative repercussions that

876
00:41:03,440 --> 00:41:06,520
Speaker 3: day whatsoever. Meanwhile, you go back to wondering when this

877
00:41:06,680 --> 00:41:08,799
Speaker 3: MTV Club show will be over, or at least when

878
00:41:08,880 --> 00:41:12,520
Speaker 3: will Tone Lok be on stage. Okay, as it turns out,

879
00:41:12,560 --> 00:41:14,600
Speaker 3: a few of the sun drunk teams and the actually

880
00:41:14,680 --> 00:41:17,160
Speaker 3: drunk older members of the MTV audience, they noticed the

881
00:41:17,160 --> 00:41:20,000
Speaker 3: Milli Vanilli did disaster going down. They saw, just like

882
00:41:20,040 --> 00:41:22,880
Speaker 3: you that There were others though, who were backstage and

883
00:41:22,920 --> 00:41:25,960
Speaker 3: they noticed and when they noticed, talk got out industry

884
00:41:26,040 --> 00:41:29,719
Speaker 3: kind of talk a whisper campaign began. Now, when I

885
00:41:29,760 --> 00:41:32,000
Speaker 3: was reading about this, I like to imagine a conference

886
00:41:32,080 --> 00:41:34,800
Speaker 3: room at Arista Records, like the next day after this event,

887
00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:36,719
Speaker 3: and there's like talk around the table and like just

888
00:41:36,920 --> 00:41:39,600
Speaker 3: probably went something like this, like okay, so that wasn't great,

889
00:41:40,160 --> 00:41:42,960
Speaker 3: and someone else like chimed in, could we maybe let

890
00:41:43,040 --> 00:41:44,960
Speaker 3: them really sing next time? I mean, how bad could

891
00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:47,040
Speaker 3: that be? And then some other executives like, oh yeah, no,

892
00:41:47,080 --> 00:41:49,040
Speaker 3: that that could be worse. And then they're like the

893
00:41:49,040 --> 00:41:51,000
Speaker 3: first guy's, well, you know what the real problem is.

894
00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:53,319
Speaker 3: It's not their singing, it's their talking. Can we just

895
00:41:53,360 --> 00:41:56,360
Speaker 3: get them to stop talking? So now everyone in the

896
00:41:56,400 --> 00:41:58,799
Speaker 3: room agrees and it gets real quiet. Anyway, my point,

897
00:41:58,880 --> 00:42:01,399
Speaker 3: the American music press, they start to feast on all

898
00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:04,399
Speaker 3: the questions that are arisen now, and so the late

899
00:42:04,480 --> 00:42:07,040
Speaker 3: night talk show hosts they also sees on this. Ourcineo

900
00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:10,319
Speaker 3: hall particularly brutal. He stayed on them making jokes about

901
00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:13,839
Speaker 3: the German accented pop stars with the flawless American singing voices. Yeah,

902
00:42:13,920 --> 00:42:16,799
Speaker 3: it was like his new favorite go to joke, right,

903
00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:19,920
Speaker 3: It was so obvious for people. Even Rob said quote,

904
00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:21,719
Speaker 3: every time we give an interview with the reports is

905
00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:24,120
Speaker 3: with him my French accent to Rob's German accents. They say,

906
00:42:24,239 --> 00:42:27,239
Speaker 3: no way, how could these guys have sung these songs if.

907
00:42:27,120 --> 00:42:28,919
Speaker 2: He has a friend, where are you giving?

908
00:42:29,400 --> 00:42:32,040
Speaker 3: You know what, Elizabeth, I like doing a German accent

909
00:42:32,120 --> 00:42:34,080
Speaker 3: more than a French accent because I just sound like

910
00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:36,640
Speaker 3: I'm making fun of the French, Whereas with the Germans

911
00:42:36,640 --> 00:42:39,000
Speaker 3: they're like, also, please leave us out of this. But

912
00:42:39,120 --> 00:42:41,680
Speaker 3: you know what, they can't stop me. Those are my people,

913
00:42:41,800 --> 00:42:44,960
Speaker 3: so deal with it. And so anyway, he also said,

914
00:42:44,960 --> 00:42:46,520
Speaker 3: the more we talked to West Thing's god, we were

915
00:42:46,520 --> 00:42:48,400
Speaker 3: afraid the truth would come out. It's kind of like

916
00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:50,759
Speaker 3: when I talk the worst thing anyway. So, after their

917
00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:53,520
Speaker 3: MTV gig in July, Million only stops doing all press

918
00:42:53,560 --> 00:42:57,160
Speaker 3: or interviews. They go no more talking, but they keep performing.

919
00:42:58,200 --> 00:42:59,719
Speaker 3: So their team seems to hope that all the talk

920
00:42:59,719 --> 00:43:01,239
Speaker 3: will just kind of melt away and they can go

921
00:43:01,280 --> 00:43:03,640
Speaker 3: back to printing money out of pop songs. The talk

922
00:43:03,680 --> 00:43:06,360
Speaker 3: does not go away, Elizabeth, No. So in August, some

923
00:43:06,560 --> 00:43:09,359
Speaker 3: meeting is called and Frank Ferry and his girlfriend Ingrid

924
00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:12,480
Speaker 3: aka Millie, along with Robin Fab. They take an elevator

925
00:43:12,520 --> 00:43:14,080
Speaker 3: up to the one hundred and seventh floor of the

926
00:43:14,120 --> 00:43:17,480
Speaker 3: World Trade Center. There they meet the executives from Arista Records.

927
00:43:17,640 --> 00:43:20,520
Speaker 3: They all lunch at Windows on the World Restaurant. I

928
00:43:20,640 --> 00:43:23,320
Speaker 3: view must have been incredible. Anyway, the subject of the meeting,

929
00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:25,920
Speaker 3: how quickly can we improve their English and make it

930
00:43:25,960 --> 00:43:29,000
Speaker 3: seem like they actually plausibly sang their own songs. No

931
00:43:29,040 --> 00:43:31,920
Speaker 3: one has an answer. So clearly the record company is

932
00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:33,799
Speaker 3: aware of the scam that they are perpetuating.

933
00:43:34,040 --> 00:43:34,279
Speaker 2: Yeah.

934
00:43:34,400 --> 00:43:37,000
Speaker 3: Now, Todd Hedley, the duo's manager at the time, he

935
00:43:37,040 --> 00:43:39,520
Speaker 3: said that quote, anyone who worked closely with Milly Vanilli

936
00:43:39,560 --> 00:43:41,319
Speaker 3: has known from the get go that these guys do

937
00:43:41,440 --> 00:43:43,680
Speaker 3: not sing their own material. When I came on board,

938
00:43:43,800 --> 00:43:47,000
Speaker 3: every record company official at Arista and BMG knew it.

939
00:43:47,200 --> 00:43:49,640
Speaker 3: Everybody in the management company knew it. That's why most

940
00:43:49,680 --> 00:43:52,280
Speaker 3: of their employees are forced to sign a confidential clause

941
00:43:52,320 --> 00:43:56,200
Speaker 3: binding them to stay silent. So there we have some evidence. However,

942
00:43:56,239 --> 00:43:58,560
Speaker 3: the folks from Arista, they have maintained their innocence. They

943
00:43:58,560 --> 00:44:00,680
Speaker 3: claim that they did not know that Rob or Fab

944
00:44:00,680 --> 00:44:02,920
Speaker 3: weren't singing on their records. Yeah, and I'm sure. Iheart's

945
00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:05,200
Speaker 3: lawyers would insist that I add that this is quote

946
00:44:05,200 --> 00:44:07,600
Speaker 3: from Arista that quote. Any assertions to the contrary are

947
00:44:07,600 --> 00:44:11,120
Speaker 3: false and libelous, and regarding Millie and or Vanilli quote,

948
00:44:11,120 --> 00:44:13,200
Speaker 3: we deplore their attempts to distort the record and to

949
00:44:13,239 --> 00:44:16,080
Speaker 3: falsely accuse Arista and its executives. So there you go.

950
00:44:16,160 --> 00:44:19,279
Speaker 3: That's been saying record industry legend. Clive Davis, he was

951
00:44:19,320 --> 00:44:21,120
Speaker 3: at that summ At dinner. He was the big boss

952
00:44:21,120 --> 00:44:22,800
Speaker 3: of the dinner. It's been claimed that he was fully

953
00:44:22,800 --> 00:44:25,080
Speaker 3: aware of the hoax and that was going down. Others

954
00:44:25,160 --> 00:44:27,200
Speaker 3: say he was innocent and unaware, So who's to say.

955
00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:31,480
Speaker 3: I have my opinion exactly. Anyway, Now you remember Charles Shaw, Yes,

956
00:44:31,560 --> 00:44:33,400
Speaker 3: he was the American brother who was the rapper on

957
00:44:33,440 --> 00:44:35,160
Speaker 3: the album. He was the one who was fired when

958
00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:37,560
Speaker 3: he threatened Frank Ferry and he said he would snitch. Well,

959
00:44:37,600 --> 00:44:40,600
Speaker 3: he was good to his word. Charles Shaw finally got

960
00:44:40,600 --> 00:44:43,319
Speaker 3: his revenge. Millie Vanilli. They're back on the continent now

961
00:44:43,360 --> 00:44:45,959
Speaker 3: for their first big European tour. They've left America trying

962
00:44:45,960 --> 00:44:47,879
Speaker 3: to maybe put some distance between them and all these

963
00:44:48,120 --> 00:44:50,560
Speaker 3: ugly rumors. Meanwhile, Charles Shaw he sits down for an

964
00:44:50,560 --> 00:44:53,520
Speaker 3: interview with John Leland, a writer from New York News Day.

965
00:44:53,680 --> 00:44:56,680
Speaker 3: He tells the reporter the whole story, how he was

966
00:44:56,719 --> 00:44:59,000
Speaker 3: one of three male vocalists featured on the album, and

967
00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:01,000
Speaker 3: that Robin Fabb did not saying a single note on

968
00:45:01,000 --> 00:45:03,839
Speaker 3: the album. At that same time, Frank Ferry and he

969
00:45:03,920 --> 00:45:06,279
Speaker 3: finds Charles Shaw. He starts throwing money at Shaw to

970
00:45:06,320 --> 00:45:08,400
Speaker 3: shut up and go away, and at first he's like,

971
00:45:08,400 --> 00:45:10,720
Speaker 3: but you also have to retract your statement. So Frank

972
00:45:11,080 --> 00:45:13,400
Speaker 3: Ferry and he offers the rapper one hundred and fifty

973
00:45:13,440 --> 00:45:15,120
Speaker 3: grand to take back what he said. This is more

974
00:45:15,120 --> 00:45:17,520
Speaker 3: than he's given the boys rock the albums right. Shaw

975
00:45:17,560 --> 00:45:19,600
Speaker 3: doesn't take it at that point. Millie Vanilli is a

976
00:45:19,680 --> 00:45:22,160
Speaker 3: behemoth of pop music. The dude at this point has

977
00:45:22,200 --> 00:45:26,840
Speaker 3: sold fourteen million albums. They are certified pop stars. And

978
00:45:26,880 --> 00:45:29,560
Speaker 3: then the unthinkable happens. In February of the next year,

979
00:45:29,600 --> 00:45:33,640
Speaker 3: as a controversy is now swirling and denials persisting, Millie

980
00:45:33,680 --> 00:45:36,680
Speaker 3: Vanilli wins the Grammy Award for the Best New Artist.

981
00:45:37,239 --> 00:45:39,319
Speaker 3: Fabric called how at that moment at the Grammy spell

982
00:45:39,360 --> 00:45:42,080
Speaker 3: for them backstage that night, he said, Rob and I hugged. Sorry,

983
00:45:42,120 --> 00:45:44,839
Speaker 3: if you I'll do it. Rob and I hugged each

984
00:45:44,840 --> 00:45:47,360
Speaker 3: other instead of to may have looked like joy and happiness,

985
00:45:47,440 --> 00:45:49,719
Speaker 3: but inside it was pure confusion. We knew this would

986
00:45:49,719 --> 00:45:52,360
Speaker 3: come back to bite us since the butt. The folks

987
00:45:52,360 --> 00:45:54,839
Speaker 3: at the record label weren't so thrilled about this Grammy win,

988
00:45:54,920 --> 00:45:57,440
Speaker 3: which is rare normally they like a war. But a

989
00:45:57,520 --> 00:45:59,920
Speaker 3: former head of creative services at Arista, this dude ken,

990
00:46:00,400 --> 00:46:02,440
Speaker 3: He said, and I quote, we all knew by the

991
00:46:02,520 --> 00:46:04,640
Speaker 3: time of the awards that they hadn't sung on the album.

992
00:46:04,680 --> 00:46:06,960
Speaker 3: So it was a little awkward and uncomfortable for us

993
00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:09,279
Speaker 3: when they did win. Yeah, I bet it was. There

994
00:46:09,320 --> 00:46:11,600
Speaker 3: can So at this point now, Neil even Elli, they

995
00:46:11,600 --> 00:46:13,440
Speaker 3: know their moment is over. So what do they do? Elizabeth,

996
00:46:13,480 --> 00:46:15,200
Speaker 3: they know it's just a matter of time. They go

997
00:46:15,360 --> 00:46:18,280
Speaker 3: whole hog and they really live it up. So in March,

998
00:46:18,320 --> 00:46:20,560
Speaker 3: a month after their Grammy win, Rob is quoted in

999
00:46:20,600 --> 00:46:23,680
Speaker 3: Time magazine. He gets straight up heretical. He says, and

1000
00:46:23,800 --> 00:46:27,800
Speaker 3: I quote, Musically, we are more talented than any Bob Dylan. Musically,

1001
00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:31,200
Speaker 3: we are more talented than Paul mccotney, Nick Jagga. His

1002
00:46:31,360 --> 00:46:33,799
Speaker 3: lines are not clear he don't know how he should

1003
00:46:33,840 --> 00:46:36,879
Speaker 3: produce a sound. I'm the new modern rock and roll.

1004
00:46:37,120 --> 00:46:38,560
Speaker 3: I'm the new Elvis.

1005
00:46:38,760 --> 00:46:43,879
Speaker 2: Wait, wait, wow, right to the top.

1006
00:46:44,280 --> 00:46:47,319
Speaker 3: So to his credit, Rob later clarified his comments. He

1007
00:46:47,360 --> 00:46:52,200
Speaker 3: said that the reporter misunderstood his German accent. I didn't

1008
00:46:52,200 --> 00:46:54,920
Speaker 3: say Elvis. I said Alvin from Alvin and the Chipmunks.

1009
00:46:55,200 --> 00:46:57,719
Speaker 3: I'm the new Alvin. No, I don't know what he

1010
00:46:57,760 --> 00:47:01,160
Speaker 3: said anyway. April nineteen ninety, our senior he invites Million

1011
00:47:01,239 --> 00:47:03,319
Speaker 3: Vanilly to perform live and just prove that they can sing.

1012
00:47:03,360 --> 00:47:05,600
Speaker 3: They do not take the gig. That same month, Damon

1013
00:47:05,600 --> 00:47:07,880
Speaker 3: Wayne's Keenan Wayne's they do a very famous send up

1014
00:47:07,920 --> 00:47:10,719
Speaker 3: of Millie Vanilli on the Big Color. Do you remember that? Yeah?

1015
00:47:10,719 --> 00:47:13,200
Speaker 3: They that pretty much killed them. Then comes August and

1016
00:47:13,239 --> 00:47:16,040
Speaker 3: then suddenly there is a new Milli Vanilli album no

1017
00:47:16,080 --> 00:47:19,400
Speaker 3: one asked for. The title is a great choice considering

1018
00:47:19,440 --> 00:47:22,520
Speaker 3: the timing of the context. It's called keep on Running Now.

1019
00:47:23,200 --> 00:47:25,880
Speaker 3: It was a pure cash grab by Frank Farrion. Farian

1020
00:47:25,920 --> 00:47:27,920
Speaker 3: Debut is the new Milli Vanilli album at a listening

1021
00:47:27,960 --> 00:47:31,160
Speaker 3: party in Frankfurt from music executives. The album features a

1022
00:47:31,200 --> 00:47:34,880
Speaker 3: female singer, a rapper, two male singers, the same session

1023
00:47:34,920 --> 00:47:37,880
Speaker 3: singers as the first album, and still no Robin Fab.

1024
00:47:38,400 --> 00:47:40,920
Speaker 3: All they ever wanted was to sing on their second record.

1025
00:47:41,160 --> 00:47:44,279
Speaker 3: As Robb recalled a Frank Farian, he would not allow

1026
00:47:44,360 --> 00:47:46,160
Speaker 3: us into the studio. Then he said that the new

1027
00:47:46,160 --> 00:47:48,279
Speaker 3: album was already cut with other singers and it was

1028
00:47:48,280 --> 00:47:50,799
Speaker 3: too late, so we falced the issue. He's a white

1029
00:47:50,880 --> 00:47:53,600
Speaker 3: German guy who has a big complex about the black artists.

1030
00:47:53,760 --> 00:47:55,360
Speaker 3: He did it with Bonie m and he did it

1031
00:47:55,400 --> 00:47:58,719
Speaker 3: with us. He's a control freak, oh right. So when

1032
00:47:58,719 --> 00:48:00,640
Speaker 3: their new album is released in a Maria, there's a

1033
00:48:00,680 --> 00:48:03,680
Speaker 3: new title, the Moment of Truth, because I already has

1034
00:48:03,719 --> 00:48:06,680
Speaker 3: no bounds. So the duo's now called, by the way,

1035
00:48:06,760 --> 00:48:10,160
Speaker 3: the real Millie Vanilli, like the real Ghostbusters or something.

1036
00:48:10,560 --> 00:48:12,719
Speaker 3: When the new album failed to charte or gain any heat,

1037
00:48:12,760 --> 00:48:14,840
Speaker 3: Frank Ferry and tried to control the narrative, so he

1038
00:48:14,880 --> 00:48:17,879
Speaker 3: claimed that he'd fired Rob and Fab and then Fery

1039
00:48:17,960 --> 00:48:20,320
Speaker 3: and tried a quick rebrand of the new band as quote,

1040
00:48:20,480 --> 00:48:25,200
Speaker 3: try n B like apostrophe, capital n apostrophe, So try

1041
00:48:25,280 --> 00:48:27,200
Speaker 3: capital n B, or.

1042
00:48:27,120 --> 00:48:30,440
Speaker 2: Like try and B, try and B.

1043
00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:33,719
Speaker 3: Yeah, we try and B. We try and boss that's

1044
00:48:33,719 --> 00:48:37,000
Speaker 3: what I heard. I don't know anyway. Finally, to distance

1045
00:48:37,080 --> 00:48:38,840
Speaker 3: himself from what he had done, Fairy And tells a

1046
00:48:38,880 --> 00:48:41,360
Speaker 3: reporter from the La Times that neither Rob nor Fab

1047
00:48:41,400 --> 00:48:43,919
Speaker 3: had performed a single note on their album. The truth

1048
00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:47,040
Speaker 3: is now out there from the source, and then Millie

1049
00:48:47,080 --> 00:48:50,680
Speaker 3: Vanilly is immediately dropped from Arista Records. Smash cut to

1050
00:48:50,719 --> 00:48:54,319
Speaker 3: the Voice of Reason aka A generation's newsman MTV News

1051
00:48:54,360 --> 00:48:57,120
Speaker 3: is Kurt Loader. He said, at the time it couldn't

1052
00:48:57,120 --> 00:48:59,040
Speaker 3: happen to nicer people when they said they were better

1053
00:48:59,040 --> 00:49:01,680
Speaker 3: than Paul McCartney. They were setting themselves up for a fall.

1054
00:49:02,280 --> 00:49:05,680
Speaker 3: I love it with undercut. So in the La Time story,

1055
00:49:05,760 --> 00:49:08,200
Speaker 3: Rob comes clean as well. He told Chuck Phillips. The

1056
00:49:08,200 --> 00:49:10,080
Speaker 3: writers are from the La Times quote, I feel like

1057
00:49:10,080 --> 00:49:12,239
Speaker 3: a mosquito being squeezed. The last three years of our

1058
00:49:12,280 --> 00:49:14,360
Speaker 3: lives have been a total night Tomare. We've had to

1059
00:49:14,400 --> 00:49:16,799
Speaker 3: lie to everybody. We own the true singers, but that

1060
00:49:16,960 --> 00:49:20,000
Speaker 3: maniac Frank Farran would never allow us to express ourselves.

1061
00:49:20,360 --> 00:49:23,080
Speaker 2: I love that he's the mosquito being like, you're parasite.

1062
00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:27,920
Speaker 2: Yeah exactly, Okay, yeah, four things.

1063
00:49:27,920 --> 00:49:30,560
Speaker 3: So that same day the La Times Stories comes out

1064
00:49:30,800 --> 00:49:33,440
Speaker 3: that night on David Letterman, for his top ten monologue

1065
00:49:33,440 --> 00:49:35,719
Speaker 3: of the night, he lists top ten new jobs for

1066
00:49:35,800 --> 00:49:38,080
Speaker 3: Millie Vanilly. Oh go, I went back and I watched

1067
00:49:38,080 --> 00:49:40,680
Speaker 3: that episode. The top ten list is not a funny one.

1068
00:49:41,360 --> 00:49:44,399
Speaker 3: Number five professional objects of scoring a ridicule for years

1069
00:49:44,400 --> 00:49:48,200
Speaker 3: to come. Number four fact checkers at twenty twenty, the

1070
00:49:48,280 --> 00:49:53,600
Speaker 3: buckwheat division. Wait, Number three, yes, number three even newer

1071
00:49:53,680 --> 00:49:57,360
Speaker 3: kids on the block. Number two extremely groovy fry cooks.

1072
00:49:57,600 --> 00:49:59,680
Speaker 3: And number one who cares just as long as we

1073
00:49:59,680 --> 00:50:00,880
Speaker 3: don't hear from them ever again?

1074
00:50:01,160 --> 00:50:02,719
Speaker 2: Can I turn the car around and go back to

1075
00:50:02,800 --> 00:50:03,319
Speaker 2: number four?

1076
00:50:03,400 --> 00:50:04,520
Speaker 3: Oh, the buckwheat division?

1077
00:50:04,719 --> 00:50:05,960
Speaker 2: But what yeah?

1078
00:50:06,120 --> 00:50:10,080
Speaker 3: Right, okay, oh wow? Oh yeah no, this is like

1079
00:50:10,160 --> 00:50:12,560
Speaker 3: nineteen ninety so it doesn't matter. Yeah no, I'm not saying,

1080
00:50:12,680 --> 00:50:15,680
Speaker 3: just placing it in the context of time. Yes, this

1081
00:50:15,800 --> 00:50:17,600
Speaker 3: was the casual racism I grew up with, Elizabeth.

1082
00:50:17,600 --> 00:50:20,120
Speaker 2: This is it the casual racism.

1083
00:50:21,200 --> 00:50:23,600
Speaker 3: So three days after the Letterman Top ten list, nearly

1084
00:50:23,680 --> 00:50:26,319
Speaker 3: time story runs the Grammys people they step into the

1085
00:50:26,320 --> 00:50:28,799
Speaker 3: fray to minimize the stink that's getting on them. They

1086
00:50:28,840 --> 00:50:31,080
Speaker 3: revoke the award, the only time they've ever done that,

1087
00:50:31,480 --> 00:50:33,439
Speaker 3: the one they hand out to Millie Vanilli. They take

1088
00:50:33,520 --> 00:50:36,000
Speaker 3: back right, so no one can ever say Grammy Award

1089
00:50:36,040 --> 00:50:39,600
Speaker 3: winning Millie Vanill ever again. The question then becomes, well,

1090
00:50:39,600 --> 00:50:41,800
Speaker 3: which one of the runner ups, Yeah, win the award?

1091
00:50:42,040 --> 00:50:44,279
Speaker 3: Everybody wants to know, Elizabeth. Can you guess who the

1092
00:50:44,360 --> 00:50:46,800
Speaker 3: runners up were? For the best? They are in nineteen

1093
00:50:47,040 --> 00:50:49,880
Speaker 3: nineteen ninety nineteen, So the album would be a nineteen

1094
00:50:49,920 --> 00:50:53,560
Speaker 3: eighty nine album. Oh God, give you a hint. Here's

1095
00:50:53,600 --> 00:50:57,000
Speaker 3: the one. Nana Cherry, Oh yeah she was. She was awesome.

1096
00:50:57,640 --> 00:50:58,520
Speaker 3: Don Cherry's daughter.

1097
00:50:58,680 --> 00:51:01,840
Speaker 2: I just I don't he was up? I see where the.

1098
00:51:02,480 --> 00:51:07,440
Speaker 3: Group sold a Saul and the folk duo Indigo Girls.

1099
00:51:07,719 --> 00:51:08,799
Speaker 2: Oh my god? Who one is?

1100
00:51:08,840 --> 00:51:11,080
Speaker 3: And if Grammy folks decide the award will go to

1101
00:51:11,880 --> 00:51:16,520
Speaker 3: No One? Yes, well, no award this year? And what

1102
00:51:16,680 --> 00:51:22,000
Speaker 3: a lineup of crazy Indigo Girls versus Tone Loach so

1103
00:51:22,200 --> 00:51:24,040
Speaker 3: five D. After the story breaks, Rob and Fab they

1104
00:51:24,080 --> 00:51:26,319
Speaker 3: give a press conference because everybody wants to hear from them.

1105
00:51:26,560 --> 00:51:28,759
Speaker 3: They agreed to return their Grammy and then to prove

1106
00:51:28,800 --> 00:51:31,480
Speaker 3: that they really can sing and rap, they perform for

1107
00:51:31,520 --> 00:51:34,160
Speaker 3: the gaggle of journalists. About one hundred different journalists are there.

1108
00:51:34,680 --> 00:51:36,880
Speaker 3: Their voice coach is also there. And he's at the

1109
00:51:36,920 --> 00:51:38,879
Speaker 3: press conference. He told the reporters that they can sing

1110
00:51:38,960 --> 00:51:41,840
Speaker 3: up to Pavaratti's high Sea not as well as Pavaratti,

1111
00:51:41,880 --> 00:51:44,279
Speaker 3: but they did do it. That's a quote from him. Now,

1112
00:51:44,360 --> 00:51:46,319
Speaker 3: Rob his personal is confession as to why they went

1113
00:51:46,360 --> 00:51:48,680
Speaker 3: along for the Milli Vanilli ride. He tells the gathered

1114
00:51:48,680 --> 00:51:50,960
Speaker 3: press quote, we were living together in the projects with

1115
00:51:51,000 --> 00:51:53,480
Speaker 3: two other musicians in Munich. We had nothing to eat,

1116
00:51:53,520 --> 00:51:55,200
Speaker 3: and we are unhappy. We wanted to be stalls, and

1117
00:51:55,239 --> 00:51:57,160
Speaker 3: suddenly this guy gave us a chance and we took

1118
00:51:57,200 --> 00:52:00,560
Speaker 3: it pretty much straightforward. Where they happy it was over.

1119
00:52:00,600 --> 00:52:02,680
Speaker 3: We hear about this often with criminals. Were they happy

1120
00:52:02,719 --> 00:52:06,040
Speaker 3: it was over? You better believe it, Elizabeth. It was

1121
00:52:06,080 --> 00:52:09,560
Speaker 3: house kazeiting it. It means outstanding in German, So anyway,

1122
00:52:09,640 --> 00:52:13,439
Speaker 3: someone would have to pay for the crimes of Millie Vanilli. Right,

1123
00:52:13,560 --> 00:52:15,520
Speaker 3: So they said, quote, we're happy that it's over, but

1124
00:52:15,560 --> 00:52:17,719
Speaker 3: we don't understand that it's us, the two little guys

1125
00:52:17,719 --> 00:52:20,080
Speaker 3: from Germany, the victims who have to play suddenly the

1126
00:52:20,160 --> 00:52:23,440
Speaker 3: role of the crooks. Now I would make the same point. Now,

1127
00:52:23,440 --> 00:52:26,680
Speaker 3: were they these two scheming artists who conned the innocent

1128
00:52:26,800 --> 00:52:30,040
Speaker 3: music industry with their devious plans. No, clearly, not with anything.

1129
00:52:30,160 --> 00:52:31,840
Speaker 3: Rob and Fab were the ones who were conned. We

1130
00:52:31,920 --> 00:52:33,680
Speaker 3: went along for the ride as much as anybody, if

1131
00:52:33,719 --> 00:52:35,879
Speaker 3: not more so than anyone. They were conned. But yet

1132
00:52:35,920 --> 00:52:39,680
Speaker 3: the world is still mad at them. Right, everybody suddenly

1133
00:52:39,680 --> 00:52:43,760
Speaker 3: hates them. Meanwhile, Frank Farrian and Clive Davis Arista record executives.

1134
00:52:43,800 --> 00:52:45,960
Speaker 3: They all knew the score, and they all profited a ton,

1135
00:52:46,239 --> 00:52:48,399
Speaker 3: and then they all left Robin Fab holding the bag

1136
00:52:48,440 --> 00:52:49,680
Speaker 3: of stinking dookie.

1137
00:52:49,280 --> 00:52:51,520
Speaker 2: In public derision, right exactly, but.

1138
00:52:51,520 --> 00:52:53,719
Speaker 3: They owned it. These dudes owned it once again. A man,

1139
00:52:53,800 --> 00:52:55,880
Speaker 3: Rob Polaitis, he said, quote all of our lives, we

1140
00:52:55,960 --> 00:52:58,920
Speaker 3: dreamed about Hollywood, We dreamed about Sunset Boulevard and Zibeat.

1141
00:52:59,280 --> 00:53:01,600
Speaker 3: We became big. It's not like we cried every night

1142
00:53:01,719 --> 00:53:04,319
Speaker 3: or something. We have to be honest. We were pressurized

1143
00:53:04,360 --> 00:53:06,200
Speaker 3: with fear, but we will still play us. We had

1144
00:53:06,239 --> 00:53:08,360
Speaker 3: lots of good times with the girls and the money

1145
00:53:08,400 --> 00:53:11,200
Speaker 3: and the champagne and all that. We sold our souls

1146
00:53:11,200 --> 00:53:13,400
Speaker 3: to the devil. We lied to our families, on our friends,

1147
00:53:13,400 --> 00:53:15,880
Speaker 3: we let on our fans. We realized exactly what we

1148
00:53:15,920 --> 00:53:19,280
Speaker 3: did to achieve our success. We made some very big mistakes,

1149
00:53:19,280 --> 00:53:22,840
Speaker 3: and we apologize. We were afraid for two years that

1150
00:53:22,880 --> 00:53:24,960
Speaker 3: this day would come. We've cried about it sometimes that

1151
00:53:25,000 --> 00:53:27,640
Speaker 3: the secret might come out, but deep inside we wanted

1152
00:53:27,680 --> 00:53:31,080
Speaker 3: it to happen now. The quieter of the two, fab Moribun,

1153
00:53:31,160 --> 00:53:32,879
Speaker 3: He said at the same press conference. We loved being

1154
00:53:32,880 --> 00:53:34,680
Speaker 3: on stage, We loved being in front of an audience.

1155
00:53:34,760 --> 00:53:36,520
Speaker 3: Rob and I never meant it to go this way.

1156
00:53:36,640 --> 00:53:39,400
Speaker 3: Our producer tricked us. We signed contracts as singers, but

1157
00:53:39,440 --> 00:53:41,880
Speaker 3: we were never allowed to contribute. It was a nightmare

1158
00:53:41,920 --> 00:53:44,319
Speaker 3: we were living alive. The psychological pressure was very hard.

1159
00:53:44,320 --> 00:53:46,160
Speaker 3: It was like we were trapped in some golden prison.

1160
00:53:47,120 --> 00:53:48,680
Speaker 3: So once the truth comes out, there of course this

1161
00:53:48,800 --> 00:53:51,759
Speaker 3: string of lawsuits, twenty six of them to be exact. Oh,

1162
00:53:52,280 --> 00:53:54,360
Speaker 3: there's even a lawsuit from the band Blood Sweat and Tears.

1163
00:53:54,360 --> 00:53:57,440
Speaker 3: They got him there, like know right, well, they apparently

1164
00:53:57,440 --> 00:53:59,840
Speaker 3: they accused the group of stealing one of their melodies

1165
00:53:59,880 --> 00:54:02,040
Speaker 3: for song spinning Wheel, and using it for a girl.

1166
00:54:02,080 --> 00:54:03,560
Speaker 3: You know it's true and if you listen to it,

1167
00:54:03,560 --> 00:54:05,759
Speaker 3: it's pretty clear. Okay, so the lawyer wrote in this

1168
00:54:05,960 --> 00:54:08,400
Speaker 3: legal briefs quote, this lawsuit is about the song they

1169
00:54:08,440 --> 00:54:11,760
Speaker 3: never wrote on the album. They never sang you gotta

1170
00:54:11,760 --> 00:54:14,160
Speaker 3: hand it to Homie for that anyway. Fun fact, during

1171
00:54:14,200 --> 00:54:16,840
Speaker 3: their madcap rocking ride through Fame and American Star to

1172
00:54:16,920 --> 00:54:20,239
Speaker 3: Millie Vanilli ended up performing with Bob Dylan what and

1173
00:54:20,280 --> 00:54:23,440
Speaker 3: the rest of the Willberry's Traveling or Otherwise. Yes, Rob

1174
00:54:23,480 --> 00:54:27,680
Speaker 3: and Bab were in the Traveling Willberry's music video. I

1175
00:54:27,719 --> 00:54:30,000
Speaker 3: don't know, I can look it up. I had a

1176
00:54:30,040 --> 00:54:31,520
Speaker 3: note for an earlier but I don't have with me

1177
00:54:31,600 --> 00:54:33,840
Speaker 3: right now. Sorry. Yeah, but what I am saying is this,

1178
00:54:33,920 --> 00:54:36,120
Speaker 3: they were everywhere, Elizabeth. For a moment. They were huge,

1179
00:54:36,160 --> 00:54:38,319
Speaker 3: they were they was the new rock and roll, they

1180
00:54:38,360 --> 00:54:40,360
Speaker 3: were the new Elvis, and then they were gone. Poof.

1181
00:54:40,560 --> 00:54:40,920
Speaker 4: Yeah.

1182
00:54:41,000 --> 00:54:43,200
Speaker 3: Now, I think my man Rob he subbed it up

1183
00:54:43,239 --> 00:54:45,000
Speaker 3: at the best period when he said the hardest thing

1184
00:54:45,000 --> 00:54:46,839
Speaker 3: to take was kids in the school bus sticking out

1185
00:54:46,880 --> 00:54:47,680
Speaker 3: their tongues at me.

1186
00:54:48,440 --> 00:54:49,760
Speaker 2: That was the hardest thing, dude.

1187
00:54:49,800 --> 00:54:52,120
Speaker 3: I'm with them on this, Elizabeth. If you ever had

1188
00:54:52,160 --> 00:54:55,319
Speaker 3: like a teenager murk you in public, that it's my

1189
00:54:55,360 --> 00:54:58,080
Speaker 3: personal nightmare. I'd rather have to face a snake a

1190
00:54:58,080 --> 00:54:59,960
Speaker 3: person with a gun than like two teenage girls.

1191
00:55:00,200 --> 00:55:01,319
Speaker 2: Terrible. Oh my god, Oh my god.

1192
00:55:01,360 --> 00:55:03,799
Speaker 3: They're merciless. They see everything an adult wants to hide.

1193
00:55:03,840 --> 00:55:06,239
Speaker 2: It's like terminator visions. They know and then they go right.

1194
00:55:06,560 --> 00:55:08,640
Speaker 3: And they also they don't, you know, like they talk

1195
00:55:08,840 --> 00:55:10,800
Speaker 3: like rattlesninks. Baby rattlesnanks are the ones that are the

1196
00:55:10,800 --> 00:55:12,840
Speaker 3: most dangerous because they don't know how much talksin to

1197
00:55:12,840 --> 00:55:14,480
Speaker 3: put in, so they just put a full load in.

1198
00:55:14,520 --> 00:55:16,840
Speaker 3: So you never want to be struck by a small rattlesnake.

1199
00:55:16,840 --> 00:55:19,880
Speaker 3: It's always be struck by a big rattleskan that's teenagers.

1200
00:55:20,000 --> 00:55:21,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's very true.

1201
00:55:21,120 --> 00:55:22,759
Speaker 3: Anyway, so I feel them on the whole. They were

1202
00:55:22,760 --> 00:55:24,759
Speaker 3: ticking their tongues. I imagine they were saying stuff beyond

1203
00:55:24,800 --> 00:55:26,279
Speaker 3: that you didn't want to say. Anyway. How does the

1204
00:55:26,280 --> 00:55:27,520
Speaker 3: Milli Vanilly story end?

1205
00:55:27,960 --> 00:55:28,680
Speaker 2: I don't think it ends.

1206
00:55:28,760 --> 00:55:30,720
Speaker 3: Well, there's some darkness. Actually, there's a lot of darkness,

1207
00:55:30,719 --> 00:55:32,400
Speaker 3: and we're not We're just gonna skip over that and

1208
00:55:32,440 --> 00:55:34,560
Speaker 3: instead I will leave you with this. In December twenty

1209
00:55:34,560 --> 00:55:36,760
Speaker 3: twenty five, more von He gave an interview to Variety,

1210
00:55:36,760 --> 00:55:38,880
Speaker 3: and he said of their time as Millie Vanilly quote,

1211
00:55:39,080 --> 00:55:41,560
Speaker 3: we were seduced and very young. We had no life experience.

1212
00:55:41,600 --> 00:55:43,800
Speaker 3: We were riding the wave it was a crazy adventure.

1213
00:55:43,920 --> 00:55:46,759
Speaker 3: We were getting loaded, trying to escape constantly a fear

1214
00:55:46,800 --> 00:55:49,200
Speaker 3: of being discovered. We've been carrying this cross for a

1215
00:55:49,239 --> 00:55:51,839
Speaker 3: long time. We've been blamed over and over. We are

1216
00:55:51,920 --> 00:55:54,520
Speaker 3: victims of our own dreams of stardom who tooled up

1217
00:55:54,520 --> 00:55:57,120
Speaker 3: and spit out by the record industry machine. I've always

1218
00:55:57,239 --> 00:56:00,160
Speaker 3: been underestimated. My dream was to be a single, our

1219
00:56:00,200 --> 00:56:02,279
Speaker 3: song right to I'm able to look at zama to

1220
00:56:02,280 --> 00:56:05,359
Speaker 3: today and be happy with what they see. So there

1221
00:56:05,400 --> 00:56:07,880
Speaker 3: is that he no longer sees Milly or Vanilly in

1222
00:56:07,880 --> 00:56:11,080
Speaker 3: the mirror. He just sees fob Yeah, and a reflection

1223
00:56:11,120 --> 00:56:14,160
Speaker 3: of happiness. So what's our ridiculous takeaway? Elizabeth Man, I.

1224
00:56:14,080 --> 00:56:17,600
Speaker 2: Don't think people understand like the power that.

1225
00:56:17,640 --> 00:56:21,840
Speaker 3: You know, fame and the desire for fame.

1226
00:56:21,719 --> 00:56:24,880
Speaker 2: That desire, it's the glamour of it. It's so the

1227
00:56:25,000 --> 00:56:29,080
Speaker 2: floorful and intoxicating for people, and they will do all

1228
00:56:29,120 --> 00:56:31,000
Speaker 2: sorts of stupid, crazy.

1229
00:56:30,640 --> 00:56:32,279
Speaker 3: Things, especially when they first get a taste of it,

1230
00:56:32,640 --> 00:56:34,480
Speaker 3: because then you want to keep it going. You waited

1231
00:56:34,520 --> 00:56:35,920
Speaker 3: so long to get to this point, you don't want

1232
00:56:35,960 --> 00:56:36,480
Speaker 3: to lose that.

1233
00:56:36,680 --> 00:56:39,239
Speaker 2: Yeah, when you see like parents who get their kids

1234
00:56:39,280 --> 00:56:41,840
Speaker 2: involved in it and they will overlook all sorts of

1235
00:56:41,880 --> 00:56:44,719
Speaker 2: red flags. But it's like because there's that chance that

1236
00:56:45,440 --> 00:56:48,520
Speaker 2: they and their kids will be rich and famous, and

1237
00:56:48,680 --> 00:56:50,360
Speaker 2: like it is, it's the glamour of it all. Like

1238
00:56:50,400 --> 00:56:52,200
Speaker 2: he was saying, like, you know, you're living in la

1239
00:56:52,400 --> 00:56:54,680
Speaker 2: and you're riding around in limos.

1240
00:56:54,320 --> 00:56:56,879
Speaker 3: And you have a lot of co conspirators. Yeah, there's

1241
00:56:56,920 --> 00:56:58,600
Speaker 3: a lot of other people helping out who are making

1242
00:56:58,640 --> 00:57:00,560
Speaker 3: a lot off of this, and then they're just the

1243
00:57:00,640 --> 00:57:01,279
Speaker 3: front for this and.

1244
00:57:01,480 --> 00:57:03,880
Speaker 2: They will puff you up. They'll tell you everything you

1245
00:57:03,920 --> 00:57:04,359
Speaker 2: need to hear.

1246
00:57:04,600 --> 00:57:05,640
Speaker 3: No more, we got you.

1247
00:57:05,960 --> 00:57:08,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I really I really feel for them.

1248
00:57:08,560 --> 00:57:11,200
Speaker 3: I did too well. My ridiculous take away, Elizabeth, once again,

1249
00:57:11,280 --> 00:57:15,600
Speaker 3: thank you for us as always is. I can't do

1250
00:57:15,640 --> 00:57:17,600
Speaker 3: a French accent. Sorry, I'm just I'm just not going

1251
00:57:17,600 --> 00:57:21,440
Speaker 3: to talk. You know, French accents for some has a

1252
00:57:21,440 --> 00:57:23,360
Speaker 3: lot of talking. Like you don't want to hear that

1253
00:57:23,440 --> 00:57:25,720
Speaker 3: much of my French accent. Anyway. That's it. That's my

1254
00:57:25,800 --> 00:57:26,680
Speaker 3: ridiculous takeaway.

1255
00:57:26,720 --> 00:57:27,000
Speaker 2: Excellent.

1256
00:57:27,080 --> 00:57:29,600
Speaker 3: You can always find us online Ridiculous Crime on Twitter, Instagram,

1257
00:57:29,640 --> 00:57:32,560
Speaker 3: We have a website, ridiculous Crime dot com. You can

1258
00:57:32,600 --> 00:57:35,640
Speaker 3: also do talkbacks on the iHeart app. We love those.

1259
00:57:36,200 --> 00:57:38,560
Speaker 3: Email us if you want a Ridiculous Crime at Gmail,

1260
00:57:38,560 --> 00:57:42,440
Speaker 3: and as always, remember Dear Elizabeth, that's how it should starts.

1261
00:57:43,880 --> 00:57:46,280
Speaker 3: Once again, thanks for listening and always we'll be back

1262
00:57:46,400 --> 00:57:55,120
Speaker 3: Next Crime. Ridiculous Crimes hosted by Elizabeth Dunton and Zaren Burnettes,

1263
00:57:55,160 --> 00:57:58,080
Speaker 3: produced and edited by The MILLI to our Vanilly, Dave Kusty.

1264
00:57:58,320 --> 00:58:02,640
Speaker 3: Researches by Marissa Nanay, was Rob Brown and Andrea I'm

1265
00:58:02,640 --> 00:58:05,240
Speaker 3: a tone Lope Truther song sharpened t hear our theme

1266
00:58:05,280 --> 00:58:08,320
Speaker 3: song is by Thomas one Hit Wonder Lee and Travis.

1267
00:58:08,480 --> 00:58:12,160
Speaker 3: Kurt Loder was Right Duttony. Post wardrobe provided by Botany

1268
00:58:12,200 --> 00:58:16,160
Speaker 3: five hundreds. Executive producers are Ben I always preferred Technotronic,

1269
00:58:16,440 --> 00:58:19,640
Speaker 3: Holand and Noel Yeah pump up the jams.

1270
00:58:19,720 --> 00:58:30,800
Speaker 4: Round CUI say it one more time, geek Cry.

1271
00:58:31,920 --> 00:58:35,280
Speaker 1: Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio four more podcasts

1272
00:58:35,400 --> 00:58:38,560
Speaker 1: my heart Radio visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

1273
00:58:38,560 --> 00:58:40,320
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.