Why did The Smiths always mime on TOTPs?

[Morrissey the 23rd]

I've been asked this by a friend. I believed that all songs on TOTPs then were mimed, no?

 

[Spineless Swine]

had no choice

 

[SNS22]

Because TOTP sucked...as does any show that required bands to "lipsync"

 

[snapyou]

had no choice

I think they might have had a choice.
New Order,among others,played TOTP live.
In fact their performance of Blue Monday contributed to it going back DOWN the charts!

 

[Uncleskinny]

They asked every performer to mime, but some refused. New Model Army refused when they performed this, and played live. Justin has a sticker over the rude word on his t-shirt..."Only stupid bastards use heroin". It backfired on many occasions. Remember this one, where All About Eve couldn't hear the playback on a live show.

Peter

 

[Danny]

I don't think it was ever really an issue at the time. It was accepted that you mimed on TOTPs. All the best artists did it. A few "serious" musicians objected but what people don't get nowadays about The Smiths is they saw themselves as a pop group, not as a serious muso band. Miming didn't bother them because they knew they were good live and proved it at their gigs, therefore they had nothing to prove on a tv show.

These days not miming has become a signifier of seriousness whereby rubbish artists prove their worth by managing to sing live in tune on television. Big Deal! Their music is still shit.

 

[ThreeStrangeDays14]

TOTP's, American Bandstand.. it was all a part of the agreement back then.
They had specific time constraints they wanted to go by and to use the show as an advertisement for the music. So, all the bands had to mime. If they refused, I think TOTP's then wouldn't let them play, right? I'm not too sure about that one. The bands that managed not to mime put up a huge fight about it or something else, I would imagine. Then later on, more bands were doing it live or half live.

 

[almareallymatters]

I thought the first time The Smiths did TOTP's Moz refused to hold a mic that essentially didn't work and wielded only his glads as a sort of protest?....I thought he wanted to sing live but it wasn't permitted?

 

[Piazza Cavour]

Yes, this last point by, almareallymatters is true. Morrissey indeed, wielded Gladioli instead of pretending to sing with a mic & as a protest. I think it may have been just on his there first TOTP perfomance. I don't recall ever seeing a clip of him with a mic on TOTP's.

 

[Danny]

I thought the first time The Smiths did TOTP's Moz refused to hold a mic that essentially didn't work and wielded only his glads as a sort of protest?....I thought he wanted to sing live but it wasn't permitted?

I don't think it was a protest. I don't think he was bothered about miming. He just didn't want to pretend he was singing live. He wanted to be open about what the show was about. In a way, it was taking the piss a little bit, but in an affectionate way. Deconstructing it and annoying a few people in the process.

 

[Dave]

But I remember an interview with Neil Tennant where he was saying that some performers were forced to perform their music live. I thought that was TOTP. I thought I remembered him complaining about Pet Shop Boys being forced to perform live.
Maybe I've gotten it mixed up. Aren't those old recordings of Live At The BBC by different artists the result of some kind of rules about not being allowed to lipsynch? Something about royalties for performances?

I'll try to find out what I read.

 

[Danny]

But I remember an interview with Neil Tennant where he was saying that some performers were forced to perform their music live. I thought that was TOTP. I thought I remembered him complaining about Pet Shop Boys being forced to perform live.
Maybe I've gotten it mixed up. Aren't those old recordings of Live At The BBC by different artists the result of some kind of rules about not being allowed to lipsynch? Something about royalties for performances?

I'll try to find out what I read.

Later on, in the nineties, TOTPs decided to go all credible and made everyone sing live.

 

[jimone]

To lipsynch on TOTP you had to make a recording and mime to that, not lipsynch to the released one. This changed later, but that was the story back then.