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The (Dixie) Chicks -

During a concert in London in 2003, the vocalist of The Dixie Chicks denounced the war in Iraq and criticized George Bush’s presidency. This statement did not go down well with their fans at home and they were accused of being unpatriotic and un-American.

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The (Dixie) Chicks -

They faced serious backlash and were widely criticized, some TV and radio stations even boycotting their music. Their popularity suffered greatly and it took years for them to make a well-deserved comeback as The Chicks.

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Milli Vanilli -

R&B duo Milli Vanilli shocked audiences when their vocal backing track skipped during an MTV live performance, revealing that they were lip-syncing. Their song ‘Girl You Know It’s True’ was playing but it got stuck and kept repeating “Girl you know! Girl you know!” over and over again.

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Milli Vanilli -

They panicked and walked off stage. Not only was the performance damaging, but it also led to the discovery that all of the vocals on their songs were performed by other people. The band was torn apart by the media and their former fans, and guilted into returning the Grammy awards they had won earlier that year.

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Ashlee Simpson -

Ashlee Simpson’s unfortunate lip-syncing fail on ‘Saturday Night Live’ was one of the most highly publicized musical scandals in recent history. The disaster occured when her second song started and it became clear that the backing track did not match the music being played by the band.

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Ashlee Simpson -

Simpson stood with the microphone by her side, looking confused as her voice came from the speakers. Unsure what to do, she did an awkward dance and left the stage. She was mercilessly ridiculed by the media afterwards and her music career didn’t really go far from there.

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Robin Thicke -

Robin Thicke’s career crashed and burned with the release of his 2013 song ‘Blurred Lines.’ The song received widespread backlash for its misogynistic lyrics that trivialized consent. Thicke didn’t help himself by making comments like “People say, ‘Hey, do you think this is degrading to women?’ I’m like, ‘Of course it is. What a pleasure it is to degrade a woman.’”

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Robin Thicke -

His 2013 VMA performance of the song alongside Miley Cyrus was outrageously sexual and suggestive and was widely criticized. Thicke’s wife left him shortly afterwards and he released an album named after her in an attempt to win her back. His efforts to repair his marriage and career both failed.

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Sinead O'Connor -

The late Sinéad O’Connor's career never recovered after she ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II on live TV back in 1992, but she never regretted it. In her memoir 'Rememberings,' excerpted in Rolling Stone, she revealed that the story she told at the time, about protesting sexual abuse by the Catholic Church, was only part of her rationale. In truth, the photo was her mother's, and destroying it had always been her intention ever since she found it hung up on the wall after her mother's death. “It represented lies and liars and abuse. The type of people who kept these things were devils like my mother," she writes.

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Sinead O'Connor -

As a Roman Catholic-raised Muslim convert, O'Connor scoffs in her memoir at the Pope's declaration that he loved the young people of Ireland. "Nobody loved us. Not even God. Sure, even our mothers and fathers couldn’t stand us." Many viewers saw it as an anti-Catholic statement, rather than a protest against misconduct in the church that had recently come to light. Her popularity and sales in the US suffered significantly and her career was never the same afterwards.

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Eric Clapton -

Despite being attributed with bringing the blues to Britain, Eric Clapton seemed to be exceptionally uninformed about the history of the genre. 

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Eric Clapton -

During a concert in 1976 he launched into a racist rant onstage, stating that all foreigners should leave England and encouraged fans to vote for a far-right political party. He even used the phrase “keep Britain white.” This devastated many of his fans and ruined his reputation for a long time. 

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Guns N' Roses -

Guns N’ Roses are rock legends but it’s undeniable that they’ve lost the respect of many of their fans due to their behavior at concerts. On many occasions they’ve simply seemed unrehearsed or too drunk to perform properly. In the more extreme circumstances, Axl Rose has thrown some epic diva fits on stage and become volatile towards the crowd.

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Guns N' Roses -

They have a reputation for starting their concerts late, leaving their fans waiting for hours. They were famously booed off the stage at a 2010 concert in Dublin when crowds turned against Axl for his attitude towards the audience.

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Fergie -

Fergie’s solo-career after the Black Eyed Peas never really took off in any great sense, but her performance of the national anthem at the 2018 NBA All-star game really did some damage. Her rendition of the 'The Star-Spangled Banner' was painful to listen to, many said. Many of the players were struggling to hold back laughter.

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Lindsay Lohan -

For those who don’t remember, Lindsay Lohan tried out the music business for a while back in the early 2000s. Reactions to her songs were already mixed, but everything really went wrong when she performed on ‘Good Morning America’ and was clearly lip syncing. 

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Miguel -

The R&B star nearly tanked his career with one incident at the BBMA’s in 2013. He attempted to jump over the crowd from one section of the stage to another, but totally miscalculated and landed on two fans. One later filed a lawsuit due to the injuries she sustained.

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Creed -

Frontman Scott Stapp is notorious for ruining gigs, reportedly due to his substance abuse issues. He has frequently forced the band to end early, behaved erratically on stage, or performed so poorly that fans asked for their money back.

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Creed -

In 2003, four concert attendees actually filed a lawsuit against the band because the performance was so bad. They wanted the money for their tickets and parking fees back because Stapp kept leaving the stage for long periods in the middle of songs, rolling around on the ground, and at one point even passed out. This really harmed the band’s reputation and popularity.

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The Sex Pistols -

During the height of their popularity, The Sex Pistols went on a North American tour that would eventually lead to the break-up of the band. Tensions were building and their deteriorating relationships were clear on stage.

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The Sex Pistols -

During a concert in San Francisco at the end of the tour, lead singer Johnny Rotten spent most of the performance mocking the fans and barely singing along to the music. The next day he flew to New York and announced that he was leaving The Sex Pistols.

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The Family Stone -

The Family Stone, led by Sly Stone, were one of the best regarded funk acts of the 1970s. Unfortunately they were totally unreliable, often showing up to concerts missing band members, refusing to play, or passing out from drug abuse. Sly performed solo at Coachella in 2010 and was totally incoherent, clearly not in any condition to be onstage.

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Blue -

The British boyband Blue were huge in the UK in the early 2000s, and were on the brink of signing a major record deal in the US that would take them to the next level. Unfortunately, band member Lee Ryan totally sabotaged them by making insensitive comments about 9/11.

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Blue -

In an interview with The Sun, he said “Who gives a [expletive] about New York when elephants are being killed….Animals need saving and that's more important. This New York thing is being blown out of all proportion."

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The Replacements -

The Replacements were a punk turned alternative band popular in the ‘80s. They had a reputation for being heavy drinkers, and some have described their live concerts as drunken karaoke.

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The Replacements -

They also did a disastrous ‘Saturday Night Live’ set and were marked as one of the show’s messiest and rowdiest guests ever. The band reportedly got drunk and high before their set, so much so that Bob Stinson tripped and broke his guitar on the way to the stage! They proceeded to perform completely out of tune and shout multiple swear words on live TV.

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Karmin -

Karmin were a musical duo and romantic couple who became famous on YouTube for recording covers. They were asked to perform on ‘Saturday Night Live’ in 2012 and unfortunately it was a disaster. Viewers thought they lacked all stage presence and personality, and definitely should have stuck to YouTube. 

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Greta Van Fleet -

Another ‘Saturday Night Live’ failure, rock band Greta Van Fleet bombed on the show in 2019. They all appeared extremely nervous and awkward on stage, the sound was poor, and the whole act seemed unrehearsed. They received extremely poor press after their performance and definitely didn’t live up to previous comparisons with Led Zeppelin!

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The Everly Brothers -

The Everly Brothers were a country-rock duo that were popular in the US in the 1950s and 1960s. Their careers were slowly declining but a fateful performance in 1973 would be the final nail in the coffin.

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The Everly Brothers -

Phil Everley showed up to a gig and was furious to discover that his brother Don was completely drunk. The booker had to stop that show shortly after it started because Don was unable to perform. Phil smashed his guitar on stage and walked out, while Don announced that he was done with being an Everly Brother.

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What next? -

Musical success isn't all sunshine and roses unfortunately. Find out what the biggest artists have to say about the dark side of the music industry.

See also: Musicians' best mic-sharing moments

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