Nights to Forget: Looking Back at Some of the All-Time Worst Live Performances
Mariah Carey, New Year’s Eve
Mariah Carey has made herself a legend as a musician. Plus, her music is fairly common to hear as the holidays roll around. As such, it seemed like she was the perfect choice for Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.
However, the star ended up giving an infamously bad performance in 2016. Later on, Carey’s team would say the singer was struggling due to a malfunctioning earpiece disrupting the audio she was supposed to be hearing.
Robin Thicke, MTV Music Video Awards
The 30th MTV Video Music Awards in 2013 had a few shocking moments. It was Robin Thicke’s performance with Miley Cyrus that really stole the show. Unfortunately, they stole the show for all the wrong reasons.
The performance was overall dubbed uncomfortable by viewers and critics. Later on, Cyrus shared that she felt the performance was expected of her and has opted for a different performance style in her career since.
Ashlee Simpson, SNL
Saturday Night Live seems to be a place where musicians either really nail it or really don’t. Ashlee Simpson was memorable for all the wrong reasons.
When Simpson came out to sing her song “Autobiography,” the vocal track for another song of hers caught the singer by surprise. She tried to make the most of the moment with a bit of a dance but critics and fans were none too impressed.
The Everly Brothers, Starting a Haitus
If you aren’t familiar with a lot of ’50s and ’60s music, The Everly Brothers were a duo to be reckoned with at the time. The two brothers performed together for much of their early life.
In 1973, the two were set to put on a concert but it was canceled before the two even made it through their set. When Don Everly showed up in no shape to play, it started a huge fight between the two, even causing a hiatus.
Performing live is, by nature, unpredictable. Sometimes, you run into moments where things simply just don’t go right. From failed props to skipping vocal tracks, and even some particularly unfortunate appearances on Saturday Night Live, these musicians were having a bit of a rough day.