9. Saturday Night... Live?
At least Roseanne sang live. Lip-synching a performance is a powder-keg of embarrassment just waiting to erupt in your face. When you're caught out, it's best to own up straight away and retain some dignity-or in the case of pop moppet Ashlee Simpson, blame everybody else around you instead. Lip-synching, or miming, can stain a career indefinitely or simply make you look momentarily foolish. Milli Vanilli were destroyed by revelations that they didn't sing on their own records, while fans who paid a fortune to see Britney Spears live were outraged to find their idol paying lip service to lip synching; At least Nirvana had the nous to make it comically obvious that they were miming through Smells Like Teen Spirit on Top Of The Pops. If you're going to do it, take it on the chin when the ball is dropped. Simpson chose the other route. Appearing on Saturday Night Live in 2004 to promote her track Pieces Of Me, the wrong backing track was played complete with vocals, making it obvious that Simpson had been miming. Struck with an expression that was part rabbit in the headlights and part bovine, the scamp elected to dance a charming little jig before scurrying off stage. Utterly mortified afterwards, she claimed that her luckless backing band had played the wrong track. Nice one, Ashlee!