JonSnow said:

Thank you! But really, the tone-deaf idiots who are buying these records are the ones to blame. Because of them, no-talents like Ashlee Simpson, Britney Spears, J-Ho, etc. are set for life.

SnowQueen said:

Thank you!! I mean really, at this point it's just CRUEL for her dad to continue to promote/push this girl's fake ass career. She can't fucking sing & on top of that she's hideous. Give it a rest already, go the fuck away. Don't dare put a mic in your hand if you don't know how to use it

UndercovaBrotha said:

Will she even get her 15 minutes of fame? It seems like she stalled at about, oh, 12.

VoicesCarry said:

indeed.

VoicesCarry said:

I really hope that's not true, it would really suck..... further more do they really think because people uses GE or Nokia subway they r gonna run and get their products

JANFAN4L said:

uPtoWnNY said:

true. it boggles the mind that people actually spend $$$$ on product like this.

JANFAN4L said:

I'm waiting for McEarth.

Anxiety said:

Seth Green??? That doesn't look like "Oz" at all! It looks more like one of those Good Charlotte boys...or Simple Plan guys...or some other generic pop punk band member.

sextonseven said:

ok, on second thought, he looks a little chunky to be scotty evil. but still cute in his little hot topic get-up, whoever he is.

Anxiety said:

isn't that one of the guys from her band?

...couldnt've said it any better. the accompanying article:

Ashlee's biggest fumble

On MTV, she bored us. On 'SNL,' she conned us.
Tuesday night, football fans struck back. 'Bout time.

By ISAAC GUZMAN


In the pop world, Ashlee Simpson always seemed like an inevitability. Riding the coattails of her infamously dense sister, Jessica, she parlayed her own MTV reality show into a No. 1 debut on the Billboard charts.
But during Tuesday night's Orange Bowl halftime show, a stadium filled with 75,000 rowdy football fans gave Ashlee something that was probably equally inevitable: a thorough booing.

After a performance of "La La" in which she couldn't even sing in tune with her "guide track," Simpson finally got the reception she has deserved for a while.

Outside of television studios controlled by producers and beyond the reach of deejays dictated to by radio programmers are ordinary Americans. And when a highly paid star like Ashlee Simpson chokes, they're not about to give her some courtesy applause.

That's because Simpson has flouted one of the founding principles of showbiz: Never let 'em see you sweat. In being so ill prepared for the national stage, she has become the Wizard without his curtain, the Emperor in his brand-new suit.

Live at the MTV Video Music Awards pre-show in August, Simpson's odd, ear-grating performance left people talking. During her first lip-sync snafu on "Saturday Night Live" in October, she actually had the gall to walk off the stage and blame her bandmates for the miscue. Any performer worth her salt would have turned the sticky situation into a success.

Just think of Melissa Etheridge, who struggled with a faulty microphone and detuned guitar during the sold-out, nationally broadcast Concert for New York at Madison Square Garden in 2001. Where Simpson would have smashed the guitar and stormed out, Etheridge persevered and the audience loved her for it.

"What you want is a final product that's fun," says Sasha Frere-Jones, music critic for The New Yorker. "Everybody uses guide tracks. But being a bad sport, walking off stage and being a bad performer - that's her fault."

As an audience, we enjoy being beguiled. It was true 100 years ago for Houdini-heads, and it's true now, even with the dubious offerings of David Blaine and the debunkings of Penn & Teller. It's such a pleasurable experience that we'll fork over our hard-earned cash for the pleasure of being bedazzled.

But when performers botch the spectacle or reveal how they duped us, we get angry. That's what made rotten produce the bane of 19th-century performers and it's what drove Milli Vanilli into the annals of shame.

Lately, we've been besieged by public shams, from Jason Giambi's alleged steroid use to never-realized assurances about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. But it's hard to voice our dissatisfaction.

Ashlee made it easy. She took the stage. She sounded bad. We booed.

Yet the Simpson juggernaut charges on. Six months after its release, her debut album, "Autobiography," is still in Billboard's Top 40 and is closing in on the 3 million sales mark. Ashlee, meanwhile, is unfazed by her detractors.

In the upcoming March edition of Teen People, she tells music editor Zena Burns that those who complain about her "are just old people who watch the news and don't know anything about me."

She has a point there, since the teen viewers of MTV's "The Ashlee Simpson Show" got to see and hear her struggle with off-key warbling throughout the recording of her album.

"They see her on the show and she's scrappy and she's a real girl, and that's someone they can relate to," Burns says. "'Here's a real girl who makes real mistakes just like me. But she also makes this kick-ass music.'"

While she might not actually live up to the level of "kick-ass," Simpson does sound competent on record. But until she figures out how to take a stage with a modicum of grace, all we can ask is that she stop exposing us to her wailing - and herself to our ridicule.

"She needs to get on the road and perform live and get her feet wet," says Barry Jeckell, managing editor of Billboard.com. "Otherwise, I would say she has two strikes against her."

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

I'm 29 and I guess I'm considered old because I remember LIVE AID; I remember going to concerts and hearing live singers; I remember when performers at the MTV VMAs, AMAs and Grammys didn't need backing tracks.

TheDailyNews said:

YES! I remember this. I also remember truly respecting her for just hanging in there and doing it right. That's an artist. That's a performer. That's a star. respect your friggin' elders!!!

ThedailyNews said:

We know plenty now .



A feat attainable by anyone with a competent producer and equipment.



Hey batta-batta-batta shhhwwwiiing batta!!

purplegypsy said:

i remember when milli vanilli were caught lip syncing it was a big fucking deal. now, ok, it was a little different because they really weren't even the peeps in the studio...but with all this studio "vocal enhancement" trickery, isn't it sort of the same thing.

i really think the music industry is trying to make this whole lip syncing thing common place (like in the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's - no performances on AB, solid gold, ed sullivan, etc. were live). for those of us who grew up with live music on tv and in concert this seems ridiculously phoney. for kids who are used to it, its really not a big deal.

LOL from lipsync.us

Do you think Ashlee's performance deserved to be booed? 20153 Yes, 2966 No

SassyBritches said:

Yeah I agree, I'm sick of people saying "Everyone uses backing Tracks."

Tha'ts such BS. Patti Labelle doesn't use backing tracks. Tina Turner doesn't use them. Prince (to my knowledge) doesnt' use them. Sheila Doesn't use them. REAL singers and Musicians dont use em.

ALthough I thought Ed sullivan era was live, but then again I never saw any of that myself. In the 70s, as a child, I was always offended by Bandstand and Solid GOld. It was so obvious to me, yet noone else seemed to notice or care!

My favorite was when Peaces and Herb were on SOlid Gold doing "Reunited" and during one of the lyrics, Herb had his tongue down Peaches' throat!

Of course the big tip off was always the "fadeout and bow" ending

GaryMF said:

For the record, Stevie Nicks performed live (STAND BACK and NIGHTBIRD) on SOLID GOLD twice in 1984--the backup music was taped but the vocal was live (and much scratchier than how she sounded on the studio versions). And if you don't believe me, i'll dub a video for you.

[Edited 1/6/05 13:29pm]

I like the fact that the public is so shocked about this. Shit, popstars, including the beloved Usher, are still lip synching, or perfroming records where they only piss and moan a little over a recording. THe backlash belongs everywhere. Also, its not like her voice on the record was that all that great. If people paid some attention in the first place (like the fact that her singing on the show was horrible) there would be no need for this. The fans should be booing themseleves.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Is someone jealous of a teenage girl? Well that's not sad at all!

Well, I'm not sure about the person to whom you are referring. I can only speak for myself. I'm certainly not jealous of Ashlee Simpson's alleged "talent." As far as I'm concerned, she isn't the best vocalist or performer. IN FACT, I CAN EVEN SING AND DANCE BETTER THAN SHE. However, I AM a bit envious that she has made more money than I'll ever see in a lifetime on being mediocre to below average in her chosen profession. I'm not saying that she is unintelligent or talentless. Ashlee is simply NOT a singer and/or performer at this point. She has just been wisely marketed as a product to sell. So she has made some bucks. And of course her dad has made some bucks. And of course MTV has made some bucks. But no matter how much cash the girl has earned, no amount of $$ will make her an the artist that she tries to portray. At this point in her career, outside of a studio, she sucks. And that's just the way it is.

This article is hilarious


http://music.msn.com/beac...02be7a4ba4


*****

MUSIC

Ashlee Simpson’s vocal malfunction
Making viewers long for the days of Janet Jackson's breast


COMMENTARY
By Michael Ventre
MSNBC contributor
Updated: 1:13 p.m. ET Jan. 6, 2005

In this case, if Ashlee Simpson had flashed a breast, the FCC probably would have let it go.


After all, agencies of the federal government are there to protect the citizenry from any sort of injury or harm. Ashlee’s performance at halftime of Tuesday night’s Orange Bowl in Miami was about as close as a singer gets to committing aggravated assault. If she had only taken a lesson from Janet Jackson, the world would be talking today about the exposure of a boob rather than a fraud.

Much of the blame for this fiasco falls upon ABC, which hired this female Gilbert Gottfried to headline the halftime show for college football’s ultimate game, matching No. 1 USC against No. 2 Oklahoma. If the Sooners are despondent today after absorbing a 55-19 bludgeoning from the Trojans, they can take solace that each and every one of them could have taken the halftime stage dressed in drag and mooed like a cow and still induce fewer boos than Ashlee did Tuesday night.

First NBC invited Ashlee on “Saturday Night Live,” where she tried to fool the audience by lip-synching her way through a song, but failed. Now ABC. Don’t these networks have a Standards and Practices office anymore? Don’t they care about the welfare of our children? Don’t these network executives realize that a performance like Ashlee’s could produce imitators? Are they unconcerned about copycat Ashlees?

Slack-jawed awe
Ashlee’s singing sounded like a cross between a political prisoner being tortured and a test of the Emergency Broadcast System.



I watched the Orange Bowl Tuesday night, like millions of other Americans. The first half was all USC. When halftime arrived, I sat at the kitchen table, watching the TV from a room away. Because of the distance, the sound seemed lower than it was if I was right there in front of the screen. I started to enjoy a fine meal. I felt safe and secure.

When Ashlee came on and began to perform, though, I literally dropped my fork. Then I cupped my hands over my ears, but it didn’t help. Ashlee’s singing sounded like a cross between a political prisoner being tortured and a test of the Emergency Broadcast System.

I desperately searched for the remote so I could hit the mute button, but I must have misplaced it. But I also couldn’t believe that someone didn’t rush the stage and stop her. The local police. The FBI. Homeland security. Even an angry mob of vigilantes. Instead, they just let her keep going. I’ve never felt so helpless or vulnerable in my life.

I happened to look out the window and noticed that some of my neighbors were running down the street, their hands over their ears, screaming for help. I wanted to help them, I really did. Yet I was gripped by horror and disbelief. I was practically catatonic. For their sake — and for mine — all I could hope for was a swift end to the halftime show.


Shrieking like a hyena giving birth, she closed her “song” with something that approximates the phrase, “you make we wanna SCREAM!” And then she waited for applause.

Instead, she got boos, the kind of irate and vindictive boos that usually occur after a pro wrestler taunts a crowd. Through the cacophony, the gentle strains of “You suck!” could be heard. Ashlee was escorted off the stage and through a tunnel, and let’s just say the Indiana Pacers were received more warmly by Detroit fans when they walked toward the locker room after the brawl.

Just go away now
I consider myself a tolerant person. I accept the talented and talentless equally. I realize not everyone can sing like Sinatra or Streisand. Usually, I applaud the effort, even if the result is unsatisfactory. On the handful of occasions when I have been at a karaoke bar, I clap my hands supportively for each and every participant, regardless of how pitiful their attempts. That’s just the kind of guy I am.

But I believe there are limits, and Ashlee has crossed mine, and I believe, the world’s. She is using her status as the sister of Jessica Simpson in order to carve out a career for herself. How anyone can listen to Jessica, let alone Ashlee, borders on the stupefying. But I see stories on the news all the time about con artists who separate people from their life savings. I know there were scads of gullible viewers who tuned in to watch Geraldo Rivera open Al Capone’s vault. I realize that humans are flawed, and sometimes those flaws can have disastrous consequences.

What I hope and pray for now is that Ashlee will go away and leave the public alone. On behalf of the world community, I implore her to pursue another career. There are many avenues for a young woman of her abilities. Pig farmers need wranglers. The U.S. Forest Service has many outposts in remote areas of our nation’s parks, where one can make all the noise one wants and not be heard by another soul for miles. And if she’s determined to remain in the entertainment field, the horror genre in Hollywood could always use a good screamer.

But Ashlee must cease and desist her professional singing career immediately. The lip-synching angered many. The Orange Bowl debacle undoubtedly caused thousands to seek counseling. What does she want next? Is she setting up some sort of blackmail scheme: “Give me $10 million or I’ll keep singing”?

If that’s the case, I’m prepared to donate generously. I don’t think I’m alone.

© 2005 MSNBC Interactive

CalhounSq said:

Wow. Thanks, Calhoun.

damn