I Smell Pop Culture: Milli Vanilli

and on this show. If you're just joining us, if you forgot to delete the episode before you hit play, if you're waiting for the Scott episodes, you're waiting for Gilmore Girls Gazette, thank you first of all for keeping us around hitting play on that on that podcast app so you know.

We talk to the people that made them real. We talk to the people behind these pop culture references and Gilmore Girls. And that's what we're doing again this week. This is a big one, everybody, This is a really big one. We're going to season three, episode nineteen keg Max.

Remember that episode, Big House Party at Kyle's house. Lane's band is performing, So they're at the house, they're getting set up, they're setting up the drums, and Zach tells Brian move back more because when I do my double jump kick off the amp with slashing windmills, I'm going to need more room. And Lane says, well, don't do that then, and then Dave says, yeah, sounds a little too Milli Vanilli Zach, So, if you don't know who Milli Vanilli is, first of all, what's going on? What

is going on? Milli Vanilli. They're a pop duo Fab mor Van and Rob pilattis in the late eighties, is like nineteen eighty eight, they put.

went down. They used studio performers to record the album, and then Rob and Fab became the visual representation of Millie Vanilli. So they would record, they would perform, and they'd have like a backing track that would play and they would lip sync and they'd perform it visually. And they're incredible dancers, incredible performers, truly like remarkable, and that's why

they got so big is because of their presence. But then it all kind of came out that they held this press conference they announced that you are not listening to us when you look at Milli Vanilla, who you know is Milli Vanilli. They're not singing on this album, and it just became this whole scandal. Everything stopped. Arista Records deleted the album. They deleted it from there from their catalog. That's the biggest selling album of all time to be deleted by a record label. They won the

Grammy for Best New Artists. They to give that Grammy back. I think that's the only time the Grammys have rescinded in an award.

One of the greatest performers in all of pop culture history. What is going on? Fab more Van, thank you so much for doing this.

come and interest. You know, hip hop graffiti, rap, breakdance, pop in luck, you know, crush, grooven, hip hop movies coming out at the same time, and we associated with the culture very much and with each other because we you know, we were black kids like in Europe and this is how we just came together.

But you know, when you don't know people, you kind of become stand offish at first, and sometimes those are the best relationships because you're like, it's kind of like feisty, it's like competitive. But then once once we started talking to each other, we started to realize everything we have in common. We loved music, and we had to come and dream and together we said, hey, let's put your energy, let's put my energy, and let's see what happens. And

then of course fireworks. You know, we went to a place like Wow and beyond, which you know sometime when you think about manifestation, you know, we surely manifested that thing because I even I even drew the costumes one Christmas and said this is what we're going to wear. And then we found that envelope years later and it was exactly what we were wearing because we were involved in many aspects of what we were doing and from from you know, the show performance to the clothing design,

with the costs and designers and all that stuff. So I believe in manifestation and the fact that I'm still here right now. You know, it's something that I've willed and it was unsure, you know, call it blind faith. And certain deeds are photogrounds for creativity. But I use creativity and music to keep me afloat, you know, really mentally physically. And that being said, I'm down traveler. That's what I am. With music as my magic carpet.

right place man. And since love was not something that there was not a lot of love at home, and and then you had Frank Farren his assistant Ingrid, we were like, wow, this is the surrogate family we've been looking for. So when the contract came on the table and they gave us the last three page of the contract, we didn't know that's not how it works. We felt like, okay, you got some money right there, it's on the table. We're gonna be able to eat. Okay. Contract. There was

not a lot of money before us. It was like okay, to give us money. That means this is real. You know this is there was no management now, atturning no protection. Were like the Gold Records, blinded by the light like wow, we're gonna make it. Started making movies in our mind like yo, it's gonna be all right. So when you go back home, you spend that money and you wait, You're like, what's up? What are they gonna call? So you call them, Oh you need money? Yeah, kind of

all right, what you need? We we need that. So they sent it to you in months after months that this ad adds up to a sum that there was a lot for us. So now I know you're going to the next question, what happened? Well, we walked into that. True that was said perfectly. They were recording. I found out later that they were recording. There were recording songs with the original singers with Brad Awl and John Davis,

which I've been on stage with. We were working together for about sixty seven years here in Europe and doing shows together as a project called Faceman's Voice. So while they were working on that, Frank was looking for guys and that we fell into that. You know, we matched perfectly his vision. And then when we were told like, hey, you're not going to sing, We're like, well, no, thank you. But we as naive young kids and Rob was two

years young older than me. It was my older brother and speaking German, I mean I am in his home country. I'm listening to what he tells me. When we signed the contract, it was like, I said, it's cool because it was in German. I don't I didn't read German, so you know, I studied German for one year, but that was it. So I turned to him, We're cool. He's like, yeah, yeah, we're cool. So he was the lead. And then when they came to him and told him

this was the plan, he got pissed off. Tried to explain to me because it was so emotional, and I'm like, we're not doing that. And then they came back and say, hey, money's not free. You know. In a few words, I'm paraphrasing, but that's pretty much what it was. Like, Yo, we give you money, so it's up like oh really. So the quickest way to repay them was really to like, okay, we do one song. But we were signed with three albums which we had no idea about options A single, one, two, three,

we don't know. So we thought we'd do this one song and then we out. Yeah, but when we thought we were out and never heard from them and get that record that just shoots off up the charts and then you're like, yo, that's that's us, but that's not us, but yeah, but that's us. And then suddenly the phone start ringing and like, well, you know, you go into it apprehensive, not knowing that they got a plan. You know,

you stepped into a realm you're not familiar with. Stardom is something that you don't know about, but it truly is addictive. So once you step into that and certainly you're at the focal point. And we never had problems with ladies, yeah, never, of course, but when that came, yeah, it was like wow. And then suddenly you were on stage and you were living your dreams. It was half a dream, was dreams slash nightmare. But at first it was a dream comes true and we were we didn't

know what the hell to deal with it. So when the second single came, it was like, okay, we want to sing, No, you can't. And then that's what we realized that, So what do you do? You you don't know what to do, so you stay in hoping that you might get another opportunity to jump off and do something. But from the first album to the fourth single, we had no idea where we were going, and there was no protection, no support, no one to say, hey, I'll protect you. There was nobody, you know, And I think

that's the movie shows that because we were bigger than life. Yeah, and you know, when you're bigger in life, people tend to believe that you're not really truly human even you know, they think you're touchable. Life is beautiful. When we were in a cage, it was a golden cage, but it was still a cage. And also, yeah, it was a tough one to navigate.

strayed away from the dream. I knew that, but I was like, I want to stand there because I don't know what else I can do, what else I'm going to do?

best of time, but we're lying to ourselves. So in the end, when the party leaves, you know, you do two things the same. You know, you go to bed, brush your teeth, wash your face, and you look in the mirror, you know, and that's like, m that ain't right. You wake up in the morning and then you feel the same that you felt before you went to bed, and that was like the vicious circle. But once someone knocked on the door, he showtime, or like yeah, we gotta get ready, man, you gotta get on the bus.

Like you just clicking, and life was going so fast that you you never had time to just slow down. So you go on this roller coaster hoping that maybe someone is going to save you. But then I look at my bro and I'm like, I want to save him. And I'm doing everything I can't, but it doesn't seem like you want to be saved. Until I realized later that you can't save nobody. They have to save themselves.

So when I kind of got that, you know, it's like, okay, well, I guess it's time for me to take care of myself, you know. Unfortunately, you know, Rob passed away, and that was very traumatic because for a long time I felt like I didn't do enough. You know, you're kind of blaming yourself for for your bal you know, partying. You know, it's like you're partying, but you're not even able to say, hey man, it was great, you know, to just say last words. And that's like the weirdest thing ever.

he's going to invest it in other ventures. That's what happens, you know. But the fact that we were the last, the small links, the smallest link in the chamber of the most forward, you know, because we were the artist. And then in the end it's like Robin fact were blamed. We're blamed for everything. My problem, my issue that I have still have today, you know, thanks to my emotional intelligence,

I've grown true generally is you go to school. You know, you go to school, you do it, you make and you do an Oh, there's an oath, and that oath consists of you know, uh, investigating and partially each in every character in the story. But that's not what happened. Certainly, the label who made the money, everybody disappears and then this press conference was it was bad, and sometimes I

tried to understand why. But I think that the labels were so powerful, and the media and labels and everything was in codes. So once the story was told and entered you know, the four pipelines that were there back then. Because now you've got social media, we're talking about a whole different ecosystem. Right back then, it was just like, once the story was written, it was oh she wrote, and then it's like, okay, we can move on now.

And there was no way you could turn turn a new leaf and try to say, hey, but listen, it's too late, you know. So it was it was it was that in a sense, was one of the most difficult because you know, the truth was buried, the narrative had been totally uh like, how can I say there was nothing true about the narrative? You know, Robin fab with the word responsible. They were responsible. They were they planned it all. And then let me tell you, you know,

I still have a slight accent. Anyone can everyone can notice I have an accent right back in the days, you know, it was a lot thicker. The day we came to New York and sat down with whoever in that one room, and you know, the promotion department, radio department, marketing department, publicity department, like old departments. You know, you meet everybody and say hi, nice, nice to meet you, and like really, you know, you hear that look numb before.

I know, early on, like oh yeah, you sound different. You know. I remember being in a in a on the road during that one hundred and SI City tour, stopping at one of those you know, in the middle of nowhere, going into like doing some food, and you know, they're like, oh, what what kind of First we're talking in German? What kind of language is that where you guys from. Then me speaking, you're like, oh, you sound weird,

sounds strange, you know, and obviously we sounded different. You know, how can how can anybody say that we had no idea? Really you had no idea? All right, Dan, I don't know what was I don't know, I don't know, you know.

So you know, so that's that's how it went. And you know, it's hard for me to watch part of the documentary when it makes me cringe when I see some of those executives, you know, paying a legion to the old regime and still saying until the interview person kind of like goes in and like, yo, listen, really you didn't know, and then coming out. So imagine we're talking about thirty years later. Now go back in time and see what kind of allegiance they had with each other.

I understand you to be for your tuition for your kids university school, you know, like mortgage car, I understand, But thirty years later, give it up, Give it up, tell the truth you knew and then you know you knew to say it, but for some reason.

about everything that happened. That interview specifically, I just really got a feel for what you guys are like, and I want to say that it's incredible attitude.

and learning. You know, you learn and then you realize, you know, and one of the things that I realized that, you know, being humble is the best thing that can happen to you because of course, we were like a riding high. You know, everybody is like, you're the best, and you know, eventually you're young, dude, you're going to start to believe your own press. Very normal, you know, but when I fail, it really just it woke me up.

And I'm glad because without the fall, I don't think that I would have turned into what I am today. So this, this was the beginning of what was truly becoming, you know, and that is really becoming resilient in life and understand that there are no problems. There are only solutions, but you get to face that and sometimes learning the hard way is the best way. So our attitude was like, well listen, you know, there's you know, we told everyone

we take the blame. For sure, we can't take all the blame, but we take the blame for what was done. We were part of it, that's clear. We were part of it, one hundred percent, and we recognize that. That being said, we're here now and we want to make the best out of what happened to us. It's very normal, but for some reason, the media kind of flipped it into making us look bad. So that's why our signior performances,

which one of my favorite you know. He promoted us for thirty days and in the end, at the end of thirty days, I believe that we killed it. Definitely killed it. And if it would have had a real label behind us, we're real finance and marketing, dollar and radio promotion, we could have done some things. It was kind of like nobody was interested anymore. Like it was like, uh, it's it's weird, you know how why not we're singing? Oh no, not interesting? You know.

that was taken away from me from the beginning. So finally I was able to truly live my dream, you know. And unfortunately, during that period, Rub was addiction. Is that taken the toe on him. So it was very difficult for him to focus and he would disappear day at a time. So we had to you know, the budget was running out and we had to get that album done. So I did pretty much all the leads majority your background.

So if you listen to the record, you notice that on some song you hear rob and some of the songs there's no way to be hurt, you know, And that's what happened, you know, So ri ip God rest you know, I help you rest good, and he's looking from above and he's like, go dude, and clear clear up my name. You know. My goal is being to transform the name living in me into when you fall, when you make mistakes or you fall, you can't stand back up, reinvent yourself and move forward. You know this.

You have options, you have choices. It's just up to you. You know. The problem is the issue is I'm in my mistakes in front of the world, and that being said, some people make the mistakes in the privacy of their own home. So I guess it turned me into what I am today. And hey, I got four kids with the same woman, a partner Sasha so Loans in sent Paris Twins. You know at the amazing you know, family is a blessing, blessing. I love it.

thirty years later almost like past. And then because of a show like this one and my association with Men and his brothers, certainly the kids that up because I have a god daughter in La and Kailna and she tells me in school, they all know, they all know the song, they sing the songs. So I'm like, wow, that's a trip. Because there was a time where milivinly

just went into disappeared, It went into a vacuum. And then you know with the dark, you know, with the movie with monsters, certainly it's back on all the music platforms and it's it's raving up and people certainly are realizing, Man, that was good stuff. That was a good time. So, hey, music is life. Life is music. Music is also the

soundtrack of our lives. I am connected to everyone who listened back in the days, and whoever is discovering it and walks into our emotional shoes, they are connected to now because the narrative is being rewritten properly, and you realize that, hey, listen, they took advantage, they exploited us, and we were thrown. Rob paid with his life as a result of how it was handled. It could have

been handled differently. We could have and we were in the process of starting another project with another entity, but Frank Farren went to New York and told the world. So when you did that, it was check mate. We weren't pushing him. We were pushing him to end this relationship, but we didn't count on the fact that he would tell the world instead of saying, Okay, I'm done, we

can go to group. So we were hoping and work it, you know, and maybe you have the Robin Felt album they come out instead of nineteen ninety three, had it come out like in nineteen ninety. That was the plan.

some music, experimenting the process that started. You know, we had the band, We're like, okay, we don't do something, you know, and so you know, the musicians would come on board, would work, stop, you go back to your bus, go to sleep, and I was kind of like a routine and I loved it. That was like, Wow, that's

the life I always wanted. But you know it was weird because we were performing in front of thousands but not singing, and then you're in the back of the bus making music and I'm like, oh, I wish I could share tonight. I wish I could share that tonight at the gig, but you can't. Yeah, it's true. Was it was crazy, but you know, until now, I've only you know, I told the story. You know, it's been a dog, it's been a movie, it's been interviews. But with the book, and it's titled you know it's true.

So people can go and register a you know, it's through dot com and then we'll keep you posted with the schedule. It's going to be an audio book as well. And you know, finally I can, I can share everything and they don't know what to expect. And that's the beauty with this book, you know. But it had to be done also for me. I had to free myself from from many things, you know, because you don't go through something like this, and and you don't, you don't

walk away intact. You know you will be you will when you crash, you crash and burn. But I'm lucky it didn burn to crisp and I was able to rise from my ashes and and move on. I'm not I'm not saying I'm the phoenix. I'm just saying I was able to rise above and fly away from the madness and everything that was holding me down. Because you know, people can be mean on the wreay down the jokes,

the bullying and what it feels like. But after a while, when you acquire emotional intelligence and realize that it's not about you, people have issues and you know you trigger something to them because people don't have to be so mean. I didn't kill nobody. We didn't kiel nobody, you know, and some people have done way worse. Oh yeah that

were treated that were treated. Yeah, that is bad, really damn Like why us, you know, And I'm still to this day wondering like what was the reason behind behind that? Like why.

lot of people. The guy who didn't summon fore Hoofa was a fan, met me when he was eighteen years old in Pim's where we were kind of discovered, and he never forgot that image. He soaked it in like a sponge. And the job is incredible, you know. But I felt like he was passionate, and you know you can you can fight passion, you know. And that's why I'm saying I'm still here because of my passion for music, my hunger for music, and music being a medium through

which I can express myself. Most so when the movie, when when I saw the actors, I was like, oh, that looked good. I didn't full I didn't fully see them in full gear, but at the end because I watched a movie on the computer at first, and I watched it at a premiere because I didn't want to it's too close to too home, you know. So when I watched it at the premiere. Everyone was laughing at

the same time. Everyone moved in their chair when it became uncomfortable you know, in the movie and it's a little awkward, like people stopped to move and you know, some people cry, and it was on cute. I was like, wow, they all react in the same way, whether it was in Bavaria with different type of people to browl in and I felt like, I think and it made me a few times my throat kind of like got tight.

And I watched I watched Elon and t John and they really reincarnated Robin the fab They really embodied us and the dynamic between the two characters. It was. It was very interesting to watch. And Tessa, my partner, she she knocked. He was like, wow, looks like you there.

I was like, yes, it looked crazy right man, Like wow, you know, the makeup, the eyebrows, like the pitness of the hair, the jacket, and you know, I'm really happy that when I after the movie, people were sharing and then you go to the stage, I'm glad that I didn't have to go with the cane or you know like slow pos you know slow, you know, like you know seventy year old. A seventy year old now like

finally my story was still thank you. I'm still glad that I'm still you know, vital, and I'm coming to America more and more. You know. I was in Canada, did a tour for like, I did a two week tour. We did about eight shows. It went very well. I'm going to Columbia. I'm going to Miami at the hard Rock in Hollywood, Miami, you know, the seventeenth. I believe so. And I've been touring in Europe for some time, but

it was slow. It was, you know, not sortay with little shows, more shows, more shows, more shows are down. Everything that's happening, it's taking place now. The phone is ringing. Now people are like, oh, we would like to are you going to do the hits? Of course, you know, so I perform. I have a band as well. But COVID kind of like halted everything that was happening. But it's okay. My twins came and went back to the drawing board and uh, step bast step again. We had

to rebuild, you know. So I'm glad I'm still here. The best is yet to come. I've also I don't know if you know that because I wanted to. I wanted to send you that, but I think I forgot it was so busy. I wanted to send you, Girn who is true the remix that I did for Sony Music and blame it on the Rain Acoustic. I think you should play that for your audience.

you're gonna assume it's like a lip syncing thing. But in Gilmore Girls, there's a band performing and a guy is talking about like, Oh, you're gonna need to make room because I'm gonna do a jump off the amp and do a kick here, and then another band member says that sends a little too Milli Vanilly for me. So it's like million Vanilli are great performers. They put on a great show, and that's that's like the reference there.

And I think that's incredible thing because that's that's what we love, boy Millie Vanille.

I love the way you move. I was like, yeah, well, I think you had something to do with that, you know, so that that was that was for me. I was super cool to to run into him, you know. So I ran into a lot of people in Hollywood, but David was was a guy that had so much power on stage and the music was amazing. So yeah, those are the things, you know, you study the greats, and

that's what I'll keep on doing. And eventually I hope that my music can have the same the same type of effect on people that are taking and listen to what I do. So to be continued, dot dot It's just the beginning, though, watch.