The Worst Performances Musicians Ever Gave On Live TV

Musicians live to perform in front of an audience, but there are always bad shows they would much rather forget about altogether — especially if they happen to be televised. It's funny how good sets tend to go under the radar and receive little to zero publicity, yet the worst performances on live TV haunt musicians forever. That's the nature of the beast, really, as one bad day turns into someone else's punching bag for pure entertainment.

That being said, there were times when musicians brought the ire on themselves, whether it be because of big lip-sync scandals or tumultuous band dynamics imploding on stage. These performances weren't just an off day — they were awful. In the most drastic of cases, these horrendous displays turned into career killers, where the musicians struggled to rebuild their reputations thereafter. From Ashlee Simpson to Led Zeppelin, let's look at the performances that musicians don't want anyone to remember existed. Quite frankly, most of us wish they didn't either.

The internet didn't shy away from giving its opinions on the musicians selected to perform at President Donald Trump's inaugural balls in 2025. Expectedly, the eyes — and ears — paid extra close attention to the shows, and if musicians weren't at the top of their game, they were called out for it. For Billy Ray Cyrus, it was a day to forget, as his rendition of "Old Town Road" turned into "Old Town Roadkill" at the Liberty Ball. 

Cyrus experienced major sound difficulties where he couldn't hear his guitar. The backing track played as he went off at the sound crew backstage, asking if his guitar was plugged in or if it was a sign for him to get off the stage. While Cyrus tried to save the show by grabbing the microphone and singing an acapella version of "Achy Breaky Heart," it didn't stop people from lambasting his performance as one of the worst on live TV.

X commentators had a field day on the app, tearing into Cyrus' performance and making jokes at his expense.  "Billy Ray Cyrus' performance at Trump's inauguration is the perfect metaphor for the next 4 years," one user wrote. Others couldn't help but feel the cringe along with him.

In 2004, Ashlee Simpson announced her arrival to the music scene with the release of her debut album, "Autobiography." The single "Pieces of Me" grabbed the world's attention, and she received the big opportunity to perform live on "Saturday Night Live." The first song, "Pieces of Me," went off without a hitch. Then the drummer kicked in for the second track, and Simpson's vocals for "Pieces of Me" rang out through the speakers — but she wasn't singing at all. It was obvious what had happened here: Simpson was lip-synching.

What made things even worse is how it was clear Simpson was caught off guard, so she started to perform a strange little dance number to diffuse the situation. Instead of amusing the audience, it made the event even more memeable to everyone watching at home. The "SNL" performance ruined Ashlee Simpson's career, and she never reached the same peak of popularity afterward.

Discussing the incident years later on the "Broad Ideas with Rachel Bilson & Olivia Allen" podcast, Simpson explained how she had lost her voice the morning of the performance. She wanted to cancel the show but claimed the label pressured her into performing with the pre-recorded tracks. Simpson revealed how this incident taught her about the importance of saying no. "It was a humbling moment for me," she said. "I had the No. 1 song, it was like everything was about to go somewhere. And then it was just like, whoa."

No one could escape the Pussycat Dolls in the mid-2000s. Not only did they purr catchy songs, but their highly choreographed stage show was also something to behold. Unequivocally, the PCD was a musical act that thrived in a live setting. However, their performance of "Buttons" at the 2006 American Music Awards left everyone bewildered by what had happened.

For one, the PCD ladies appeared to be out of sync on the night, as if they weren't all on the same page about what to do. At the same time, member Melody Thornton was nowhere to be seen — until the final 30 seconds of the song. She showed up on stage to sing her part, and even her bandmates looked shell-shocked to see her.

Gossip ran wild about the evening's events, with fans speculating there were issues between Thornton and Nicole Scherzinger. Thornton put those rumors to rest in 2020 during an interview with Entertainment Tonight. She explained how she had been sick in the lead-up to the show and misplaced her passport, which saw her miss the rehearsals for the AMAs. When she arrived in America, she was also delayed by customs, so there was a rush to get her to the event. On the way there, Thornton was told to just go out and do her part at the end, which is what she did. She joked that the PCD were "cursed" at the American Music Awards.

In 1992, Red Hot Chili Peppers' funk-fused rock assault gained serious momentum. Their album "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" had established itself as a commercial success the year before, and the band started to receive more mainstream recognition, including a coveted spot on "Saturday Night Live." What happened that evening, though, is a story with different answers depending on who's asked.

To the discerning eye, it appeared as if guitarist John Frusciante wasn't vibing with the rest of the Chili Peppers, looking visibly distant from his bandmates. There was another twist in the tale, as Frusciante was meant to play the intro for the song "Under the Bridge," but even vocalist Anthony Kiedis looked confused about what he was doing. By the end of the song, Kiedis stared daggers through his guitarist.

In Kiedis' autobiography, "Scar Tissue" (which he co-wrote with Larry Sloman), he recalled the "SNL" incident. He wrote about how he heard Frusciante was high on drugs during the performance and the embarrassment the band suffered due to the guitarist's antics. "He looked like he was in a different world," Kiedis wrote. "To this day, John denies he was playing off-key. According to him, he was experimenting the way he would have if we'd been rehearsing the tune." John Frusciante left the Red Hot Chili Peppers twice — first in 1992, then again in 2008.

Corey Feldman made a name for himself as one half of the Two Coreys — alongside Corey Haim — as the duo dominated the film industry as young actors in the '80s and early '90s. Aside from acting, Feldman is also a musician, often taking inspiration from Michael Jackson's dance moves and style for his stage shows. In 2016, Feldman along with his backing band, Corey's Angels, performed on the "Today" program. Performing the track "Go 4 It," Feldman received a lot of stick from fans and critics about the way he was dressed, his dance moves, over-the-top dramatic mannerisms, and his choice to twerk on stage. The video of the performance went viral as the internet tried to understand what it had just seen.

For Feldman, the backlash hurt him as he took to a now-deleted Facebook video to address his fans and critics, admitting that he didn't even want to leave his house and felt the criticism bordered on bullying (via People). "Public shaming should not be accepted, no matter who you are," he said. "It doesn't matter if they're a celebrity or not. We deserve love and we deserve, like, normal life ... It's not okay, it's not acceptable to call us freaks, weirdos, losers, whatever."

The truth about Milli Vanilli's lip-sync scandal is that it destroyed the careers of duo Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus. The fall from grace happened in the most public way imaginable in July 1989. While performing for MTV from Lake Compounce, the pre-recorded vocal track got stuck and kept repeating in the background as Morvan and Pilatus looked stunned and unsure of what to do. Devastated, Pilatus ran off stage, though he returned to complete the set.

This proved to be the beginning of the end for Milli Vanilli. The group's founder, Frank Farian, revealed that Morvan and Pilatus were models he had hired to lip-sync to music that had been recorded by other musicians. When Morvan and Pilatius wanted to record an album with their real voices, Farian parted ways with them.

Eventually, Milli Vanilli had their Grammy Award taken away, and the duo admitted to the Los Angeles Times in 1990 that as difficult and embarrassing as it was to be exposed for the lip-syncing incident, it was good that the truth came out in the end. "We were afraid for two years that this day would come," Pilatus said. "We've cried about it sometimes, that the secret might come out. But deep inside, we wanted it to happen."

Make no mistake about it: Mariah Carey is one of the best musicians of all time. But even the greats have their off days, such as Carey's memorable New Year's Eve concert in 2016, albeit for the wrong reasons. Performing at "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest," Carey had a performance from hell where everything that could go wrong did. She claimed to not be able to hear herself in her earpiece as the whole set degenerated into an awkward amount of time featuring the singer looking at the audience and the viewers at her with nothing else happening. In addition to this, Carey also received criticism that she was lip-syncing to some of her songs.

There was serious fallout after the performance, with Carey's people accusing Dick Clark Productions of sabotaging her and the production company refuting the claims. Various other accusations were leveled across the board, with sources saying that Carey chose to not rehearse, while her team said she raised concerns beforehand but the production told her to go out and perform anyway. Needless to say, it was one New Year's Eve performance that no one will forget anytime soon.

Britney Spears' 2007 MTV Video Music Awards show didn't just leave fans perplexed — it also became one of the worst performances a musician ever gave on live TV. For one, Spears lip-synced her song "Gimme More" for the entire time. If that wasn't enough to put people off, she seemed to be totally out of sync with the other dancers around her and going through the motions. Everyone could see that something just didn't feel right about this performance.

"She didn't look all the way there," MTV personality Sway Calloway told Billboard. "I think people were like, 'What the f*** is wrong with her?' You'd never seen her off beat before, she was always on message, on routine... she definitely wasn't ready, it wasn't her. The dream became a nightmare." Years later, Spears opened up about the incident in her memoir, "The Woman in Me." She explained how bumping into her ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake impacted her evening — and performance — as a result. "He was at the top of his game in every way, and he had a lot of swagger," Spears wrote. "I was having a panic attack. I hadn't rehearsed enough. I hated the way I looked. I knew it was going to be bad."

Live Aid was for a good cause, but it also excited music fans since it would bring back Led Zeppelin to the stage after their break-up. After drummer John Bonham's death years earlier, the band enlisted the services of Phil Collins and Tony Thompson for the gig. The show, though, wasn't what anyone would deem a classic Led Zeppelin performance. Robert Plant's voice wasn't in the best condition, Jimmy Page's guitar was out of tune, and the drumming didn't sound like the fans remembered. In short, it was a disastrous reunion for the legendary band.

In an interview with Classic Rock, Collins explained how he had no time to rehearse with the group and didn't even know it was a Led Zeppelin reunion until he got there. He was warned that Page was in a bad mood when he arrived, and matters didn't improve from there on out. Collins admitted he thought about walking off stage, though he ultimately stuck it out until the end. "Anyway, we came off, and we got interviewed by MTV," he said. "And Robert is a diamond, but when those guys get together a black cloud appears. Then Page says: 'One drummer was halfway across the Atlantic and didn't know the stuff.' And I got pissed off." The fallout of the calamitous Live Aid concert is also the main reason Phil Collins can't stand Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page.

50 Cent received a star's introduction at the 2007 BET Awards. The rapper descended from a mechanical platform onto the stage, but he appeared to be frazzled from the get-go. He seemingly forgot the lyrics to the track "Amusement Park" as the pre-recorded vocals kicked in and did the work for him. Then Fiddy skipped over an entire verse as he headed off into the crowd for interaction.

The rapper recovered to complete the song, but the damage was done. No one was left satisfied by Fiddy's weak BET Awards performance. According to the singer, though, there was a valid reason for his failures — he had to contend with unplanned events that night.

Speaking on "106 & Park," Fiddy revealed how he nearly fell off the platform, so that's why he was so rattled in the beginning of the song (via HipHopDX). "When I went through the run-through — we got some footage that we can show you — you see me come out from under there with no problem, without actually being hit by the aerialist," he said. "I'm like 25 feet in the air at that point." Fiddy added how the rehearsal was different from the actual show, but he didn't let it bother him too much, saying he'd get another chance to make it right.

The singing of the national anthem at a sporting event is considered a prestigious honor for any vocalist. However, Fergie delivered one of the most shambolic renditions — and arguably one of the worst performances from a musician on live TV — at an NBA All-Star game in 2018. For some reason, she decided to inject a jazzy flavor into the anthem, and let's just say it didn't work out for the "Big Girls Don't Cry" singer here.

What made things worse is how the camera cut to the different celebrities and players in attendance, and their faces said it all. NBA star Steph Curry packed up laughing, while television host Jimmy Kimmel struggled to contain his smile. Analysts Charles Barkley and Shaq also had to make a joke about it, since there was no way anyone could ignore what had taken place on live TV.

Want to read more about other interesting events that happened in front of the audience's eyes? Check out the stars who fired back at disrespectful interviewers on live TV.

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