Wednesday 5th February 2014 by Edward Keeble | Photos by WENN.com / Press

RHCP to Muse and Iron Maiden: when huge rock bands are forced to mime

It's not just pop stars who don't perform live...

The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Flea issued an open letter to fans explaining the band's issues with performing at the 2014 Super Bowl and how live instruments were forbidden from the performance. However despite this they chose to go ahead and eagle eyed viewers including Joe Bonamasa were quick to point out that the bassist's guitar was unplugged.

Iron Maiden: In 1986 Iron Maiden featured on German music show P.I.T. and after being told they had to mime decide to have a little bit of fun at the expense of the show. While the track played along in the background they decided to swap instruments and just play whatever they wanted out of time with the track. It confused the audiences but was funny as hell to watch.

The Stranglers: The band took extreme issue with having to mime on various shows, so instead of turning down the opportunities they choose to do it - only very badly. They appeared on Top of the Pops in the 70s which requested all acts mimed and proceeded to perform the song in an extremely exaggerated manner, mimicking the instrumental as poorly as possible and resembling punk mannequins.

Nirvana: Another band who weren't big fans of Top of the Pops and its miming policy Nirvana mimed to a backing track of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' on the show in 1991. Frontman Kurt Cobain warped his own vocals to completely alter the song in order to 'punk' the producers. The band play their instruments slightly out of sync and Cobain does his best Morrissey impression, it makes for a rather weird watch.

Public Image Ltd.: John Lydon's passion project that followed on from the Sex Pistols performed on American Bandstand in 1980. Objecting to lip-syncing Lydon sits on the stage in silence before pulling member after member of the audience onto the stage. This created rather weird anarchic scenes for the viewer at home.

New Order: Performing on Top Of The Pops in 1983, New Order bent the arms of producers to allow them to perform 'Blue Monday' live, which they did. However it turned into something of an anarchic farce with technical difficulties marring the performance and making it one of the band's worst.

Muse: The band upset the Italian press in 2009 when they caused a scandal by swapping places on a native television show. Matt Bellamy ended up on drums and they put on a hugely farcical yet rather enjoyable little number. However the Italian press thought the band were mocking the shows host and proceeded to kick up a bit of a scandal.

Noel Gallagher: When asked to mime at the Olympics, Noel's answer was simple: 'I'd rather watch it on telly'. Good on you Noel.

Tags: The Stranglers, New Order, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers

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Miming is kind of standard fare in the pop world, who cares really if Britney or Beyonce bomb out the occasional fake performance? Not us. However when it comes to bands, "faking it", becomes a bit of an issue, especially within a scene based on genuineness and credibility. Also five men jumping around like Busted and pretending to play guitars is more than a little silly.

For certain shows back in the day like Top of the Pops, miming was standard issue with huge international acts forced into playing along with their own tracks. Some like The Clash refused to play all together because of this, others went ahead but took measures to protest against the practice by putting on a bit of a farce. It became standard issue to swap instruments and fart about much to the bemusement of the viewer at home. These are the artists who very publicly protested against miming.

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