The Backing Tracks Debate Has Returned…

28 thoughts on “The Backing Tracks Debate Has Returned…”

1. It's kinda funny that no huge bands signed up. Lol. Having a lap top isnt the issue. Its using backing tracks for things that can clearly be played live. Do they know they can play hip hop drums on a keyboard or mpc? As for the layered vocals part, that's what backup vocalists are for.🤷‍♂️ I dont have a problem with backing tracks it's just funny to see how many bands cant just put it away for one show! Better yet hire a DJ. Problem solved!

2. Well, I suppose Sabaton and Powerwolf could bring full orchestras and choirs for their stuff so long as they are paying the bands enough to do it.

3. Every band uses backing tracks.

4. It’s 2023, quite frankly I’m shocked this is even a conversation at this point in human evolution 😂

5. Great points!!

6. This is my opinion. if someone is not robbing someone the wrong way. then they're not being theirselves. that is my opinion because not everyone is going to like you.

7. Oh no, that annoying Eddie Trunk will now be carrying on about this for a month.

8. Cartoons make me unsub

9. I love the thumbnail

10. Another great snip of rock news. Thanks

11. That shirt is so not metal lol

12. I Just saw falling in reverse live and his vocals are just as good live as on the CD .Dude ronnie's backing tracks is just like the salt Bae adding his famous salt touch to an already amazing piece of cooked meat.

13. When did this guy turn into the illegitimate son of smash mouth

14. For me the issue isn’t the backing tracks. If I go see bucket head I am expecting backing tracks and he is still playing guitar. My issue is when you pay huge amounts of money for big act’s “live performance” and a significant part of that expensive experience is pre-recorded. Backing tracks are essential to small bands that prerecord other instruments they don’t have the members for. So in certain context they are welcomed and expected.

15. Backing tracks aren’t the problem, I just don’t like lip syncing. There’s a difference between the two.

16. If they had a publicly stated position that the reason behind the decision was to provide an organic live experience, I would be supportive of that.

    If they are only doing it because they think backing tracks are bad or worse it's only a marketing ploy to take advantage of controversy to draw a crowd. That's not good.

    In my neck of the woods, there is a small annual music festival. One year they had this band called Suite Clarity. They had a good set, the music was good and they had good stage presence.

    If you look up Suite Clarity and read the credits for the Albums, the guitar player is also the bass player, so when they play live the bass is part of the backing track. And they have other stuff in the backing track that they don't have instrumentation for or are some type of non music voice clips that are integrated into the performance.

    If you are Judas Priest, you can hire a guitar player to play on the live performances. If you are Trans-Siberian Orchestra you can make arrangements to have choir/orchestra people that are local to the places you are performing perform with you in the live shows. If you are Metallica you can hire someone to sit off stage and push buttons when it's time for the guitar FX to change.

    If you are a lesser known band struggling for your art, it might be difficult to bring in an extra body that you have to split the money with.

17. Metal heads have become even bigger desperate gatekeeping douches over the years that accomplished nothing but keeping the genre stagnant for decades essentially keeping it stuck on life support. The reactionary clowns maintain a very fascistic POV while ironically posturing themselves as rebels – but You better look the same, act the same, and play the same or it can’t be Metal, though. Art is supposed to grow and evolve, you dorks. F FIR too btw.

    It’s even better when folks with 0 creative ability or experience try to gatekeep.

18. I absolutely hate Ronnie and FIR but he's actually right, sometimes the laptop just helps bring the show together, it's not sign that they're lip syncing.

19. Nice! I see your point that using a laptop does not immediately equal lip-synching. Last year I saw KISS for the first time ever. They put on a great show with fireworks and a confetti cannon plus they played all my favorite songs!
    But 3 or 4 months later they were playing in Belgium and Paul Stanley got caught flagrantly lip-synching!! You could hear him "YEAH!!!" and he was 10 feet away from the mic!! It's very disappointing to think they might've been doing that at the show I went to!! Even worse, Gene Simmons denounced backing tracks in 2015.
    So the more live a band can be the better. I'm gonna play an Open Mic on Tues. I will be using a drum machine but my guitar and vocals will be 100% LIVE!!

20. dont know anything about Falling in Reverse, but at least he is being straight up about what they use and how they use it. I also appreciate trying to strip things back to their roots in the live music experience. There is a middle ground that could be had at a festival like the one in question. I loved that Paul Stanley could belt out the vocals he used to be able to and saw them live like that several times. I have also seen them a few times in their senior years and enjoyed it as well with what they are doing now. Saw Slipknot not long ago and it was a great performance on the stage but the mix was all bass to where i couldnt even hear the drums past the beat itself and not sure if they even did any guitar solos because i couldnt hear any. I am glad that the internet has replaced the old Circus and Hit Parader magazines with the controversy and smack talking LOL.

21. I can dig that as a festival idea. I don't need all the extra bells and whistles.

22. while we are on the subject. eff your axe fx too. we can all tell youre botching it through the front of the house. real amps sound better. no backing tracks sounds better. but hey, youve got easier so theres that.

23. This has become a stupid issue. If they aren't just faking and lip syncing a show then who gives a shit what they use. All I care about is if it's a great show, and heavy as f. It's like hiring a plumber bc you think he's good at what he does and then telling him what tools he can use lol. If i go and think too much of it is not being done live, then I won't ever go give them money again, but I don't want promoters stepping in and making rules for bands, bc it won't end there. The music industry is already stiffeling great music, and has done so much damage to music, now promoters will do even more.

24. This has been the dumbest argument. Whiny ppl feeling threatened by a band that has really blown up and so they create a dumb argument. It's one thing using these tracks for music, effects etc. If Ronnie was using it to lip sync, then I would have a problem. That's just my humble opinion though .

25. I mean they use laptops to throw trap beats in over the breakdowns or something like that, or use them for back up vocals. Like I saw another comment say, it's not like they're just using laptops and not doing anything else up on stage? So I really don't GAF if ppl use laptops or not! If it makes it sound cooler then I'm all for it!

26. Literally,my fav NÜ Metal Band don't even use any backing track,just guitar,bass,drum and scratching,not even synth that add melody to the song,just full on "sound fx"

27. How is it a debate? People pay to see LIVE shows and some bands put on their own tracks? I have to assume to these bands are composed of pussified males, otherwise they'd never make this an argument. How the fuck did rockers in the 60s and 70s do it man? I'm guessing Freddie Mercury never gave a single fuck about his "laptop" or "backing tracks" right? Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. In my view, if you pay money to see a LIVE SHOW, then you SHOULD GET a live show. If your band uses backing tracks on laptops, get a better band to listen to. These are not serious artists, but entertainers. "Mommy i can't sing without my laptop" . You'd expect shit like this from trap "artists", who can't sing so they need that shit, but from METAL BANDS? Pathetic and i would never support them with my money or my ears. RESPECT to the metal festival that won't allow cringe boys amongst them.

28. Thank you for creating this channel and investing in it. Keep it up m/

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