Top 20 Musicians Who Destroyed Their Careers on Stage

oh axel cool metal dude rock and roll party welcome to watch mojo and today we're counting down our picks for the top 20 musicians who destroyed their careers on stage listen to me are you listening okay i'm trying to wipe the floor give me a second who do you know what it means [Music] you know the lock on the door [Music] for this list we're taking a look at artists who sabotaged their own careers live with bad performances controversial statements live meltdowns and other self-inflicted problems these artists might have eventually made a comeback but their careers must have been hindered at least in the short run who's the artist you think destroyed their career on stage if you like what you're hearing be sure to check out the full song at the link [Music] below [Music] number 20 creed part of what held this rock band back from even more monstrous success was the reputation they garnered as a horrendous live act the group's front man scott stapp is infamous for ruining sets primarily due to his problems with substance abuse sometimes forcing the band to end shows early and other times performing so poorly that audiences wished they had in 2003 four concert goers were so outraged by a poor creed performance that they actually sued the group even though the case was eventually thrown out the incident cemented creed's bad reputation and the group never returned to their peak popularity number 19. lindsay lohan in the early 2000s it seemed like every current or former teen celebrity was trying out the whole singer actor double threat thing however for every miley cyrus there are some like lindsay lohan whose singing career never took off in the way that she'd hoped heard her say it's been her lifelong dream all 18 years of it to record her own album and now she has it's called speak it comes out tomorrow and performing her hit single rumors lindsay lohan responses to lohan's work were mixed and she did herself no favors when she appeared on good morning america to promote her single rumors it was extremely obvious that the performance was lip-synched and critics were quick to call lohan out her label put out a statement assuring fans that while there was a backing vocal track lohan was singing as well people were unconvinced however and the performance became a defining moment of lohan's foray into music number 18 carmen carmen were a romantically involved later husband and wife duo who started making it big by performing covers on in youtube days the duo were eventually asked to perform on saturday night live in 2012 and saying that it didn't go well would be a massive understatement audiences were left unimpressed by their performance with many criticizing the duo's stage presence vibe and music it was also unfortunate that carmen happened to perform the night that whitney houston passed away as people were feeling extra apathetic towards their type of sound the reviews of their set were scathing and what could have been the duo's breakout moment ultimately marked their fate number 17 the replacements as a punk turned alternative band it's somewhat unsurprising that the replacements would have a reputation as a wild card live act now i'm not talking out of school when i say they were known as a drinking ban the group were infamous for getting wasted at their own concerts often turning sets into what felt more like drunken karaoke ladies and gentlemen the replacement while for some this was part of the group's charm it definitely turned off other would-be fans and held them back from mainstream success the guitar player actually fell down on the way out to the stage and fell on his guitar and broke his guitar from getting banned from snl for performing as some of the show's rowdiest and drunkest musical guests ever to notoriously playing the worst set ever at the famous new york club cbgb it could definitely be said that the replacements were their own worst enemies number 16 the sex pistols at the height of the sex pistol's popularity in january 1978 the group went on an ill-fated north american tour that would inevitably lead to the dissolving of the band throughout the tour tensions within the band led to rampant infighting and the negativity translated into their live shows this is no fun at the end of the tour during a concert in san francisco singer johnny rotten made it clear that he was finished with the project as he spent the set mocking the audience and barely singing along to his band's music and i get the feeling you've been cheated good night the next day he flew to new york and announced that he was leaving the sex pistols the band was finished soon after number 15. michelle shocked michelle shocked was never a huge star by any stretch but the alt folk singer had a decently sized following up until an infamous 2013 concert in san francisco true to her name concert goers were shocked when the singer made clear her feelings towards proposition 8 the banning of same-sex marriage in california alternative folk singer michelle shocked is speaking out about her anti-gay rant over the weekend in san francisco the tirade got her booted off the stage and ever since venues all over the country have been canceling her upcoming shows shocked expressed her belief that marriage is only legitimate between a man and a woman and though she maintained that she was not homophobic many were unconvinced that the idea of living my life without him is impossible right i know how much i love him and knowing that passion that i have for him would i ever want to deny that to anyone else absolutely not so you're not homophobic if you want to keep this simple for the audience let me just give you a straight no i'm not homophobic shocked's career quickly fizzled out following these comments why shocked thought that this would fly in san francisco of all places is anyone's guess quote i do not nor have i ever said or believed that god hates homosexuals or anyone else i said that some of his followers believe that i believe intolerance comes from fear and these folks are genuinely scared number 14.

guns and roses despite their status as rock legends guns and roses have garnered a reputation as a live band whose performances can range from epic rock spectacles to sloppy unrehearsed diva theatrics oh axel cool metal dude rock and roll party do cocaine yeah over the years guns and roses have played a number of sets that they'd probably rather forget some examples would be a concert in 1991 where a visibly inebriated slash could barely play the opening rift to welcome to the jungle and a 2010 performance in dublin where the group were booed off stage in response to axel rose's volatile attitude towards the crowd the group also has a habit of starting their shows hours late which paired with the inconsistency of their musicianship has led them to losing a lot of their credibility number 13. robin thicke following the release of his 2013 single blurred lines robin thicke's career took off crashed then burned all within a short span of time the song itself for which he was later sued by marvin gaye's estate was part of thick's problem with many critics arguing that the lyrics were misogynistic and trivialized consent however it was thick's live performances in the months that followed that truly sank his career thicke performed an outrageously vulgar and unanimously loathed live rendition of blurred lines at the vmas with miley cyrus soon after thick's wife paula patton left him in response he begged her to take him back in subsequent live performances and even released an album called paula this only turned even more people off the falling star pretty cringe robin number 12. miguel part of the reason that you don't hear from this once up and coming r b singer anymore maybe in part due to this incident at the 2013 billboard music awards miguel landed on to a couple of fans while attempting to stage dive injuring two of them one of the fan's lawyers spoke to tmz about a potential lawsuit immediately after the incident but that lawsuit never materialized the other fan however did file a lawsuit against miguel in 2015 in order to help cover the cost of her medical bills and lost wages for any artist a lawsuit is a bad look and for miguel the stage dive incident became something that people still remember about his career i'm really happy to bring my new friend chiaty we just met yeah um unfortunately we met under not the best circumstances number 11.

greta van fleet in 2018 greta van fleet captured the world's attention with nostalgic rock anthems that hearkened back to the days of led zeppelin and black sabbath ladies and gentlemen greta van fleet at the height of their popularity in early 2019 greta van fleet appeared on you guessed it snl to give america a taste of the rock showmanship associated with the bands that inspired them the set however was disappointing to say the least the sound of the band was muddy the song seemed under rehearsed and the members all looked extremely nervous and sheepish on stage making for an extremely awkward performance time will tell if the group is able to recover from the negative press that they received from this performance number 10 eric clapton one of the most prolific rock musicians of all time eric clapton is famous for his role in bringing the blues to britain still you'd expect that someone with such fondness for blues music would have a better grasp of its history and to me it sounded like they were in in a fantasy land i mean to me see the you know you for you perhaps ed the plantations and the cotton fields would have been a place of abject misery and hardship for me it was paradise in 1976 during a concert in birmingham clapton launched into a crass and hateful rant involving various racial slurs said that all foreigners should leave england encouraged people to vote for a far-right politician and used the slogan keep britain white possibly the worst moment was a ride home on the bus in the top deck of the bus with my friend because it was we couldn't really talk about it it was one of it was something that come between our friendship and actually the friendship never recovered to tell you the truth this concert immediately sparked outrage throughout england with many artists denouncing clapton and inspiring the rock against racism movement oh nope half your music is black you're rock music's biggest colonialist you're a good musician but where would you be without the blues in r b you've got to fight the racist poison otherwise you'd degenerate to the sewer with the rats and all the money men that ripped off rock culture number nine sly stone vocalist sly stone was the front man of one of the most well-regarded funk acts of the sixties don't hate the black don't hate the white if you get bitten just hate the bite however the careers of sly and his band the family stone imploded quickly in the mid 70s the group became notorious for ruining live performances with members not showing refusing to play or passing out from drug abuse while this already added a bittersweet taste to sly's legacy the vocalist dealt his career a death blow while performing solo at coachella in 2010 sporting a strange blonde wig and clearly not in any mental state to perform sly performed a feeble and cheerless set with sub-par vocal work and incoherent ranting regrettable considering that this performance was intended to mark sly's comeback wait wait wait wait wait hey ladies and gentlemen would you mind please being very quiet shut up number eight janet jackson and justin timberlake this one is just unfortunate janet says that this is going to be the first and the last time that she ever talks about what happened that day at the 2004 super bowl musical guest janet jackson experienced what was later described as a wardrobe malfunction at the end of their performance together justin timberlake tore off jackson's rubber bustier briefly exposing her breasts to millions of stunned audiences he was to take and rip the piece off that he did the letter right but more came off than what was supposed to so he was supposed to pull that off and we'd just see the red yes there and he ripped the whole thing while this finale was planned jackson's representative claimed it was supposed to expose her red lacy bra not her breast dubbed nipple gate the incident prompted a proposed 550 000 fine by the federal communications commission had mtv banned from producing future halftime shows and caused jackson's music and videos to be blacklisted by television and radio stations effectively ending her career number 7 the everly brothers ah brotherly love country pop legends the everly brothers were fundamental to the history of american music with dozens of hits throughout the 50s and 60s sadly the years were not kind to brothers dawn and phil whose career slowly declined up until one fateful night in 1973. when don showed up to play the duo set at one apart california phil was furious to find out that his brother was completely drunk after a booking agent had to stop the show due to dawn's condition phil smashed his guitar and stormed off stage while don proclaimed i'm through with being an everly brother and halfway through the third song don's voices quit and i was at and phil took uh that everly brother's guitar and it was almost like he went up on his tiptoes and had that guitar up like that and popped her on the floor and that guitar exploded they wouldn't reunite for another 10 years i think we needed the time away from each other we'd never ever been away from each other we'd been working together we've been strapped together singing on one microphone for 20 years then that's a long time for two young guys to be pushed together and held together and you know you gotta find yourself and go do other things and your own identity number six maroon 5 travis scott and big boy accepting the 2019 halftime gig was in and of itself a bad look for maroon 5 travis scott and big boy as rihanna pink and cardi b reportedly all passed on their offers to perform so as to stand in solidarity with colin kaepernick on top of that it was hinted that the performance was going to include a cover of sweet victory from spongebob squarepants however the performance only made a passing reference to the spongebob episode before abruptly switching to sicko mode further irritating an already skeptical national audience while all the artists involved are still doing fine they certainly earn some lasting ill will because of the halftime show that they probably shouldn't have played to begin with read the room guys number five fergie fergie's solo career has waxed and waned since she spun off from the black eyed peas she's had some big hit songs and though she never quite reached the heights of stardom that she was shooting for she was never irrelevant either however after her performance of the american national anthem at the 2018 nba all-star game it may be safe to say that things are over for the singer [Applause] fergie's baffling rendition of the star-spangled banner was shockingly bad so much so that many of the all-stars were having trouble containing themselves and could be seen holding back a laughter on camera the performance immediately became subject to severe ridicule number four the chicks i was just sort of pointing out we're american and we're even from texas and we don't agree with the president during a 2003 concert in england the vocalist of the chicks then known as the dixie chicks natalie maynes denounced the us's invasion of iraq and lamented that president bush was from their home state of texas this went over fine in england but triggered a major controversy in the u. s where many felt that these comments were anti-american at the time it wasn't thought about necessarily what i meant you know whatever i say on stage always does have some meaning but looking back on it you know everyone called me unpatriotic and said i didn't support the troops because i didn't support the war celebrities and fellow musicians slammed the group people burned their records and some radio and television stations boycotted their music the sad things came you know just down the road watching children at those rallies stomping on our cds or there was a mother holding her two-year-old son outside of show protesting and um turned to and was telling our cameras scroll them screw them for years this controversy was a major obstacle for the chicks career though it seems that the group have begun to make a well-deserved comeback even changing their name in 2020 due to its historic connotations number three sinead o'connor clarity is key when you're making a point and how the media in fact are engaging in massive breaches of human rights when it comes to how they go about writing about anyone who they either diagnose without qualification as being mental or anyone they believe to be you know actually suffering from an illness just ask a late 80s icon sinead o'connor at the end of her infamous 1992 performance on saturday night live o'connor ripped up a photo of pope john paul ii and declared fight the real enemy in protest of the catholic church evil fight the real enemy while the act was o'connor's response to various stories that had just come to light about corruption and misconduct within the institution many viewers misinterpreted her call to action it was seen as an anti-catholic sentiment and the backlash was brutal with o'connor's record sales in the u.