Milli Vanilli - All Or Nothing

Released in 1988

Nowadays the masses all too often embrace label creations that must hide their "stars'" lack of talent behind polished production values and studio manipulations. Artists (and I use that term lightly) like Ashlee Simpson are able to rule the commercial charts despite the fact they cannot sing worth a lick in front of a live audience, and instead must resort to lip-synching over back tracks.

So one must wonder why even today Milli Vanilli is condemned so harshly for committing the same crime that many artists before them and after them have been guilty of. Perhaps a lot of the condemnation arises from indignation – not indignation caused by the fact they pulled a sham and didn't actually sing during their concerts (there are plenty of others that also don't), but rather indignation at the fact most of us were completely fooled by the illusion.

German producer Frank Farian brought together an assortment of studio musicians to create a fusion of Euro-pop and rap, the most notable of which were rapper Charles Shaw and vocalists Johnny Davis and Brad Howell. The problem was although these three musicians created a winning pop formula, they were all middle-aged and certainly not marketable to a young, hip generation.

The obvious answer, of course, was to hire two pretty-boy models with impressive dancing skills: Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan. Together they would be the "front" for Milli Vanilli, doing the actual performing during concerts, interviews and such. The plan was genius – with the physical appeal of the two models and the juiciness of the highly polished pop tracks, Milli Vanilli quickly scored five chart-topping singles, a Grammy Award and sales that exceeded 30 million copies worldwide (seven million in the U.S. alone).

All Or Nothing was released in Europe in 1988, and instantly the European world embraced this novelty act. The debut album was released in America one year later under the name of Girl You Know It's True, a version that was slightly tweaked from the original European release, but for all practical purposes was the same album.

Once word of Milli Vanilli's deception got out, the general public reacted so harshly that Arista Records quickly pulled the record out of print, so if you are looking for a copy of the band's original album you'll probably need to seek out an import copy of their European debut.

Some of the album highlights are:

Despite the fact that Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan never sung a note on Milli Vanilli's smashingly successful debut album, it's hard to deny that the music itself was extremely polished and addictive for its time. While I disagree with the notion of fake artists making millions off the illusion of musical proficiency, they weren't the first and as some of today's lot of pop artists proves, they're not the last. Perhaps the duo deserved the condemnation they received, and perhaps they were vilified a bit too harshly while others of their ilk were embraced. Either way, if you judge All Or Nothing on the merits of its music rather than the controversy surrounding Milli Vanilli (a hard distinction for many to make), then chances are good you'll have to admit that Frank Farian's brainchild was indeed genius.

Rating: 8 stars

Track List

  • Can't You Feel My Love
  • Boy in the Tree
  • Money
  • Dance With a Devil
  • I'm Gonna Miss You
  • All or Nothing
  • Baby Don't Forget My Number
  • Dreams to Remember
  • Is It Love
  • Ma Baker
  • Girl You Know It's True
  • Hush
  • Too Much Monkey Business

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