To say the least, the 6.36 billion people inhabiting the Earth are very diverse in nature. From life experiences, to skin color and even to favorite ice cream flavors, we are all as different as the world is large. But one thing that seems to unite most people is a fundamental knowledge and appreciation of one of the greatest shows of all time: VH1's Behind the Music.
To date, the series has included more than 150 episodes chronicling the successes and struggles of some of pop music's and television's finest. While many of the episodes have fallen off the radar, Behind the Music has provided us with some memorable moments.
For example, the average television viewer may never remember the specific details of every Friends episode, but the average viewer can certainly explain how a band like TLC can go from being on top of the world to being flat broke. As Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes so gracefully clarified, it takes a lot of money to put out an album and cover the expenses of doing so.
But while we all know how eager she and her other bandmates were to place the blame on their manager, Perri "Pebbles" Reid, for the group's financial troubles and subsequent bankruptcy, we also know Lopes was at fault on some level. After all, I think we can all connect the dots between her decision to burn down then-boyfriend Andre Rison's mansion and a portion of the band's financial turmoil.
While viewers will forever remember the TLC Behind the Music for all the crazy things the three ladies did back in the day, viewers will remember the Milli Vanilli episode for the one thing the duo didn't do -- sing.
The in-depth look at the rise and fall of Fabrice Morvan and Rob Pilatus was the first installment in the series, airing on Aug. 17, 1997. The show chronicled the journey of the pair as they teamed up with producer Frank Farian, who made the decision to have them tour in support of a record he made with studio musicians.
From this collaboration came the 1989 breakthrough album Girl You Know It's True, which spawned four No. 1 hits, including the album's title song. From the time "Girl You Know It's True" hit the top of the charts, listeners and critics alike loved the song. But surprisingly, the band didn't welcome the success.
As Pilatus explains, the nomination and subsequent Grammy win in the category of "Best New Artist" signaled the group's downfall.
"All we wanted was to not get the Grammy, and we got the goddamn Grammy," he said on Behind the Music.
With that Grammy, Milli Vanilli was accepted by the industry as the one thing it was not -- a legitimate musical act. During a "live" performance just months later, as Behind the Music explains, everything fell apart for Morvan and Pilatus when a recording of "Girl You Know It's True" began to skip and repeated the line "Girl you know it's..." over and over again.
Any average Joe could tell the story of the aftermath of this concert, which includes the group giving back the Grammy, falling into drugs and ultimately the untimely death of Pilatus. Behind the Music told the facts in a way that engaged the viewer and seemed to relieve the duo from a majority of the blame.
Whereas VH1 made a decent case for Milli Vanilli, it could not do so for Vanilla Ice. One of the most memorable moments of this episode involved Ice's oh-so-articulate explanation of how his hit "Ice Ice Baby" vastly differed from Queen and David Bowie's "Under Pressure."
Ice's story also differed from most featured in the series in that his fall from the top did not involve any wrongdoing on his part. Even Behind the Music explores the idea that, well, I guess moderately nice guys finish last. (After all, he can't be that nice if he was found guilty of pulling out some of his wife's hair.)
But fire-starting, lip-synching and hair-pulling aside, VH1's Behind the Music makes for a good television series. And at the very least, even if you weren't a fan, it makes for some decent water cooler jokes.
