Underrated Song I: Milli Vanilli’s ‘Girl I’m Gonna Miss You’

When say someone says, “Oh, they pulled a Milli Vanilli,” they’re usually referring to a singer lip-syncing or to someone being a fake. That’s what happens when you become the only act to have to return a Grammy Award to the Recording Academy.

The Good…

Milli Vanilli, composed of Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan, dominated the music headlines in 1989, with their album ‘Girl You Know It’s True’ hitting the top spot for seven weeks on the Billboard Album charts. This album featured the hit songs, Girl You Know It’s True, Baby Don’t Forget My Number, Blame It On the Rain, fun and upbeat songs that you could dance to. It also featured Girl I’m Gonna Miss You, the love ballad, which – in my opinion – is the best song on the album. The smooth beat, the melodic rhythm, the simple yet genuine lyrics, the background vocals, the musicality, this song has it all.

The Bad…

The rise and tragic fall of Pilatus and Morvan is no doubt a big part of the Milli Vanilli story, but what too often gets lost in this story is the music itself. Aside from the lip-syncing, aside from the hair extensions and spandex bicycle pants they wore onstage, aside from all the controversy, Girl You Know It’s True is a good album. Lost in all the controversy are the voices behind the songs, Charles Shaw, John Davis, and Brad Howell. Lost in all the controversy are the songwriters who never got their due credit. Songs that should be still be getting airplay today became punchlines, became cautionary tales of what not to do.

The Ugly…

You cannot tell the story of Milli Vanilli without mentioning the name Frank Farian. Aside from being a producer and co-songwriter for ‘Girl I’m Gonna Miss You’ (and many other songs), he was the mastermind behind the whole charade. Who gets what percentage of the blame for this story can be debated. What can’t be debated is that this story had a sad ending. The ending and the aftermath of the “Milli Vanilli” story is a tragedy. It’s a tragedy because it resulted in the death of a young man (Pilatus) who only wanted to be rich and famous.

The Aftermath…

The aftermath in this tale is that as the years pass by, the individual names of the characters in this story fade away more and more. Unfortunately, so do the songs.

[Featured Image Source: Billboard.com]