Milli Vanilli's "Blame It On the Rain" -- Not Bad At All!

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I had the radio on in the background this weekend while doing some work, and couldn't readily turn it off. Anyway, Milli Vanilli's "Blame It On the Rain" came on -- instead of turning it off, I actually listened to it. And I discovered that it is not at all a bad song! Kinda catchy, in a late-eighties way, and sassy lyrics.

Am I losing my shit or is this really a nice little pop song after all?

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Monday, 25 March 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

i don't know the song, but i want to agree with you. will download tonight

― gareth, Monday, 25 March 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Love it. See my post on the "uncool records" thread, strangely enough posted before this thread. Must be in the air.

― J, Monday, 25 March 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

the milli vanilli video collection is one of my great 1980s artifacts...bah bah bah bah bah, bah bah bah bah bah bah, bah bah bah bah bah love will see you through...do them hand movements....

― Queen G, Monday, 25 March 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

How could you not know the song?? Anyways, I think it's kind of clever -- infectious feelgood pop melody meets sarcastic lyrical attempt to confront listener's hypocrisy.

― Dare, Monday, 25 March 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

I liked Milli Vanilli better once they dropped that Marxist bedsit commune stuff and started concentrating on their infectious crystalline pop production. Wait sorry, wrong band.

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 25 March 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Three times I have played this song today!

It's ace. I love the audacity of the whole project, really. And, I think, an important moment in cultural history (mainland Europe totally submerged in MTV culture = euro-sentimentalist argument still dominant in Guardian / Observer / Independent 13 years on already utterly defeated).

Oddly, "Blame It On The Rain" was never a Top 40 hit in the UK, which would explain Gareth's lack of knowledge.

― Robin Carmody, Monday, 25 March 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

I had a computer game where in one of the add-ons you had to get Milli Vanilli to reunite. One of them had become a goose farmer instead or something wacky like that. I'll have to go look it up.
The videos were utterly silly but they werent any worse then their peers aside from that lipsynching ordeal.

― Mr Noodles, Monday, 25 March 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

In addition to my love of "Blame It On The Rain," I have a fun Milli Vanilli story:

My friend Terry used to spend his summers away from college working at an outdoor amphitheatre in Pittsburgh, PA. Eventually, he stayed there long enough to be a spotlight tech, and was one of the local spotlight guys for many bigname shows. The spotlight guys wear headphones through which they get their cues shortly before they actually have to hit the light--"cue spotlight 4 to guitarist, stage left," that sort of thing.

Anyway, when Milli Vanilli came to town that year, the lighting was horrible. My buddy missed a few cues from laughing too hard. What was so funny, you ask? Well, how would you respond if you heard THIS at a concert:

"Spotlight 4, cue ninja fighter, stage right."

I think it was completely understandable myself.

― J, Monday, 25 March 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

The "Boy in the Tree" remix off of the remix LP (I dunno the name) is excellent. Everyone search.

― adam, Monday, 25 March 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

I was always more of a "Girl you know it's true" sort of fella

― electric sound of jim, Monday, 25 March 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

I was always more of a "Girl you know it's true" sort of fella
Wait, that was a different song? Oh you wacky Germans, tricking me thusly!

― Sean Carruthers, Monday, 25 March 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Did you download it yet, Gareth?

― Tadeusz Suchodolski, Tuesday, 26 March 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

2 years pass...

I love "Blame it on the Rain" too. I liked all their hits.

― Leelee, Tuesday, 12 October 2004 20:02 (8 years ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

Does anyone know where I can find a clip of their performance where the record they were lip syncing to kept skipping? I'd really appreciate it.

― MelMel, Monday, 27 December 2004 21:34 (8 years ago) Permalink

"One of them had become a goose farmer"

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 28 December 2004 14:22 (8 years ago) Permalink

"Blame It on the Rain" was a UK Top 40 hit!!!!! It's wasn't as massive as their other ones (Dunno if it even reached the top 10), but it was on the the radiogram a fair bit at the time. I particularly remember the "interesting" key-change mid-verse halfway through a line- that one always throws the really crap karaoke singers off when they try it!!!!!!

― Old Fart!!! (oldfart_sd), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 09:40 (8 years ago) Permalink

I liked Milli Vanilli better once they dropped that Marxist bedsit commune stuff and started concentrating on their infectious crystalline pop production. Wait sorry, wrong band.

Hahaha, that reminds me of this article I read a few days ago: "A man can take only so many shocks in a lifetime. Most of us have only just recovered from the news that Scritti Politti did not sing their songs."

― haitch™ (haitch), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 10:11 (8 years ago) Permalink

This link of yours --- it has to do with cricket. Where's the Green Gartside connection? Was tslking to a friend 2night re: finding old "postpunk" Scritti vinyl. I'm more of a shiny late 80's Scritti fiend myself.

BTW, being a li'l fizzy still after a night of (being drunk and digging) just NON-STOP excellent selections from the Other Music folks over at APT I must say I'm sad to see ILM so weak lately. Kind of hobbling along with few posts and very little meat. John Foxx sounds lovely on headphones whilst still a bit drunk, too, ya know. Happy New YeaR all. Ok. Going toi bed now....

― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 11:06 (8 years ago) Permalink

That was a really bitchy post there. Apologies. Something about the attraction of a blank space + too much alkyhol. Apologies,all. Going to bed now....

― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 11:17 (8 years ago) Permalink

Awful, one of my most hated songs of the late 80's. I can't stand pop songs that absolve the performer of responsibility for their idiotic actions. You can almost hear the revisionist history being created during the song. It's like the song is designed to make the listener think it's ok to blame the horrible things they did to their former lovers on something else. Yeah I take these things too seriously.

― zaxxon25 (zaxxon25), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 16:34 (8 years ago) Permalink

Wow, talk about not understanding a song!

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 16:35 (8 years ago) Permalink

My god are all your people insane? This would have been the worst song of the decade in anyone's hands!

Or... no, wait, I'm thinking of "Girl You Know It's True." I guess "Blame It on the Rain" was a little better.

― My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 17:57 (8 years ago) Permalink

"Blame it on the Rain"

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 18:18 (8 years ago) Permalink

I think I had a similar experience a few years back, when I was listening to "Ice Ice Baby" a wee bit stoned, and suddenly realized that it was actually a great song.

(But ILM already knows that, doesn't it?)

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 30 December 2004 00:55 (8 years ago) Permalink

I had a computer game where in one of the add-ons you had to get Milli Vanilli to reunite.

umm, what computer game is this? and is there a mac version??

― phil-two (phil-two), Thursday, 30 December 2004 03:42 (8 years ago) Permalink

my 1st cousin is the girl in the "dont forget my number" video!

― chaki in charge (chaki), Thursday, 30 December 2004 03:55 (8 years ago) Permalink

Does anyone know where I can find a clip of their performance where the record they were lip syncing to kept skipping? I'd really appreciate it.

Your best bet is to track down the Milli Vanilli episode of VH1's Behind The Music.. The clip is in there.. again. And again. And again. (It was the very first episode of Behind The Music, in fact!) It might be available on DVD courtesy of some VH1 DVD set.

"Blame It On The Rain" may be Dianne Warren's best songwriting... it was one of the few exceptions where she was well known for a song without trying to be the female version of Jim Steinman.

― donut christ (donut), Thursday, 30 December 2004 03:59 (8 years ago) Permalink

I just noticed that ILX ate my post because I used the wrong proportionality sign.

I wrote "Girl You Know It's True" >> "Blame It on the Rain" almost by definition since the widely applicable Diane Warren rule states that "any song" >> "any Diane Warren song".

Also, "Girl You Know It's True" is awesome in its own right.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Thursday, 30 December 2004 06:47 (8 years ago) Permalink

i haven't heard this song since i created this thread. i suspect that i'd still like it. aren't all of the milli vanilli rekkids outta print now?

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 30 December 2004 07:03 (8 years ago) Permalink

"Blame It On The Rain" > "Baby, Don't Forget My Number" >>>>> "Girl, You Know It's True".

I like all three actually.

― donut christ (donut), Thursday, 30 December 2004 07:41 (8 years ago) Permalink

Had it not been for the Grammy award scandal, Milli Vanilli would have been a more forgettable 90s version of Boney M.

― donut christ (donut), Thursday, 30 December 2004 07:43 (8 years ago) Permalink

I seem to rememeber liking "All Or Nothing," their final Top 40 hit, better than BIOTR. To be fair, it's been a while since I've heard any of MV's smashes. I'm almost tempted to hunt them down.

― John Fredland (jfredland), Thursday, 30 December 2004 12:09 (8 years ago) Permalink

I think Milli Vanilli was the cheesiest band of the 80s(actually it's a toss up between MV and Menudo). However, I begrudgingly admit that Blame it on the Rain is a good song.

― Hot Pants, Thursday, 30 December 2004 12:39 (8 years ago) Permalink

when i first heard this song at age...i dunno...10 (?)...i thought it was david bowie.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 30 December 2004 14:02 (8 years ago) Permalink

― Pekka, Friday, 31 December 2004 19:54 (8 years ago) Permalink

You can listen to them here.

They also have the Rob and Fab album (which is pretty bad, imo.)

― Leelee, Friday, 31 December 2004 20:14 (8 years ago) Permalink

Uh, whoever penned this song clearly did so with tongue in cheek, as it's a pisstake of those who would blame others for their own stupidity. I got this even in high school when the song first hit.

Anyway, separate the Rob & Fab scandal from Milli Vanilli's actual recorded output, and you're left with some pretty damn fine 80s dance pop.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Friday, 31 December 2004 20:22 (8 years ago) Permalink

Leelee -- thanks for the link. After further review, I'm going to have to say that my pick to click is "Girl, I'm Gonna Miss You."

― John Fredland (jfredland), Friday, 31 December 2004 23:53 (8 years ago) Permalink

I saw Milli Vanilli in concert at the Universal Amphitheatre back in 1990. I was reviewing it for the paper. I remember they opened it with a sword fight with two ninjas (representing music critics, perhaps?) They were pretty good lip-syncers, as I was sitting in one of the front rows and I could not tell they were miming. I would have left the concert thinking good ole' Rob and Fab had sung if they hadn't pulled these two girls out of the audience and spent forever making out with them while the music was still running. LOL

― Hot Pants, Saturday, 1 January 2005 03:57 (8 years ago) Permalink

Ninjas? That is rad.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Saturday, 1 January 2005 07:56 (8 years ago) Permalink

Ninjas are cool.

― John Fredland (jfredland), Saturday, 1 January 2005 11:16 (8 years ago) Permalink

All five of their singles were outstanding; lip-synching aside those producers deserved that Grammy.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Sunday, 2 January 2005 14:58 (8 years ago) Permalink

The trippy, dubbed-out album version of "Baby Don't Forget My Number" is ESSENTIAL LISTENING.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Sunday, 2 January 2005 14:59 (8 years ago) Permalink

I really wish Frank Farian had Lou Pearlman's money. That seems deserving.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 2 January 2005 15:01 (8 years ago) Permalink

I like all five hits but "Baby, Don't Forget My Number" and "Blame it On the Rain" are my favorites.

― Leelee, Monday, 3 January 2005 08:00 (8 years ago) Permalink

"Baby Don't Forget My Number" is amazing.

Funky Drummer -- how can you go wrong??

BUT -- and i've mentioned this on ilm before -- it rips off the TROGGS!! Seriously. Listen to "With A Girl Like you" by the TRoggs, then listen to "Baby, Don't forget My Number". It's incredible.

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Monday, 3 January 2005 08:10 (8 years ago) Permalink

ah shit, not 'funky drummer'. what's wrong w/ me? ' ashley's roachclip' , of course...

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Monday, 3 January 2005 08:12 (8 years ago) Permalink

BUT -- and i've mentioned this on ilm before -- it rips off the TROGGS!! Seriously. Listen to "With A Girl Like you" by the TRoggs, then listen to "Baby, Don't forget My Number". It's incredible.
I AGREE IF YOU MEAN THE BABABAAABABABABAA BIT ?

― SAME AGAIN, Monday, 3 January 2005 12:58 (8 years ago) Permalink

9 months pass...

And "All or Nothing" rips off Blood Sweat & Tears "Spinning Wheel." In fact, I think they were sued because of it.

― Jazmine, Sunday, 16 October 2005 14:58 (7 years ago) Permalink

6 years pass...

The trippy, dubbed-out album version of "Baby Don't Forget My Number" is ESSENTIAL LISTENING.

FYI

― Lil Swayne of Pie (DJP), Monday, 13 August 2012 20:33 (9 months ago) Permalink

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