Behind the Music is an Americandocumentary television series that initially aired onVH1 from 1997 to 2014. Each episode profiles and interviews a popular musical artist or group, examining career beginnings, roads to success and any resultant hardships.
Each show focuses on a musician or musical group, documenting both the successes of the musicians and the problems they faced during their careers. Except for the first two episodes (which focused onMilli Vanilli andM.C. Hammer), all programs are narrated byJim Forbes. Forbes was later used to narrate the Milli Vanilli episode when it was modified to include the death ofRob Pilatus. The British airings of the episodes focusing onThin Lizzy,Aerosmith andGenesis were narrated byMary Anne Hobbs while Forbes narrated the American airings.
VH1's criterion for choosing the musicians who appear on the show is, in many cases, to profile those who are no longer in themusic industry, or were moderately significant in rock history (although many are in theRock and Roll Hall of Fame such asNeil Diamond,The Police,Metallica,AC/DC,Aerosmith among others). This is different to VH1's other biography show,VH1's Legends, which profiles musicians who were very significant to the industry. Some artists were profiled onBehind the Music andLegends, includingTina Turner,Elton John,Keith Moon, andJohn Lennon (Behind the Music exclusively focused on the months beforehis 1980 murder).
While being interviewed byRolling Stone in October 2000, co-creator and executive producer Gay Rosenthal explained "Jeff Gaspin, who's the executive vice president of VH1, and I were at lunch, and we said, 'Whatever happened to Milli Vanilli?' I said, 'I don't know, but why don't you let me take the ball and run with it, and let me see what I can find out?' Milli Vanilli was hard. Nobody knew where they were. I had to be a private eye. I got a list of addresses where Fabrice had lived and sent letters to every address. Two weeks later, I got a call from Fabrice's manager. And then I spent a good two months with them – having dinner, having them at my house – before they agreed to do it. They didn't know if they wanted to relive the story, but I said, 'Listen, no one has heard your story from you. This will be a great opportunity to set the record straight.'"[1] "When we saw it in the edit room, we thought we had something special. The stories were working, and the series was green-lit." Rosenthal later stated in an August 1999 interview withThe Philadelphia Inquirer.[2]
Another episode ofBehind the Music onKISS was re-christenedKISS: Beyond the Makeup in July 2001 (which was two hours in length). This featuredMatt Pinfield, formerly ofMTV's120 Minutes, as narrator instead of Jim Forbes.
A short-lived half-hour spin-off series titledBTM2 (short forBehind the Music 2), chronicled the careers of newer upcoming artists.
The spin-offBehind the Music Remastered that aired onVH1 Classic updates the original version of theBehind the Music episodes with new interviews, footage, and the later half of the artist's career. The series also included two original episodes onMotörhead andDeep Purple.
In September 2020, a spin-off known asMTV's Behind the Music: The Top 40 was announced forParamount+, which was to feature a countdown of the 40 "biggest artists of all-time".[3] In March 2021, it was revealed via a promo aired during the Grammy Awards that the spin-off would instead be positioned as a full reboot ofBehind the Music, seven years after the original series' last episode aired on July 16, 2014.[4] In May 2021, it was announced that the revival would premiere on July 29, 2021, with two episodes. Similar toBehind the Music Remastered, it also includes updated versions of episodes from the original series.[5]
Other than musicians, some episodes were documentaries on musical events, films, and non-musicians who were influential on the music world. The following appeared in episodes of the series:
The following is a list of artists who have appeared in VH1 TV programs similar in format toBehind the Music but are not officially part of the series:
Chris Gaines (titledBehind the Life of Chris Gaines as it was a fictional artist played by Garth Brooks)[7]
Kiss (renamedKISS: Beyond the Makeup, 90 minutes in length)[8]
Pink Floyd (titledPink Floyd: Behind the Wall, 50-minute documentary made in 2000 onThe Wall album)[9]
Behind the Music was nominated for fivePrimetime Emmy Awards including the Outstanding Non-Fiction Series category for four constitutive years (2000-2003).
In 1999, the series won anALMA Award for Outstanding Made-for-Television Documentary for the episode featuring Selena and in 2001,Behind the Music won a TV Guide Award for Music Series of the Year.
Behind the Music episodes received multiple nominations including aGLAAD Media Award nomination for Outstanding Film (Documentary) in 1998 for the episode featuring Boy George as well as multipleImage Awards for episodes featuring Tina Turner and Bob Marley.[10]
In the 2001 movieJosie and the Pussycats, it is explained thatBehind the Music was created as a result of how bands are "dealt with" if they discover the fact they are involved in the government's subliminal message program.
TheFamily Guy episode "Herpe the Love Sore" begins with Peter and Lois watching an episode ofBehind the Music about the Electric Mayhem.
In the made-for-television filmA Diva's Christmas Carol starringVanessa L. Williams, the character of Ebony * Scrooge watches her own episode near the end. This episode, filling the role as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, chronicles the life and tragic death in an ominous manner to force Ebony to change her ways.
In theDuck Dodgers episode "In Space, No One Can Hear You Rock", Dodgers plays a recorded episode of "Behind The Metal" aboutDave Mustaine which is a parody of the Megadeth episode of "Behind the Music".
In theFamily Guy episode "The Thin White Line", Brian explains to his psychiatrist: "You wanna know how pathetic my life is?" I've seen that 'Behind the Music' with Leif Garrett eighteen times." A subsequent cutaway gag is shown with a briefly shown animated recreation of the episode, and then cuts to Brian on the couch lip-synching to the dialogue.
In theFriends episode "The One with the Joke", Chandler tells Joey: "Dude, you have got to turn onBehind The Music. The band Heart is having a really tough time, and I think they may break up."
An episode ofThe Man Show showed a parody ofBehind the Music with the bandKorn, called "Beneath the Music". It showed the two hosts as ex-members of the band but later being kicked out because of their antics.
A late episode ofMystery Science Theater 3000 features a skit parodyingBehind the Music about an unnamed band featured in that episode's movie,Track of the Moon Beast; the writers christened them "The Band That Played 'California Lady'", after the apparent title of the song they performed in the film.
An episode ofThe Simpsons entitled "Behind the Laughter" was done in the style of "Behind the Music". It even used the show's theme music and narrator.
The sixteenth episode of the fourth season ofThe Jamie Foxx Show had a spoof of the show, called "Behind the Jingle".
The show is also the base for the running parodyBehind the Music that Sucks, which has been produced by Internet humor siteHeavy.com since 1998.
The flash animation collaboration based on theSuper Mario franchise,Bowser's Kingdom onNewgrounds.com parodiedBehind the Music in the tenth episode "Bowser's Kingdom: Behind the Kingdom".
In order to promote his full-length film, internet comedianStuart Ashen released a parody calledBehind the Tat.
Advertising
AChex Mix campaign featuring The Backstreet Boys entitled "Sound Checks- The Story of Snackstreet" borrows heavily from the Behind the Music format.
