“We’ve seen the car wrecks of the band losing the sync with the tape and all that, and they’re not even singing anymore.”

Dee Snider made a case against overly relying on backing tracks, saying that some veteran bands are “not even playing anymore” and that “it’s just lip-syncing.”In a time and age when fans will almost inevitably come across at least some pre-recorded, additional elements when watching bands perform live, the consensus seems to be that *some* backing tracks are tolerable, especially those non-essential elements that rely on an instrument (or instruments) with no dedicated band member to play on stage. However, even that opinion got upended more than a year back, when Falling in Reverse had to cancel a show due to missing laptops, instigating a new round of heated discussion on the role of backing tracks in live music.Speaking to Classic Album Review in a new interview, rock ‘n’ roll paragon Dee Snider adopted a somewhat moderate position, arguing that embellishing backing tracks have always been around, but warned against overly relying on them (transcription via Blabbermouth):

“[Falling in Reverse frontman] Ronnie Radke and [ex-Skid Row vocalist] Sebastian Bach had a dust-up a few months ago over the fact that Falling in Reverse uses tracks, like so many bands are using tracks now. And the old guys are screaming, ‘That’s not rock and roll,’ and Ronnie Radke was making fun of Sebastian’s age. ‘Listen, Grandpa…’ But the fact of the matter is something is lost when it isn’t the guys — or girls — on that stage making all that noise.”

“When it’s used to embellish, especially with newer music, the stuff is so much more layered and thicker — I mean, we can go back to Queen; when I saw Queen and they got to ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and they got to the middle, just throw on the tape because there’s no way we’re gonna do that live. I was a huge Queen fan. So, that was an embellishment.”

However, Dee argues that some bands took it to such an extreme that some parts allegedly aren’t even being performed live anymore:

“But when it’s used to replace, because the person can’t do it anymore. And we’re seeing more and more of that — singers who can’t sing their own songs. Listen, you don’t gotta stay on the stage. Step aside. Walk away. There’s plenty of other bands that would love to take the spot.”

This seems to be a particular problem with some of his older colleagues, Dee claims, adding:

“These bands have been doing it for years. But then there’s this — and I don’t wanna point fingers at bands. I’m trying to be a more mature elder statesman of rock and not point fingers anymore… Just in general, we know the names. We’ve seen the videos on YouTube. We’ve seen the car wrecks of the band losing the sync with the tape and all that, and they’re not even singing anymore, they’re not even playing anymore. It’s just lip-syncing.”