While it’s not exactly a secret that some musicians use pre-recorded backing tracks, Chris Jericho has gone ahead and listed Guns N’ Roses, Queen and Def Leppard as artists who commonly use them in live concerts.
“We use backing tracks for some songs, and everybody does. Unless you’re Guns N’ Roses… Let me rephrase that… If you’re in Slash’s band… Guns N’ Roses has backing tracks. They have a keyboard player. It’s just the way of the world right now,” Jericho said during a conversation with Meltdown of Detroit’s WRIF radio station.
He added: “It doesn’t mean we’re not singing and not playing. If you’re listening to a record, you go to a Def Leppard gig and you hear ‘Pour Some Sugar On Me’ that was recorded with 25 tracks of guitars, you can’t just go with two guitars on stage and in your right mind think there wasn’t something building up the background there.”
Jericho stressed that using pre-recorded backing tracks is extremely common for musicians, and said that even Queen used them for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ in the 70’s.
“It’s just kind of the way that bands are. It doesn’t make you any less of a band. ‘Cause you know what? Queen used tracks in the ’70s. If you don’t believe me, watch it when they play ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ live.”
Pre-recorded backing tracks are recorded parts of music or vocals that are played in the background of a live performance to enhance the band or musician’s sound.
Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian has previously slammed bands that use backing tracks for live shows.
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“I don’t wanna sound like an old man, but, I mean, come on. Look, I get it — if it’s some kind of giant pop act and giant production, or something like that, or if it’s Pink Floyd doing ‘The Wall’ and there’s recorded stuff — voiceovers, whatever, things like that… But I hate going to a show and I just instantly know all the backing vocals are [pre-recorded],” he said during an appearance on Live From Nerdville With Joe Bonamassa,
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