All right, so I was sitting around watching a bad made in Canada movie called going the distance, and about halfway through Joanne Kelly sings a cover of Better be good to me, and it got me thinking about performances in movies by real/fake bands. I mean, this is pretty wide open to interpretation, this could be the actors pretend playing their instruments while a real bands music played on the background, or it could be a for real group of actors who can also play. There are some repeat performers in this list as Michael Mckeon keeps showing up. But the one thing that this all has in common is that sometimes you get surprising gems.
1) Spinal Tap
I will be the first to admit that this is not only one of my favorite movies, but favorite bands. Made up of David St. Hubbins, Tufnel, and Derek Smalls and a rotating lineup of exploding drummers they are expertly played by Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer. The brilliance of this whole comedy is that while the movie portrayed a band that was struggling, the actual sound track and albums by Spinal Tap are exceptionally strong.
2) Steel Dragon
The movie itself Rock Star is based fairly loosely on the Judas Priest movie as the band throws out its lead singer and replaces him with a lead singer of a tribute band. The band itself is portrayed by Zakk Wylde, Jeff Pilson and Jason Bonham with Dominic West portraying the acting chops. Mark Wahlbergs voice was provided by a couple of different singers. But the sound track was just solid.
3) The BarBusters
Its a shame that more people didn't see this movie. Its a well acted film with Joan Jett showing some real acting chops in it. The movie itself is about a Cleveland Bar Band lead by a brother and sister team portrayed by Joan Jett and Michael J Fox. the backing band includes. You guessed it Michael McKean. The overall soundtrack to this movie is outstanding
4) Josie and the Pussycats
This was the most fake band of the fake bands. None of the actors could play a lick. But it was the band in the back that made this work as they created a solid soundtrack with a bit of crunch. The vocals were provided by Kay Hanley from Letters from Cleo
5) School of Rock.
Sue me but I loved the final performance and some members of this fictional band went on to solid musical careers Joey Gados Jr the lead guitarist and Rebecca Brown the bassist.
6) Eddie and the Cruisers
A fake band backed up by a seriously great band in John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band. Again this was a solid blue collar sounding soundtrack, really sold by Michael Pare trying to be a Jim Morrison type persona
7) Soggy Bottom Boys
A hilarious retelling of of the Odyssey featuring three convicts on the run. At one point in the movie they create a band called the Soggy Bottom Boys and the soundtrack was exceptional using various Bluegrass talents to provide the music George Clooney outright sold the performances.
8) Doctor Teeth and the Electric Mayham
I have to include this in any fictitious movie band category. Mainly because its the muppets, and that band has so many great musical moments.
9) Stillwater - Almost Famous
Imitating a lot of the music that I grew up with in the 70's, the soundtrack for Almost famous was pretty outstanding and you could buy that StillWater lead by Jason Lee was the real thing. Most of the music was written by Nancy William of Heart with Peter Frampton pitching in.
10) The Blues Brothers.
This list goes nowhere without the Blue's Brothers and I saved the best for last. While the John Goodman Dan Aykroyd combination in the sequel was decent. Nothing can ever top the frantic performance of John Belushi in combination with Dan Aykroyd. This band has so many iconic songs to its name from covers to originals.
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I still have some Steel Dragon on my main playlist to this day. Zakk Wylde had some sweet riffs on that soundtrack. 'We All Die Young' would probably be a hit if it came from a "real" band
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Infant Sorrow - I know a lot of ppl don’t like Russel Brand, but the songs were well done and the lyrics are hilarious. I believe it also spawned a legit album.
Zit Remedy - Hey, they had a made for TV movie so this counts.
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I still have some Steel Dragon on my main playlist to this day. Zakk Wylde had some sweet riffs on that soundtrack. 'We All Die Young' would probably be a hit if it came from a "real" band
Blood Pollution and we all die young were great songs. as were standup and wasted generation.
The last song in the movie, colorful which was supposed to signify his move to musical independence and his willingless to do his own thing was probably the best song in the movie though.
Still an under rated movie.
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Infant Sorrow - I know a lot of ppl don’t like Russel Brand, but the songs were well done and the lyrics are hilarious. I believe it also spawned a legit album.
Zit Remedy - Hey, they had a made for TV movie so this counts.
Was going to add infant sorrow. Thought brand was awesome.
Both of these bands have a Canadian connection. Black Sheep was written by Emily Haines of Metric and Hard Core Logo was fronted by Hugh Dillon of the Headstones.
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Hello and welcome to The Rocklopedia Fakebandica! It's a wiki, because there's just too dang many fictional bands out there for one person to keep up with.
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Thanks to everyone who ever contributed, because we have officially hit FIVE THOUSAND articles! In fact, we currently have: 5,886
I’m a member of my own fake band:
Quote:
The Handsome Gadabouts were the inevitable result of the collision between two teenage music nerds, raised on the classic rock radio of the 1970s and the promise of the 1980s challenge to the establishment. Fans of every genre of music (except new country and folk), the Gadabouts straddled the line between homage and parody, unafraid to play any style. They answered Frank Zappa’s question, “Does Humor Belong In Music?”, with an emphatic yes.
Just out of high school, the duo met in suburban Calgary in the mid-1980s, as line-cooks in a local Western Theme Park. Chris O’Reilly was already an established guitar player, able to play every progressive hard rock song heard on local AOR stations. Peter Robinson dabbled in piano, drums and guitars, and was drawn to the new college radio phenonemon. The pair cemented the relationship in the kitchen, reciting the macho banter of Freddie Mercury, or by singing Steely Dan songs in the hot-tub, while under the influence of mushrooms and Kokanee Beer.
Robinson left Calgary to attend university, usually returning to Calgary and the hot-tub every summer. O’Reilly starred in a number of local bands, including The Snakeskin Cowboys, White Dogs, Vicious Fish, Tongue, Groove, and The Hot Tub Bandits. Robinson made his professional debut as the bass player for Trespass To Chattels at a Law School talent show at UBC. A lack of talent and profound stage-fright, kept him from performing publicly for many years.
Returning to Calgary permanently in 1998, Robinson reunited with O’Reilly, when they first began to collaborate on song-writing. At first, it seemed the duo would be a recording entity only, but they eventually performed their first live show at Lower Kananaskis Lake before an audience of three squirrels and a whiskey-jack.
Currently, The Gadabouts are working on a debut EP, being released on their own record label – The Handsome Gababouts, Get In Your Pants, featuring the singles "Ogopogo (Can I Touch Your Body?"), "Mr. Bulsara" (Freddie Mercury tribute), "10,000 Hours" and "Ape Has Killed Ape" (B-side "No Caeser, No!").
The first full length album Cowtown, is a projected concept album/rock-opera about growing up in Calgary, featuring, "We’re Having A Party Ed Whelan (And You’re Not Invited)", "Freaks vs. Jocks", and the bar-trilogy, "Punch-Up At Live Wire", "Sham At the Shamrock", and "Eulogy For The Cecil Hotel".
Infant Sorrow - I know a lot of ppl don’t like Russel Brand, but the songs were well done and the lyrics are hilarious. I believe it also spawned a legit album.
Zit Remedy - Hey, they had a made for TV movie so this counts.
Came to post Style Boyz but see I was beaten to the punch! So I will just post Incredible Thoughts/Donkey Roll by The Style Boyz feat. Michael Bolton, Usher and Tyrus (Justin Timberlake) anyways. Akiva Schaefer doing the Donkey Roll kills me every time.
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The disrespect to the Oneders is just too much for me to bear. Their B-side took one take! One! Take!
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New short list -best fake real movie bands
