One of the most fun rock nerd books in recent years, The Rocklopedia Fakebandica, is the ultimate guide to fake bands. Fake bands? That is to say, singers and bands that only exist in movies or television - frequently cartoons. A font of a million “hey… I remember that…” musical moments, the book and its corresponding website will send you running to YouTube - which is exactly what we did. Some of these bands are just as valid in the scheme of this year’s 885 countdown as many real bands with real events. Of course, the flip side of this list is the real bands that made cartoons. We’ve included some of those as well.

Related Links:
Daily Dose for August 31, 2007
Guest Blogger: Made for TV-Tunes

Fake Bands (Cartoon)

Jet Screamer - “Eep Opp Ork Ah Ah” (from “The Jetsons”)

The Archies - “Sugar Sugar”

Josie & the Pussycats in Outer Space - theme song
When your cartoon goes into the rating sh*tter, why not send the characters to outer space?

Fat Albert & The Cosby Kids
With their instruments made out of trash!

MC Skat Kat (with, um, Paula Abdul) - “Opposites Attract”

MC Pee Pants from “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” - “I Want Candy”

Meg Griffin, post-makeover on “Family Guy”

Fake Bands (Live Action)

Conrad Birdie from Bye Bye Birdie - “I’ve Got a Lot of Livin’ to Do”

From Gilligan’s Island - The Honeybees

Also from Gilligan’s Island - The Mosquitoes

The Monkees -theme song

The Carrie Nations (from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls) - “Look On Up From the Bottom”

“The Partridge Family” Opening Credits

The Brady Six - “Time to Change”

Lancelot Link & The Evolution Revolution (from “Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp”)

The Bugaloos - theme song
A Sid & Marty Krofft creation

Glitter Rock from “Electra Woman and Dyna Girl”
Another Sid & Marty Krofft creation

The Banana Splits - theme song
The Kroffts really worked the fake band genre

Phantom of the Paradise trailer

Dr. Teeth & The Electric Mayhem - “Can You Picture That?” (from The Muppet Movie)

Leather Tuscadero aka Suzi Quatro (”Happy Days”)

Lenny & the Squigtones (”Laverne & Shirley”)

Gilda Radner as Candy Slice, a parody of Patti Smith (”SNL”)

The Blues Brothers - trailer

More about SNL musical sketches

The Rutles - “Hold My Hand”

Spinal Tap - “Big Bottom”

The Sleaze Sisters from Times Square - trailer

The Fabulous Stains (aka Diane Lane and Laura Dern) from Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains - “Waste of Time”

Eddie and the Cruisers - “On the Dark Side”
Rebel. Rocker. Lover. Idol. Vanished.
In 1964, Eddie Wilson had it all. He had genius. He had vision. He had the hottest rock n’ roll band in the country. Then, suddenly one night, his car went off a dark New Jersey bridge. His body was never found. But his dream was never lost. And twenty years later, the mystery of Eddie Wilson begins to unravel.

Chunky A (Arsenio Hall’s fake rapper)

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure - “Wyld Stallyns”

The Heights - “How Do You Talk to an Angel?”

The Adventures of Pete & Pete
The fake band in question is actually Little Pete’s band “The Blowholes” (with his math teacher played by Syd Straw). However, we tried our damndest to find a clip of them in action. Sadly, a search under “Blowholes” mostly yielded clips that might not have been work safe. Anyway, here is the catchy theme song “Hey Sandy” by Polaris (aka Miracle Legion).

The film Bob Roberts (Tim Robbins as a conservative folksinger politician)

Citizen Dick (from Singles - Matt Dillion with Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament)

Phoebe Buffay - “Smelly Cat” (from “Friends”)

Velvet Goldmine Trailer

Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights)

Hedwig & the Angry Inch - “Wig in a Box”

Dr. Funke’s 100% Natural Good Time Family Band Solution from “Arrested Development”

“Franklin” from “Arrested Development”

Real Artists with Their Own Cartoons

The Beatles in Yellow Submarine

Davy Jones on “Scooby Doo”

Rick Springfield in “Mission Magic”

Jackson 5 cartoon

The Osmonds cartoon

“Hammer Man” (the MC Hammer cartoon)

New Kids on the Block cartoon