Best Fake Bands in Movies

They never existed, and several of them still out-toured your favorite band.

Entries
10
Category
Film
Updated
  1. A pair of cat-ear headbands on a stage microphone, surrounded by a wall of unlabeled billboards.

    10. Josie and the Pussycats

    Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan · 2001

    A satire of pop marketing that flopped, then became a cult favorite. Letters to Cleo's Kay Hanley sang lead, the soundtrack went gold, and the film crammed in brand logos nobody paid for. A movie about selling out that nobody bought. It was right anyway.

  2. A phone booth crackling with energy in a suburban garage, an unplugged electric guitar leaning on it.

    09. Wyld Stallyns (Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure)

    Stephen Herek · 1989

    Two San Dimas teens who can barely play and still need Eddie Van Halen on guitar, whose music becomes the foundation of a utopian society by the 27th century. It took two sequels, the last in 2020, to finish writing the song. Ambitious timeline, but they delivered.

  3. A school classroom with desks pushed aside, a drum kit and guitars set up in front of a chalkboard covered in diagrams.

    08. School of Rock

    Richard Linklater · 2003

    A fake substitute teacher turns a prep-school class into a band. Linklater scouted real teen musicians, and Jack Black filmed a video begging Led Zeppelin for Immigrant Song, which worked. Grossed $131 million and became a Broadway musical. Tuition well spent.

  4. A snowy Toronto basement with a drum kit and bass amp, a glowing extra-life coin floating above.

    07. Sex Bob-Omb (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World)

    Edgar Wright · 2010

    A Toronto garage trio whose songs were written by Beck, played by actors who learned their instruments for the film. Every battle of the bands doubles as a video-game boss fight. The drummer is the only adult in the room and she knows it.

  5. A tour bus parked at a roadside motel at night, a stack of band T-shirts and a reporter's notebook on the step.

    06. Stillwater (Almost Famous)

    Cameron Crowe · 2000

    A mid-level 1970s rock band built from Crowe's memories of touring as a teen Rolling Stone writer, the Allman Brothers chief among them. Nancy Wilson and Peter Frampton wrote the songs and Pearl Jam's Mike McCready played lead. Their T-shirt is the plot.

  6. A sparkly 1960s drum kit and a single 45 record spinning on a small turntable.

    05. The Wonders (That Thing You Do!)

    Tom Hanks · 1996

    First called the Oneders, which nobody can pronounce. Adam Schlesinger wrote the title song, which reached No. 41 in reality and got an Oscar nomination. Every rise-and-fall of a one-hit wonder, compressed into one summer and one very fast drummer.

  7. An old-fashioned radio station microphone in a tiny wooden recording shack, three straw hats on a bench.

    04. The Soggy Bottom Boys (O Brother, Where Art Thou?)

    Joel and Ethan Coen · 2000

    Three escaped convicts cut a record for a dollar a head and accidentally become the hottest act in Mississippi. Dan Tyminski sang George Clooney's part, and the soundtrack won the Grammy for Album of the Year. Bluegrass revival caused by a fugitive.

  8. A cramped Dublin rehearsal room above a snooker hall, a battered saxophone and a mic stand under a bare bulb.

    03. The Commitments

    Alan Parker · 1991

    A Dublin soul band cast from musicians, including Glen Hansard and members of the Corrs, with the vocal coach's son as the lead singer. The soundtrack went triple platinum and hit No. 8 in the US. The band in the film breaks up before it gets anywhere. The actors did fine.

  9. Two black fedoras and two pairs of black sunglasses on a harmonica case beside a microphone.

    02. The Blues Brothers

    John Landis · 1980

    Started as an SNL bit, backed by real session heavyweights, and released Briefcase Full of Blues in 1978, before the movie existed. The film's soundtrack went platinum and Gimme Some Lovin' hit No. 18. A joke band with more hits than most serious ones.

  10. A guitar amplifier with a control knob whose markings go one notch past ten, a tiny stone monument prop beside it.

    01. Spinal Tap (This Is Spinal Tap)

    Rob Reiner · 1984

    Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer played their own instruments, then toured as the band for real. Their amp that goes to eleven gave English a phrase. A sequel arrived 41 years later. The drummers, consistently, did not survive the process.

Honorable mentions

  • A vintage car parked on a dark bridge, a saxophone case and a stack of master tapes on the back seat.

    Eddie and the Cruisers

    Martin Davidson · 1983

    Pulled from theaters after three weeks, then found an audience on HBO. The soundtrack, by John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, went quadruple platinum and On the Dark Side hit No. 7. The fictional band outsold the film that invented it.

Dishonorable mentions

  • An arena stage with a giant dragon-shaped lighting rig, a studded leather jacket and a dented microphone on the floor.

    Steel Dragon (Rock Star)

    Stephen Herek · 2001

    A fake metal band built from real ones: Zakk Wylde, Jason Bonham and Jeff Pilson, with Mark Wahlberg dubbed by Steelheart's singer. Loosely inspired by Judas Priest's Ripper Owens, whose bandmates said it had nothing to do with them. Grossed $19 million. Turn it down.

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