Some of the world’s most fascinating fictional stories have been about musicians. In the 1970s, every cartoon character seemed to be in a band at the end credits, whether the show was about music or not.  We’ve seen skewed versions of real life rockers from the likes of Todd Haynes in his films Velvet Goldmine and I’m Not There, and let’s not forget the countless “creatively altered” biopics floating around out there. No matter how you slice it, every medium has featured hundreds upon hundreds of takes on figures of the world’s favorite pastime: rock and roll. We’ve selected our ten favorite fictional bands, although many of them are rooted more firmly in reality than you would think (even the ones with aliens in them). Some of them have even evolved into somewhat “real” musical acts. As always, feel free to discuss, ponder and, of course, disagree.

10. The Commitments - The Commitments

First appearance - The Commitments (1987 novel, 1991 film)

The perfect place to start for why everyone (not just Americans) loves rock and roll. Originally an acclaimed 1987 novel about a group of disaffected Dubliners who form a soul band, The Commitments was eventually adapted into a 1991 film that launched the careers of Irish thespian stalwarts Colm Meaney, Robert Arkins and many, many more. More importantly, it fleshed out the music itself, which was sparsely described in the book - and really, how do you describe music on paper (said the guy who writes for a music blog)? Although the tunes are all covers, they’re belted out with working class grit, sweaty passion and unwavering, uh … commitment. The band’s version of “Mustang Sally” is one of the best to date, and if that’s not enough of a testament to the authentic musical backbone of the film, actors Andrew Strong and Andrea Corr went on to helm extremely successful careers as musicians themselves.

9. The Beets

First appearance - Doug (1991)

The name was a take on The Beatles, they sounded like a futuristic Ramones and the band’s affectionately jaded attitudes were subtle jabs at just about every indie rocker in the industry. Doug was always a smarter than average cartoon and The Beets were (nearly) living proof. You could see why they were every kid in Bluffington’s favorite band. With song titles like “I Need Mo’ Allowance” and of course “Killer Tofu”, the band catered to adolescent frustrations and did it with enough charming sarcasm and quirky garage band catch to get the audience on board too, adults included.

8. The Rutles

First appearance - Rutland Weekend Television (1975)

This is another reference to The Beatles, which was not so subtle or affectionate this time. Formed by Eric Idle (a professed fan of the Fab Four) for his sketch show, The Rutles verged on hilarious cruelty as they lampooned just about every stage of The Beatles’ career with various television appearances and a slew of albums and films. George Harrison served as a producer and had numerous cameos, but some of the other Liverpool lads were less than thrilled. They may have warmed up eventually, but Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr allegedly had issues with the material. Ringo especially disliked the skewering of The Beatles’ more tragic stages, which hit a little too close to home. Still, with the razor sharp awkwardness of the self-titled mockumentary and “so-bad-they’re-good” song spoofs like “I Am The Waitress”, it’s difficult not to laugh - even if the original band didn’t.

7. The Max Rebo Band

First appearance - Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi (1983)

The cantina band in Episode IV was more iconic and the Ewok song was harder to get out of your head, but nothing felt more genuine and native to a galaxy far, far away than The Max Rebo Band. Consisting of an obese naked mole rat looking thing named Droopy McCool on the chidinkalu flute, a chicken legged, long-lipped, speckled singer called Sy Snootles and the blue elephant-esque frontman on red ball organ, the band was truly a sign of the times; both ours and Lucas’. Sure, the Star Wars creator stole Snootles’ puffy lips from Mick Jagger and the band’s signature song “Lapti Nek” was a throwback to disco, but he went as far to craft a translatable language for the band to sing in, allowing them to be bizarre and true to his world. He mucked it all up later with the 1997 special edition of the film by changing the songs and adding in a horde of glossy, poorly computerized back up members, but the original performance is enough to send you diving headfirst into the band’s fictional history to discover actual species and biographies, which you can do at the Star Wars wiki. Not that I go on there or anything …

6. Dethklok

First appearance - Metalocalypse (2006)

Bigger than the Gorillaz and formed solely for a cartoon program on Adult Swim, the headbangers from Metalocalypse are the brainchild of show creator Brendon Small. Small composes and plays most of the music on the show, which centers around a metal band so big, it’s the seventh largest economy on Earth. As ridiculous (and hilarious) as the premise is, the music itself isn’t far off from real life death metal. While song titles like “Murmaider” and band members named William Murderface may sound absurd, look no further than actual over the top thrash acts like Meshuggah and Mastodon for validation of Metalocalypse’s satire. Life imitated art even further when Small took real life musicians on tour in 2007 under the Dethklok moniker to open for a band with an even more insane name, …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of The Dead.

5. The Riverbottom Nightmare Band

First appearance - Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas (1971 children’s book, 1977 HBO film)

Depicted as a group of spaced out hippies akin to the Polyphonic Spree in Russell and Lillian Hoban’s 1971 children’s book, The Riverbottom Nightmare Band didn’t come into it’s own until receiving the manic Jim Henson treatment in his 1977 TV adaptation. Transformed into a 1970s hard rock act, the Nightmare was a snarling antagonist to Emmet Otter’s earnest jug-band, whipping the pants off them (and Emmet’s poor mother) in the film’s climatic talent show. Emmet and his friends learned the lessons of unconditional kindness and brotherhood, but The Riverbottom Nightmare Band got to speed off on its snowmobiles to wreak further rock and roll, puppet terror on the town. Led by the horrifying, gravel voiced stoat Chuck, the band members are mostly rebel versions of woodland creatures, but they would still give Alice Cooper a run for his money.

4. Stillwater

First appearance - Almost Famous (2000)

Songs like “Barracuda” remind us that Nancy Wilson could crank out some kick ass, crunchy tunes in her heyday. Songs like “Feverdog” make us wonder if she never really lived up to her full potential when she was with Heart.  Co-written with Peter Frampton and hubby Cameron Crowe for his 2000 masterpiece Almost Famous, the songs of Stillwater are just as good (if not better) than anything in Heart’s (and probably Frampton’s) catalogue. The band’s performances don’t hurt either. John Fedevich was already a drummer, bassist Mark Kozelek was the frontman for Sun Kil Moon, and Billy Crudup and Jason Lee took guitar and singing lessons in preparation for the roles. Although studio musicians would later tweak the sound (and in Lee’s case, overdub his voice), the onscreen concerts look more than authentic, and the songs themselves are enough to make you wish there was an actual album by these guys.

3. Hedwig & The Angry Inch

First appearance - Hedwig & The Angry Inch (1998 musical, 2001 film)

Who knew so much glam rock beauty could come from a molested army brat who gets his genitals hacked away to nothing but a bloody mound, or “angry inch” that becomes the namesake of his band? The basis of John Cameron Mitchell (who also plays the title character) and Stephen Trask’s 1998 musical (and 2001 film) sounds like good campy fun a la Rocky Horror Picture Show, but it transcends its genre trappings, chronicling the perversely screwed up life of rock fiction’s most eccentric and charismatic frontman/woman. While we get straight up glitter sleaze with songs like “Tear Me Down”, we also get moments of romantic vulnerability with the haunting “Wicked Little Town”, and even a dose of profound storytelling with “The Origin Of Love”. Hedwig & The Angry Inch remain one of the most three dimensional fictional rock bands ever created when they could have so easily devolved into schlock.

2. Spinal Tap

First appearance - This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

The lines between rock and roll fact and fiction have never been so blurred as with Spinal Tap. They were the subject of Rob Reiner’s now classic feature length 1984 mockumentary, but it took most audiences, including rock musicians, far too long to catch on to the joke. Understandable, since in many ways, Spinal Tap was an actual band. They played the instruments in the film, wrote the songs that wallowed “in a sea of retarded sexuality”, went on to tour, recorded a handful of albums and even guest starred on The Simpsons. Let’s face it, the awfully punny lyrics to “Sex Farm” were not far off from your standard Kiss song. The cheesy prog rock stage antics of the Druids song were not much different than anything performed by Rush. Christopher Guest and co. have always been aces at creating characters that are as pathetically untalented as they are delusional, but they also keep it believable. Numerous real life rockers were extremely saddened by the film, including Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, who claims he couldn’t even get through the whole thing. As funny as lyrics like “the thicker the waistband, the deeper the quicksand are”, it’s also heartbreaking to see the friendships within the band crumble as the members slowly realize their own ineptitude accompanied by a decrease in venue sizes. And let’s not forget about all those dead drummers …

1. Dr. Teeth & The Electric Mayhem

First appearance - The Muppet Show: Sex And Violence (1975)

Believe it or not, the band on this list with the most longevity is made up of a bunch of puppets. Whereas The Riverbottom Nightmare Band had five minutes of thundering glory, Dr. Teeth & The Electric Mayhem has been playing for 30 plus years, debuting on The Muppet Show and appearing in almost every Muppet film since then. The band had a diverse career, performing jazzy reinterpretations of slower songs like “New York State Of Mind”, covering “Crocodile Rock” with actual crocodiles and grimy original tunes in The Muppet Movie (nothing beats “Can You Picture That?”). The band also collaborated with an endless number of musicians, from Elton John to Pearl Bailey to John Denver to Alice Cooper. Zany keyboardist and bandleader Dr. Teeth was based on New Orleans legend Dr. John, bassist/vocalist Floyd Pepper’s namesake and style was derived from both Pink Floyd and The Beatles and fire-eyed, furry, feral percussionist Animal was of course based on none other than Keith Moon. He even beat Buddy Rich in a drum contest, albeit only after he hit the seasoned performer over the head with his drumset, but if that doesn’t scream rock and roll, I don’t know what does.

Categories: Features, List 'Em Carefully
Tags: Dethklok, Dr. Teeth & The Electric Mayhem, Hedwig & The Angry Inch, Spinal Tap, Stillwater, The Beets, The Commitments, The Max Rebo Band, The Riverbottom Nightmare Band, The Rutles