A great opportunity presents itself today for me to both indulge my love of fictional bands and fulfill the Day 2 31DBBB assignment to write a list post.

So let’s rock!

5 great imaginary bands

I am far from alone in my obsession with imaginary bands. The Rocklopedia Fakebandica lists about a thousand fictional bands and singers from movies and television. Here are five of my personal favorites, in alphabetical order. You didn’t really think you were going to trap me into rating and ranking fake bands, did you?

1. The Barbusters. Light of Day is a (mostly) filmed-in-Chicago movie with a title song written by Bruce Springsteen. Already you see two of my personal obsessions there. Great casting and unexpectedly good performances (acting and music both) from Michael J. Fox and Joan Jett as the brother and sister team fronting the Barbusters. One of the bar scenes was filmed at the Iron Rail on the northwest side of Chicago, which was then owned by a friend of ours.

2. Eddie and the Cruisers. John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band provided the sound for the fictional band from Jersey. Their Springsteen-like sound is the best thing about the two movies (particularly the original one). Michael Paré is hot and mysterious as Eddie Wilson. Tom Berenger is a big personal favorite of mine and definitely in his role as Frank Ridgeway.

3. Ellen Aim and the Attackers. Michael Paré is once again hot, though not too mysterious, as Tom Cody in Streets of Fire. Diane Lane as Ellen Aim is even hotter. Fire Inc. does the musical performances, and the songs were written by Jim Steinman. If you don’t like Meat Loaf’s Bat out of Hell album, you might not like “Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young.” Get past it… “let the revels begin, let the fire be started, we’re dancing for the desperate and the broken-hearted…” what is not to love there?

4. The Monkees. This is where my love for imaginary bands started. I’m sure many other baby boomer females can relate to that love. Peter Tork, Mike Nesmith, Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones were pretty much the first made-for-TV-band. I was probably the only girl in my 4th grade class who wasn’t crazy about Davy Jones, though. “Daydream Believer” and “I’m A Believer” still make me smile and yes, are both on my MP3 player.

5. 2ge+her. This was MTV’s send-up of the formulaic boy bands made popular by… hey, how about that, MTV! They were featured in a TV-movie and then a short-lived series. Their actual songs were surprisingly good, in a boy band kind of melodic harmony good, that is. The series was cut short not only by falling ratings, but also the tragic death of 16-year-old cancer survivor Michael Cuccione from respiratory disease. One of the other band members was Kevin Farley, brother of the late Chris Farley, and funny in his own right.