The League of Unreal Musicians
Have you ever watched Back To The Future? If you have, do you remember that scene where Marty McFly comes in to the dance and plays Chuck Berry’s Johnny B Goode at the dance? The band that he played with, “Marvin Berry and the Starlighters” is an awesome example of a fictional band!
The amount of effort that goes into cutting an album is only known by a musician. There’s so much that goes into putting together those songs. And one thing that’s very evident is that every album that is produced is that they’re all ripe for parodies! Fictional bands are in abundance today in TV and movies. Some of them can be extremely exaggerated versions of their inspirations, or a very serious set of well, actors. But weirdly enough, some of the “parody” bands get almost as much fame as their inspirations for their more-often-than-not crazy personalities! I would like poking around the multitude of fictional bands and short-listing them to give you 3 of the most interesting ones (In my opinion, at least).
Steel Dragon
Dressed up like an 80’s Glam Rock artist, Mark Wahlberg takes on the roll of lead vocalist for “Steel Dragon” in the 2001 released movie, Rock Star. The movie was inspired by the real life story of Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens, who was part of a Judas Priest tribute band and was called to replace Rob Halford (Judas Priest’s first vocalist) when he left the band. The band features artists like Zakk Wylde, Jeff Pilson, Jason Bonham, Jeff Scott Soto and Milijenko Matijevic. The band’s music was directly ripped from Milijenko’s band Steelheart.
A must watch movie for all you rock music fans, and a real eye opener to the true story of Judas Priest. “We All Die Young”, “Stand Up”, “Wasted Generation” and “Long Live Rock n Roll” are some of the songs to look out for in the movie.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evL2sPk8eeY)
Dethklok
Melodic Death Metal sees a new side – and it’s in 2D! This fictional band was formed for the infamous TV show Metalocalypse. This hilarious program shows Dethklok as an extremely popular and successful death metal band. They’re portrayed in such a way that it makes it seem that the members of the band struggle with anything that is not their profession! The actual geniuses behind Dethklok’s music are just two people. Brendon Small who plays the Guitars, Electric Bass, Keyboards and does the Vocals for the band (Phew!). Oh, and also, he created the show. On the drums, we have Gene Hoglan, a LEGEND in the drumming industry (Death, Strapping Young Lad, Testament, etc). The first album that came out in 2005, was conveniently called Deathalbum.
The duo along with Mike Keneally and Bryan Beller toured along with Mastodon in 2009 after the release of their second album, which was titled, well, Deathalbum II.
Ok, so they’re not that creative with album names. But they make incredible music. If you’re into this kind of music, do check this out. And if you’re not, still check it out.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UosmKd1krWU)
Sex Bob-Omb
No, I did not misspell the band’s name. Bryan Lee O’Malley once came up with this awesome Graphic Novel series called Scott Pilgrim. The novels were based on a 23 year old slacker who did nothing but play bass guitar for the band Sex Bob-Omb. Late last year, a movie adaptation titled “Scott Pilgrim vs The World”. One of the most renowned songwriters, Beck, worked pure magic on the single, “We Are The Bob-Omb” for the movie. A dirty, garage punk style of a song, and it’s got like two sentences of actual lyrics, and the rest is bunch of random yelling, screaming, yeahs and 1-2-3-4s! What more could you ask for in a song?
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiLjTIeosBk)
Ok, so who cares if they’re fictional? Good music, good musicians, good TV shows, and good movies.
How often do you find a combination like that nowadays?
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About the Author: Arjun Rajkishore
