List of Fictional Music Groups - Fictional Groups That Also Existed

Fictional Groups That Also Existed

Some music groups have started off as fictitious, only to later become real bands. For example, the group in the film The Commitments was entirely fictional, but the cast later toured as a real band. Likewise The Rutles, invented for the mockumentary All You Need Is Cash, later reformed and released an album of new material not connected to the film. Many of these groups are now considered to be virtual bands.

The case of Milli Vanilli is especially odd. They started out as an anonymous pop act. The two actors who appeared onscreen in the act's first video became so popular they were sent out on the road as a (supposedly) real group, lip synching to the original singers' voices. In the cases of The Archies and Josie and the Pussycats, the real group was created alongside the fictional group, where a group of vocalists was put together as a tie-in for the television series. They released their albums under the name of the fictional group, and served as the fictional characters' singing voices.

• Alvin and the Chipmunks
• The Anarchy 6
• The Archies
• Beyond Pink
• The Blues Brothers
• The Cheetah Girls
• The Stars From The Commitments
• Deathmøle
• The Doodlebops
• F4
• Gorillaz
• Helmut and The Call
• Josie and the Pussycats
• LANDS
• Lily Chou-Chou
• The Little Ladies from Rock Follies
• The Masked Marauders
• Massacration
• Milli Vanilli
• The Monkees
• Platinum Weird
• Porcupine Tree
• Professor LaPlano and the Planotones
• Purple Filth
• RBD
• The Rutles
• Sons of Butcher
• Spinal Tap
• Steam
• Tyskarna från Lund
• Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

There are instances when the voice actors/actresses act their characters in real life, especially in franchises.

• Teikoku Kagekidan Hanagumi
• Hannah Montana

There have been many instances where real bands have figured as fictional characters in books or films. Often the groups play themselves onscreen. Some examples include:

• The Beatles: appeared as themselves in A Hard Day's Night, Help! and Magical Mystery Tour; portrayed by other actors in Backbeat and I Wanna Hold Your Hand
• KISS: Detroit Rock City
• The Ramones: Rock 'n' Roll High School
• The Clash: Rude Boy: the Clash portrayed themselves in a film which wrapped a fictional backstage story around real concert footage.
• Tenacious D: In the HBO series Tenacious D and the movie Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny.

Then there are the cases where a real group steals the name of a fictional group. Some notable examples are:

• Heaven 17 - A 1980s New Wave band whose name was inspired by the film A Clockwork Orange
• The Killers - Alternative rock band inspired by a New Order video.
• Megadeth - Heavy metal band inspired by a National Lampoon Radio Hour skit.
• Sick Dick & the Volkswagens - Avant-garde noise band named after a band in The Crying of Lot 49.
• Toad the Wet Sprocket - Named after a fake band from the "Rock Notes" sketch on Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album