The Rocklopedia Fakebandica

Finally, it's Eddie and the Cruisers time! We look at this great fake band movie that might not be a great movie, its sequel that might be even worse, and some weird surprise at the end. It's Eddie, it's the song, the music, the mystery, the wonder of Eddie and the Cruisers!

It's Halloween time and we once again look at the quintessential 1980s movie genre: heavy metal horror movies, or metalsploitation. We discuss Hard Rock Zombies and Trick or Treat, two classic 80s fake band horror movies, before ending with the newest of the genre, 2026's Devour, and whether AI will kill cheesy slasher films.

Our ongoing series on the fake bands of SNL continues! We try to get the full third decade in, but there's way too many bands and musicians, so we settle for just the first five years in this episode. We talk about Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer and Tim Meadows and some of the legendary musicians they created. More cowbell, anyone?

No, this isn't some kindergarten "learn your animals" easy reader nonsense. We find fictional animal musicians for all the letters of the alphabet! Like, non-human animals. That's what makes it different.

We celebrate the 30th anniversary of That Thing You Do!, the Tom Hanks classic that is one of the greatest fake band movies ever. We talk the action, the cast, the stories behind the scenes, and the creation of one of the catchiest hits in the Play-Tone Galaxy.

The fallout over ComicStripBandsAtoZGate continues after episode guest Jason Torchinsky files a formal complaint with the Rocklopedia Fakebandica Human Resources Department.

When the Charles is away, the cats will play. If by "play" you mean "talk about fake bands from newspaper comic strips whose names start with N-Z." You meant that, right?

Join us on our deep dive into Grace of My Heart to celebrate its 30th anniversary. This Alison Anders film is a heavily fictionalized version of Carole King's life, starring Illeana Douglas, John Turturro, Eric Stoltz and Matt Dillon. We look at the music of the 1960s, the men and women of the Brill Building, and why we need to give every last bit of minutia and trivia about our subjects.

We lost two beloved icons on the same day: Dolly Parton and Tim Curry. We look at Dolly's legacy, her fake band roles in 9 to 5 and Rhinestone, and how she lived her life the way our heroes should live. Then we discuss Tim Curry, the gifted actor who wowed us with charisma and fake band flair. Oh, and T. Mike talks about the TV show Wiseguy for hours and hours and...

The Autopian's Jason Torchinsky joins us as we delve deep into the comics page, looking for fake bands and artists (and finding quite a few).

Sometimes you have to run your experiments in the lab, and sometimes you have to rock! We look at real scientists from real bands like Queen and The Offspring, we look at real scientists who were in fake bands like Bridgit Mendler, and then a lot of fake scientists with their fictional tunes. Then, after all the laughs, we get serious. Yahoo Serious, that is. It's a full show.

So there's a group of people who share a house. Okay, not a group of people, but a milkshake and an order or fries and a meat wad. You heard me. A wad of meat. It only gets weirder from there on Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Luckily for us, they make a lot of fictional music so we can talk about them!

We tackle the early days of Adult Swim, that crazy channel for adult animation. If you like Space Ghost, Harvey Birdman, Brak, Zorak, and SeabLab 2021, or you think the names are funny and you want to hear more, well this show is for you! Next week, we'll finish Adult Swim with a look at Aqua Teen Hunger Force so stay tuned!

Guest hosts Kelli and Michal join Charles once again to talk about fictional music in recent Korean dramas. After the longest five minutes ever to discuss Yumi's Cells, they tackle Hometown Cha Cha Cha, Twinkling Watermelon, and Idol I.

On this episode of The Rocklopedia Fakebandica, we celebrate the birthday of Gary Gygax, the brains behind Dungeons & Dragons, the role playing game that brought RPGs to the mainstream. We talk about his life, his game, his novels, and the novels of others inspired by his work.

We celebrate one of our own by wishing happy birthday to T. Mike! We try to find a band to play his birthday party, and we look for the bands all over pop culture, including The Simpsons, Parks and Rec, Metalocaypse, Z Rock and even greeting cards.

The Rocklopedia Fakebandica wishes Cameron Crowe a happy 69th birthday by looking into his fake band legacy. From Singles and the birth of grunge, to Almost Famous and the nostalgia of the rock gods of the 1970s, and even one of the hardest TV shows we've ever attempted to find, we discuss Crowe's fictional music universe, including one of the bigger fake bands out there: Stillwater.

Once again, we take a subject and give you a fictional band for every letter of the alphabet! This time, we look at alien bands, since it's around the anniversary of the Roswell discoveries. We look at fake bands from all the different Star Trek shows, Doctor Who, Marvel Comics, Daft Punk, Futurama and Future Folk. Be sure to listen before you get abducted again!

Usually it's pretty easy to identify what is and isn't a fake band. Sometimes, though, the lines can be blurred. We look at Ricky Nelson, Tenacious D and Flight of the Conchords and decide once and for all where they fit in the Rocklopedia Fakebandica.

To celebrate the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, we compare the fictional musicians with the longest names. With entries from Kids in the Hall, Wayne's World, Arrested Development, George Carlin, Adult Swim, Ray Stevens, Marvel Comics, and Monty Python, there has to be at least one entry that you're curious about, right?