This feels a little like déjà vu, since I just did a post about another NYT feature I’ve praised before, but here goes anyway, because I can’t resist a good Top Five list, even when it inappropriately goes to 8…
I’ve expressed appreciation for “The Amplifier” before, and I’m impressed again by their “8 really great songs from fake movie bands” list, which hit my In box about an hour ago.
Here’s the list:
- The Wonders, “That Thing You Do!”
- Stillwater, “Fever Dog”
- The Soggy Bottom Boys, “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow”
- The Folksmen, “Old Joe’s Place”
- Josie and the Pussycats, “3 Small Words”
- Sex Bob-Omb, “We Are Sex Bob-Omb”
- The Lonely Island featuring Michael Bolton and Mr. Fish, “Incredible Thoughts”
- Spinal Tap, “Stonehenge”
Excellent, excellent list. I would definitely top my own Top Five list of “songs from fake movie bands” with “That Thing You Do.” (I’m referring, of course, to the peppy version that followed Guy Patterson’s beat — the one that turned the Oneders into “teen sensations” — not the insipid original submitted by that jerk Jimmy, who also thought up “Oneders.”)
I’ve never heard another fake movie band song that comes close to it. I would also include “Man of Constant Sorrow” (although I’m not convinced it fits the criteria, since it was a traditional folk song) and “Stonehenge,” which I would probably place at No. 2, after the Wonders. I don’t know at the moment what the other two would be without thinking about it awhile, and I didn’t want that process to hold up sharing this with y’all.
Enjoy. And react, if you are so moved…
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Now that I’ve praised the list, it’s time to question and challenge it.
Actually, I guess I already did that when I pointed out that “I Am A Man of Constant Sorrow” is NOT a fake movie band song (although I love the fake movie version of it) but a song with considerable previous history.
Now for Josie and the Pussycats. They’re originally a TV group, so do they qualify? Yeah, I know they had a live-action movie since the days invoked in the Mike Myers poem, but so did The Archies. So where’s “Sugar, Sugar” on this list?
Another slight disagreement here…
I think Stillwater was an excellent fake movie band, but I base that more on their off-stage behavior than their actual music, which I didn’t find that memorable. But to be fair, the reason I don’t remember their music all that well is that the soundtrack full of awesome REAL songs was SO good, and a bit part of what made the movie awesome.
I’ll admit that “Fever Dog” was perfectly suited for its role in “Almost Famous” — helping at a critical moment in the film to establish the two main characters’ mutual love of the band (and of course, the band’s love of itself). It was an excellent evocation of circa-1973 arena-concert rock…
I suppose you are more hip than I am. I don’t recognize some songs on your list; some I recognize but was not attracted to the movie. One of the best fake band songs though, was Dark Side by Eddie and the Cruisers. My enjoyment was amplified by the feeling that I have found a movie no one else had known.
Another omission from your list, justifiably perhaps, was Shape of Thngs to Come by Max Frost and the Troopers. As I recall, it spent time in the real Top 40 at the time. I knew some band members in Charleston that were in fact hired to tour as Max Frost and the Troopers. Finding four musicians in the south that had long hair and enough talent to learn to cover the only “Max Frost” hit wasn’t all that easy, but on the other hand, the crooked promoters weren’t too picky.