From the Archies to the Wonders to Daisy Jones & the Six
Today’s release of Daisy Jones & The Six, Amazon’s 10-part adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s best-selling novel about the rise and fall of a fictional ’70s rock band, makes us wonder where The Six fall in the long and sometimes significant history of fake bands and singers end up in film and television. It’s an odd but often hugely appealing musical subgenre, and this is our attempt at finding out which are the real best of the fake best songs.
We set the following terms and conditions: 1) Original songs only, with apologies to the Blues Brothers, the Commitments and other great fictional cover artists; 2) No biopics or other films in which musicians essentially play themselves (e.g. Prince in Purple Rain or Eminem in 8 Mile); and 3) It must be some sort of genuine fictional musical performance and not someone just performing an original song in the context of a film, show, or stage musical. We also had a long debate about what to do with the Monkees before deciding that they worked their way up to a proper band at some point and therefore didn’t qualify. (Otherwise, “Daydream Believer” would have ranked very highly.)