Once again President Scott Olson served as guest DJ this fall for the Winona State University campus radio station KQAL. His playlist for the show, which is listed below, featured “Fake Bands” (bands that aren’t real but nevertheless have songs).
In his own words, President Olson explains how this might be his most interesting playlist yet:
“I became interested in how movies and television shows created imaginary bands to serve the needs of a fictional story, but then those stories needed actual songs for those fictional bands to sing, so these ‘fake’ bands became ‘real’ bands in a sense.
They had a song, so were they real?
In this media landscape, what makes something real or imaginary anyway? The first band that really got me thinking about this was Harold and the Hang-Ups from HELLO DOWN THERE, a dolphin-infested underwater – rock & roll – family adventure that is mind-warpingly bizarre.
The most obvious fake bands are parodies, such as the way the Mosquitoes from GILLIGAN’S ISLAND or The Rutles from THE RUTLES spoof the Beatles. Parody is a form of flattery. But some of these fake bands go beyond parody to homage and tribute: toward pure sincerity, bereft of irony. The imaginary folk duo Mitch and Mickey from A MIGHTY WIND approach this status, and with Eddie and the Cruisers the filmmakers are all in that this imaginary thing is the thing itself, irony free but still fake.
Amazingly, some fake bands have had songs become hits on the pop charts, even though they don’t exist. And today, fake bands are still being imagined. Now we have Josie and the Pussycats on RIVERDALE, not long ago we had Mouse Rat on PARKS AND RECREATION, and recently SOUTH PARK featured a new band called Stan Marsh and Crimson Dawn — fictional fourth graders performing death metal music. The postmodern blurring of the real and the imaginary continues!”
– President Scott Olson
Don’t worry if you missed the original air time, you can listen anytime online.
Fake Bands Playlist
| Fake Band Name | Movie or TV Show of Origin | Song |
| Harold and the Hang-Ups | Hello Down There! | Glub! |
| Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem | The Muppets | Can You Picture That? |
| Hedwig and the Angry Inch | Hedwig and the Angry Inch | Tear Me Down |
| Lenny and the Squigtones | Laverne and Shirley | Night After Night |
| The Partridge Family | The Partridge Family | Bandala |
| Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band | Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band | Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band |
| Scrantonicity | The Office | Roxanne |
| Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes | Star Wars | Cantina Band Song |
| Eddie and the Cruisers | Eddie and the Cruisers | On the Dark Side |
| Hannah Montana | Hannah Montana | The Best of Both Worlds |
| Otis Day and the Knights | Animal House | Shama Lama Ding Dong |
| The Oneders (“Wonders”) | That Thing You Do | That Thing You Do |
| Drive Shaft | Lost | You All Everybody |
| Dingoes Ate My Baby | Buffy the Vampire Slayer | Shadows |
| Soggy Bottom Boys | O Brother Where Art Thou? | Man of Constant Sorrow |
| The Weird Sisters | Harry Potter | Do the Hippogriff |
| Blues Brothers | Saturday Night Live | Soul Man |
| Mouse Rat | Parks and Recreation | The Pit |
| The Silver Platters | The Brady Bunch | Sunshine Day |
| The Archies | The Archie Show | Sugar Sugar |
| The Banana Splits | The Banana Splits | Doin’ The Banana Split |
| Josie and the Pussycats | Josie and the Pussycats (2001 Movie) | Pretend to Be Nice |
| Bugaloos | The Bugaloos | Gna Gna Gna Gna Gna |
| The Mosquitos | Gilligan’s Island | Don’t Bug Me |
| The Honeybees | Gilligan’s Island | You Need Us |
| Candi Slice | Saturday Night Live | Gimme Mick |
| Rock Roll | The Flintstones | Bedrock Twitch |
| Hi-Fye | The Flintstones | Listen to the Rockin’ Bird |
| Bruce Stringbean and the S Street Band | Sesame Street | Born to Add |
| The Rutles | The Rutles | Cheese and Onions |
| Dr. Funke’s All-Natural Good-time Band | Arrested Development | Teamocil |
| Spinal Tap | Spinal Tap | Stonehenge |
| The Folksmen | A Mighty Wind | Never Did No Wanderin’ |
| Mitch and Mickey | A Mighty Wind | Kiss At The End of the Rainbow |
| Mitch and Mickey | A Mighty Wind | When You’re Next To Me |
| The New Main Street Singers | A Mighty Wind | A Mighty Wind is Blowin’ |
| Bruce Springstone | Bruce Springstone Live at Bedrock | Meet the Flintstones |
| Hep Alien | Gilmore Girls | Believe it Or Not |
| Lancelot Link & The Evolution Revolution | Lancelot Link Secret Chimp | Magic Feeling |
| Stan Marsh and Crimson Dawn | South Park | Living in the Country on a Farm |
| The Traveling Wilburys | The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 | Handle with Care |
| Serpent Cathedral | The X-Files | |
| Carrot Hot Dog | Iowa Campus Compact |
