I guess for DEI purposes they were left out.
As for The Partridges and Monkees, they had some great songs.
Have fun it is saturday.
I thought the goofy Monkees has some pretty good songs.
The Ruttles come to mind.
In it are details on how Peter Tork was not amused that they took over the music of The Monkees. But he admitted that is was necessary.
I dismiss the concept of a fake band. And in these examples I dismiss it even harder. The Monkees eventually wrote and performed their own music, once they had a major argument with the label. Paul Shaffer collected some of the most important people in the blues (especially Stax Records) to flesh out the Blue Brothers, not only were they a band it was arguably the greatest blues band ever assembled.
Even Milli Vanilli tried really hard to be legit, but their label just kept pushing them off with “no no, this is how it’s done”. That’s actually a really sad story, as all the people who made them fake made millions, and the dumb kids who just listened to the wrong people became the villains, and then one died of drug problems.
Gary Lewis and the Playboys.
All the instruments on their recordings were performed by a group of studio musicians known as “The Wrecking Crew”. And even Gary Lewis’ voice was “enhanced” by a Ron Hicklin who was the lead singer of the “Ron Hicklin Singers” who were frequently used for backup vocals on numerous hit records.
Any band where the singers are dancers and not musicians (playing an instrument) is a fake band.
How were the Monkeys a fake band?
Boyce and Hart IIRC. Some of the studio folks who did the monkees stuff are legends.
Of course they did. They had some of the best songwriters in the business writing their material: Boyce & Hart, Goffin & King, Neil Diamond, Harry Nilsson, John Stewart, Neil Sedaka...
Some may remember the film “That Thing you Do” (1996) with Tom Hanks. It featured some really excellent mid-1960s style songs that were produced just for that movie. It was so good that I ended up buying the soundtrack. I still listen to it.
Kind of hard to believe that movie is almost 30 years old now.
The Archies and The Cuff Links were actually Ron Dante.
A lot more than that.
Sometimes the fake bands are better than the real ones.
One hit wonders are often great.
I remember those fake bands. So popular with adolescents that their TV performances had rubber bands for guitar strings.
Why isn’t Bruce “The Boss” on the list?
Not only is he fake, he’s a flammin’ idiot.
(Oh, maybe cuz his songs are trash??)
Can’t stand that guy
I liked The Commitments, a band made for a movie about a band of Irish soul singers. Had modest but respectable hits with “Try a Little Tenderness,” “Mustang Sally,” and “Take Me To the River.”
Of course, “fake” here means “fictional,” not “phony,” so no Milli Vanilli.
How can you not list the Gorillaz?
Boston apparently
Steam was an American pop rock music group, best known for their 1969 number one hit single, “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye”. The song was written and recorded by studio musicians Gary DeCarlo (aka Garrett Scott), Dale Frashuer, and producer/writer Paul Leka at Mercury Records studios in New York City. The single was attributed to the band Steam, although at the time there was actually no band with that name. Leka and the studio group also recorded the first album of the band from which four other songs were released as singles in 1970.