As popular as on-screen depictions of real musicians’ real lives might be, equally common are the movies and TV shows that spotlight fictional bands and performers. From real-life rappers loosely adapting their own stories to full-fledged bands of actors who learned to perform all of their songs themselves, it’s a rich subgenre.
And there’s a brand-new entry in 2025, as the new A24 movie Opus introduces John Malkovich as a pop icon named Moretti, performing songs created by Nile Rodgers and The Dream. While it’s a bit too early to say how Moretti will rank, the release of Opus felt like an appropriate occasion to look back over decades of film and TV projects that have featured fictional (not “fake”) artists.
The criteria set up for this list was pretty simple: The artist or the core members of the band didn’t have to play their own instruments, but they did have to play fictional characters, as opposed to performing under their real names. (Apologies to any fans of The Monkees, who didn’t make the cut for this reason.) Additionally, a key metric was the actual quality of the music. (Apologies to any fans of the UPN series Shasta McNasty, should you actually exist.)
Right down to the wire, the Consequence staff debated what acts to include and where to rank them, and there were so many notable options that got cut along the way, from Phoebe Buffay to the California Raisins. Because ultimately, great music is great music — whether the artist behind it be real or fictional.
— Liz Shannon Miller
Senior Entertainment Editor
Listen to a playlist of the best songs from all these bands here or after the number one entry.
Content shared from consequence.net.