The Rocklopedia Fakebandica [Paperback]

T. Mike Childs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 21, 2004

Have you ever wondered what the name of the cantina band in Star Wars was? Or how many fictional singers Elvis played? Or how many fake bands had real Top Ten hits? This hysterical, witty, and irreverent book answers all these questions and more.

Based on the popular Web site fakebands.com, The Rocklopedia Fakebandica contains almost 1,000 entries covering such pop-culture staples as Spinal Tap, the Monkees, the Partridge Family, the Blues Brothers, the Rutles, Schroeder, the Chipmunks, the Brady Kids, the California Raisins, the Commitments, the Archies, the Banana Splits, Eddie and the Cruisers, the Wonders, Phoebe Buffay, Miss Piggy, Josie and the Pussycats, Jessica Rabbit, School of Rock, and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Perfect for pop-culture addicts, trivia buffs, and music lovers of all stripes, The Rocklopedia Fakebandica is the consummate addition to any bookshelf, coffee table, or bathroom.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Based on a Web site that Information Week called "one of the most refreshing online wastes of time since the birth of the Web," this volume by comedian Childs lists hundreds of singers and bands that existed only in movies or on TV. Thus there’s Agar, the genetically bred boy band featured in a Saturday Night Live skit; Sueleen Gay, the waitress hoping to be a country star in Robert Altman’s brilliant Nashville; Randy Watson and Sexual Chocolate, the soul ensemble from Coming to America (Eddie Murphy played a "disturbingly fey" Randy Watson, in addition to the starring role); and Johnny Zhivago, the singer featured on a record-shop top-10 board in A Clockwork Orange. Cross-referenced, illustrated and giddily inane, this is fine bathroom reading for diehard pop culture fans.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

T. Mike Childs is a North Carolina native, a member of sketch comedy group the Van Gogh-Goghs, and creator of the Web site furnitureporn.com. T. Mike Childs is a true Renaissance geek, equally at home discussing the finer points of Spinal Tap with European royalty as he is coding HTML for his sketch comedy group's Web site, vgg.com. He began writing and performing comedy while attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He then held a succession of tedious jobs that afforded him the time to compile this book and its sister Web site, fakebands.com. So, despite what you're thinking, he didn't have anything better to do than write this book.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; First Edition edition (October 21, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031232944X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312329440
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,878,162 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You'll Laugh 'Til Your Hair Hurts, October 29, 2004

By 

David Wessner (Los Feliz, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rocklopedia Fakebandica (Paperback)

Simply put, this book is absolutely dandy. T. Mike Childs has written more than a hilarious and sardonic encyclopedia of fictitious music groups. Taken as a whole, The Rocklopedia Fakebandica is a study of the influence of marketing on pop culture. Unlike most (or at least many) real-life music groups, each of the bands in this book represents someone's attempt to sell something other than just music. The Monkees, for example, were primarily a vehicle to accumulate ratings and advertising dollars. Jem and the Holograms were created to sell dolls and accessories. Even Spinal Tap, a "band" that displayed genuine musical brilliance, made music to sell movie tickets. This isn't to say that fake bands can't stimulate and inspire us (I'd buy a full-length record by Sgt. Blind Kiwi Tarzan in a heartbeat ), but The Rocklopedia Fakebandica demonstrates brilliantly that the lines separating art and advertising continue to blur.

It is also worth mentioning that Jason Torchinsky's illustrations are equally as dandy.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rock On!, October 2, 2006

By 

Russell Corey (Burbank, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rocklopedia Fakebandica (Paperback)

This book rocks! My favorite band in the book is Andromeda from a Buck Rogers TV show in the 1970s. They had a mind control signal in their music that made the kid all over the universe riot.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very amusing; surprisingly complete, April 10, 2005

By 

impitbosshereonlevel2 "impitbosshereonlevel2" (Merced) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rocklopedia Fakebandica (Paperback)

I picked up this book thinking that I would flip through the pages only to find some bands. Quite to my surprise, just about EVERY fake band I could think of was mentioned in the book (with the exception of LoveFist, a rather amusing Scottish band from the Grand Theft Auto series).

The book includes all sorts of bands from TV and movies - some obvious, some very obscure. For example, along with bands like Spinal Tap and The Monkees, it includes such bands as Oozing Meat, Tears & Vomit, Joanie and the Slashettes/Hepcats (all from Married With Children), Autobahn (from The Big Lebowski), and even composers and singers from Monty Python - like Johann Gambolputty de von... (you know), Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson, Inspector Jean-Paul Zathapatique, and many others that you probably never even heard of.