The Rocklopedia Fakebandica

It's Halloween time and we once again look at the quintessential 1980s movie genre: heavy metal horror movies, or metalsploitation.  We discuss Hard Rock Zombies and Trick or Treat, two classic 80s fake band horror movies, before ending with the newest of the genre, 2026's Devour, and whether AI will kill cheesy slasher films.

Our ongoing series on the fake bands of SNL continues!  We try to get the full third decade in, but there's way too many bands and musicians, so we settle for just the first five years in this episode.  We talk about Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer and Tim Meadows and some of the legendary musicians they created.  More cowbell, anyone?

No, this isn't some kindergarten "learn your animals" easy reader nonsense.  We find fictional animal musicians for all the letters of the alphabet! Like, non-human animals.  That's what makes it different.

We celebrate the 30th anniversary of That Thing You Do!, the Tom Hanks classic that is one of the greatest fake band movies ever.  We talk the action, the cast, the stories behind the scenes, and the creation of one of the catchiest hits in the Play-Tone Galaxy.

The fallout over ComicStripBandsAtoZGate continues after episode guest Jason Torchinsky files a formal complaint with the Rocklopedia Fakebandica Human Resources Department.

When the Charles is away, the cats will play. If by "play" you mean "talk about fake bands from newspaper comic strips whose names start with N-Z." You meant that, right?

Join us on our deep dive into Grace of My Heart to celebrate its 30th anniversary.  This Alison Anders film is a heavily fictionalized version of Carole King's life, starring Illeana Douglas, John Turturro, Eric Stoltz and Matt Dillon.  We look at the music of the 1960s, the men and women of the Brill Building, and why we need to give every last bit of minutia and trivia about our subjects.

We lost two beloved icons on the same day: Dolly Parton and Tim Curry.  We look at Dolly's legacy, her fake band roles in 9 to 5 and Rhinestone, and how she lived her life the way our heroes should live.  Then we discuss Tim Curry, the gifted actor who wowed us with charisma and fake band flair.  Oh, and T. Mike talks about the TV show Wiseguy for hours and hours and...