When I was a child (yes, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and we walked uphill four miles in the snow—barefoot!—both ways just to get to school and we liked it), my brother and I owned a modest collection of records.

There was the 45 that played They’re Coming to Take Me Away on the A side and played the entire song backwards on the B side; there was the soundtrack to Grease, and there was an Alvin and the Chipmunks record.

I don’t remember which one it was. Does it matter? They were all the same; some songs interspersed with high-pitched squealing and pleading (”Dave! DAAAAAVE!”) and then the only normal voice (Dave’s) getting progressively more agitated (”Simon! Theodore! AAAAAALVIIIIIIN!”) over something or other.

Yes, as a young girl I loved me some Chipmunks. Perhaps that was the start of my infatuation with imaginary bands.

Nowadays, of course, the Chipmunks make my ears rings and my eye twitch. Still, I was pleased to see that the trio managed to make it onto the Ten Best Bands That Never Existed list over at Earvolution.

True, several other favorites of mine made the list as well; most notably, The Blues Brothers at number 4 and Spinal Tap at number 2, but I can’t really argue for those being of interest to those interested in animation and other kids’ shows. (Though my children do understand that when something is really good, you say that “this one goes up to eleven.”) But for regular readers here the item of note is this: three of the ten bands mentioned fall squarely into the animation/kids camp.

First we have the Chipmunks, of course, sliding in at number 9. The article notes that they’ve now been around for nearly fifty years (!) and are still going strong.

In addition, props go out to Billy and the Boingers (fans of Berke Breathed’s Bloom County strip will recognize that one immediately) along with a bit of backstory on the band. That one really brought back memories.

And capturing the number 1 spot is Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem—the band from The Muppet Show. Their influence is masterfully summed up:

Over the course of their career, they played with luminaries like Elton John, Paul Simon, Dizzy Gillespie and Diana Ross and lent a weird aura to performances by Phyllis Diller, Sylvester Stallone and Tony Randall. Directly inspired from the classic rock music and personae of the late Sixties and early Seventies, Mayhem was the world of rock ‘n’ roll condensed and simplified for pre-teens. Think Jim Henson didn’t have an ear for rock ‘n’ roll? Check out 1979’s Can You Picture That? Given The Muppet Show’s target demographic, The Electric Mayhem indelibly imprinted the colorful world of rock and roll upon millions of young minds, easily making them the most influential rock band that never really existed.

Good stuff. Go read the whole thing, and if it makes you hanker for more imaginary goodness, Pop Candy not only highlighted the above-referenced article, it recommends FakeBands.com for more fun.

(Consider my hat tipped; that was quite the stroll down memory lane!)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 25th, 2007 at 6:21 am and is filed under Random acts of television, Movies, Retro. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.