Director Rob Reiner has confirmed he’s making a sequel to classic parody film “This Is Spin̈al Tap.” Lots of people are apprehensive, but I think this is great, and not just because I’m close personal friends with bassist Derek Smalls and can confirm he hasn’t lost a step.

Spin̈al Tap is an all-time great fictional band, a surprisingly common occurrence! And I’m not even talking about made-up bands that turn into real bands like The Monkees, or bands that took on a life of their own like Dethklok— only bands that existed entirely within a movie or TV show and never did anything outside it. Don’t believe me? Here’s four more.

Spin̈al Tap — “Big Bottom”

There’s actually a lot of potential Spin̈al Tap songs I could use, they’re remarkably good. So why pick this one? Well, it’s funny, but also it’s popular enough to have been covered!

For example, you know Soundgarden? They made a cover. And it actually sounds really good, if you ignore—you know—all of lyrics, it could easily be an actual Soundgarden song. Not bad for a bunch of comedians.

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The Wonders — “That Thing You Do!”

For you danged youths who don’t know anything good, “That Thing You Do!” was a Tom Hanks movie from 1996 about a one hit wonder band in 1964. It documents their rise, stardom, and rapid dissolution. It’s a really good movie and you should watch it, even if you don’t know anything about early to mid-’60s rock music.

These days it’s mostly notable for the one hit by The Wonders—yes, the one hit wonder was called The Wonders—actually being legitimately great. It actually became a hit! And for good reason! It really encapsulates everything good about that era of music but with better equipment and polish. [Gokhman note: Probably because its writer was one of the best to do it, Adam Schlesinger].

Also, Charlize Theron is in the movie. It’s her second-ever credit. She has seventh billing and her character has no last name. And Bryan Cranston has a bit role as astronaut Gus Grissom for some reason.

The Archies — “Sugar, Sugar”

Going back to the actual ’60s: You definitely know this song. Everyone has heard this song. It sounds like most bubblegum pop of the era and I’m sure everyone assumes it’s by some one hit wonder.

It is not. Despite being the Billboard No. 1 song in 1969—and I’m not making it up—it’s performed by Archie Andrews. Like, from Riverdale. Archie Comics Archie. Betty and Veronica are the female vocalists on the song, and Jughead plays the drums. The actual writers were Jeff Barry and Andy Kim.

After The Monkees decided to be a real band, their creator decided to go even more fictional and do it again but with an animated variety show starring cartoons called “The Archie Show”. The song lived on way, way longer than the show.

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Lustra — “Scotty Doesn’t Know”

Is “Eurotrip” still a movie people know? Because it’s pretty hilarious. If youths don’t know “Eurotrip,” you should go watch, it’s a good road movie.

Spoiler alert for a movie from 2004: Scotty, the movie’s main character, finds out his girlfriend is cheating on him when the band plays this at a graduation party. Also, the tattooed, pierced lead singer she’s cheating with is inexplicably played by Matt Damon, who never appears again. The bridge is just the line, “I did her on his birthday.”

That really does set the tone for the movie.

Anyway, Lustra is actually a real band! They existed before the movie and since. But the band in the movie isn’t, to my knowledge, the actual Lustra, and as far as I know, Matt Damon does not front the band… so the band that performs this song is fictional. They’re just played by a real band.

Make sense? No? Doesn’t matter. Moving on!

Stillwater — “Fever Dog”

[Gokhman note: I was waiting for this one. Terri movie that holds up to this day]. One more fake band from a movie set in the past. This time it’s “Almost Famous,” from 2000 and set in 1973.

Cameron Crowe made the movie about a teenager following a band around and writing for Rolling Stone. Coincidentally, Crowe wrote for Rolling Stone as a teenager. Gregg Allman has said it’s pretty obvious to him Crowe wrote it about his time touring with the Allman Brothers.

If this sounds more like a Heart song than something by Allman Brothers, that’s because it was written by Nancy Wilson, who also wrote “Crazy On You,” “Barracuda” and “Magic Man.” If you listen to “Fever Dog,” you can kind of hear it. It totally works. [Gokhman note: And the movie worked because of Crowe’s music industry knowledge but also calling on more real artists to write Stillwater songs. For example, Peter Frampton wrote at least one that made the final cut].

Follow publisher Daniel J. Willis and send column ideas to him at @bayareadata.press on BlueSky. (He has some invites if you ask nicely).