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Underground > Radio & Music >

Music and movie stars

Sean the frumious Bandersnatch

16:24 / 29.11.04

This is a fucking chore to google, so I'll just ask it here...which movie stars/celebrities have been in bands (crappy or otherwise)? Musicians-turned-movie stars (Madonna, etc.) don't count, but musicians whose bands became famous after they were movie stars (Phantom Planet, I suppose) do count.

I'm looking for the funniest/most obscure groups (or, for that matter, solo albums). No one gets a prize for bringing up Russell Crowe's "Thirty Odd Feet of Grunts", but I promise special treats if anyone can find me the name of Stephen King's band.

16:39 / 29.11.04

You mean the Rock Bottom Remainders?

16:50 / 29.11.04

Keanu Reeves the mighty 'Dogstar'

as i remember Johnny Depp had a band and 'jammed' with oasis- no idea what they were called tho...

Sean the frumious Bandersnatch

16:56 / 29.11.04

Oh, god, yes...the Rock Bottom Remainders, with Matt Groening and Dave Barry! "The band plays music as well as Metallica writes novels."

Thank you, mister miss # Nun. I was going to gift you with the wisdom of the Buddha, but that seems too easy. Instead, you get your choice of Turkish Star Wars or Turkish Star Trek.

The wisdom of the Buddha for anyone who can come up with a more obscene band than this, then. Honest!

17:12 / 29.11.04

Johnny Depp was in a band called P with Gibby from the Butthole Surfers. He also played the solo on Shane MacGowan's "The Woman's Got Me Drinking." The late River Phoenix had a band called Aleka's Attic.

Kevin Bacon is half of the fabulous Bacon Brothers, who are still doggedly pursuing a record deal.

William Shatner's musical adventures are well-known, as are Leonard "The Ballad Of Bilbo Baggins" Nimoy's. Brent "Data" Spiner has been known to sing big-band swing, as has John Lithgow. Joe Piscopo (remember him?) has done faux-Springsteen rock and faux-Sinatra swing. Bruce Willis—remember "The Return of Bruno"?

Was J.Lo an actress or a singer first? What about Courtney Love? Jimmy Nail?

Big-toothed auteur Billy Bob Thornton has a record out.

There are many others. Why do we think it is so odd when someone who is creative in one field is drawn to express himself/herself in another? When you think about it, it's only to be expected. Why do we expect people to only be interested in one thing?

17:22 / 29.11.04

I am humbled by your gifts.

One of the greatest rock and roll LP's of all time is "Night Rocker" by David Hasselhoff if that is any help.

17:42 / 29.11.04

I feel I must disagree, and insert here a good word for Don Johnson's "Heartbeat." But the less said about Philip Michael Hall's album, the better.

When last seen, Maren Jensen (Athena on the original BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) was writing orchestral arrangements for Don Henley. No word of a lie.

Sean the frumious Bandersnatch

17:59 / 29.11.04

Why do we think it is so odd when someone who is creative in one field is drawn to express himself/herself in another? When you think about it, it's only to be expected. Why do we expect people to only be interested in one thing?

Because, while in some cases entertainment making music succeeds, it just as often turns into a monsterous pile of shit. I, for one, am not out to make fun of actor/musicians where they succeed (and I hear that Bill Shatner's new thing is supposed to be pretty good), but things that suck are fair game.

The fact of the matter is that a large number of celebrities seem to make records just for publicity/money/their own ego/no reason whatsoever.

18:22 / 29.11.04

...in other words, for the same reason that anybody makes a record.

Or are you telling me that people who are musicians-and-only-musicians are by and large uninterested in notoriety, money, being liked, or having a laugh?

18:24 / 29.11.04

Vincent Gallo makes pretty bad IDM, but then, I cant usually tell good IDM from bad, so who am I to judge.

Brigade du jour

20:57 / 29.11.04

Um ... Minnie Driver's got an album out called Everything I've Got In My Pocket.

Apparently she writes her own songs and plays guitar etc, so seems to have some semblance of credibility. But then goes and spoils it all by sounding like Dido.

Fucking Dido.

21:13 / 29.11.04

I'd buy that Minnie Driver album for a dollar. I quite liked some of the songs on Mila Jovovich's album, too.

06:11 / 30.11.04

Christopher Lambert is apparently an old rocker. Anyone know what band he was in?
Reggie Bannister, the hero of the Phantasm series, has a band called Reggie B and the Jizz Wailin' Ya Doggies.
Steven Seagal plays a bit of acoustic.
Jackie Chan does a LOT of singing, but we don't get much of it in the west, except for his movie soundtracks.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

08:31 / 30.11.04

Bill Mumy from 'Lost in Space'/'B5' is in a band...

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

13:08 / 30.11.04

Mr Fear has a very good point.

There are many others. Why do we think it is so odd when someone who is creative in one field is drawn to express himself/herself in another?

What was that novelist's name? Years back? Wrote "Beautiful Losers"....

oh yeah, Leonard Cohen.

(And in reverse, of course, Nick Cave's excellent "And The Ass Saw The Angel" is also a case in point.)

Yes, I know the title's "Music and Movie Stars", but Jack's point is relevant and I think these address that.

14:46 / 30.11.04

I can't believe Jack Fear knows who Jimmy Nail is.

14:51 / 30.11.04

Dude, a couple hours before I wrote that post I was listening to Jimmy Nail in the car—him singing the folk song "The Waters of Tyne" in a duet with Sting (shut up), which I found years ago on some benefit CD. Fuckin' gorgeous. I loved Still Crazy, too.

Hattie's Kitchen

16:49 / 30.11.04

Argh. Jimmy Nail. "Crocodile Sho-oo-oes" still haunts me to this day. And not in a good way.

However, Leonard Nimoy's Hobbit-tribute sing is a thing of beauty and genius. I heart it.

Hattie's Kitchen

16:54 / 30.11.04

And David Hassehoff's music is huge in Germany. Has anyone seen that TV clip of him singing on top of the Berlin Wall as it was being dismantled? Surreal barely comes close to describing it...

09:44 / 01.12.04

And that prick O.J. Simpson just HAD to upstage his BIG MOMENT, didn't he?

10:29 / 01.12.04

Forgot one: Bill Paxton had a dance-electro outfit in the mid-80s, called Martini Ranch. Had an album on Sire. Cartoony kind of thing--one of the B52s girls was on board, I think.

ONLY NICE THINGS

14:28 / 01.12.04

Why do we expect people to only be interested in one thing?

I think it's more the rather more reasonable expectation of people only being *good* at one thing, or at least good enough at one star-making thing to be a star at it.

So, yes. Why does Russell Crowe have a band? Why does James Marsters take his rock band to Buffy conventions? Because they can.