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Song of the Day #6,340: ‘Can You Picture That?’ – Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem

My final fictional artist is a band so renowned that it’s replacing Aerosmith as the musical accompaniment to Disney World’s Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.

Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem made their debut on the pilot episode of The Muppet Show and found big-screen fame performing ‘Can You Picture That?’ in 1979’s The Muppet Movie. The sextet is fronted by Dr. Teeth on keyboard and vocals, with Floyd Pepper on bass, Janice on lead guitar, Zoot on saxophone, Lips on trumpet, and — of course — Animal on drums.

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Song of the Day #6,339: ‘Fever Dog’ – Stillwater

Almost Famous (2000) is a music movie that gets the music right. How could it not when writer/director Cameron Crowe spent his adolescence touring with rock bands and writing about them for Rolling Stone?

He channels those experiences into the story of William Miller, a young aspiring journalist who learns some hard lessons while hitting the road with Stillwater, a 70s band based on the Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and others.

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Song of the Day #6,338: ‘Look at Us Now (Honeycomb)’ – Daisy Jones & The Six

I’m intrigued by the idea of adapting a book about musicians to the big or small screen and having to write music that has only been described in words. The best recent example I have is the miniseries Daisy Jones & The Six.

The book of the same title, written by Taylor Jenkins Reid, tells the story of the struggles and successes of a 1970s band. The complicated relationship of the band’s leaders, played by Riley Keough and Sam Claflin in the series, was inspired by the romance of Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham during Fleetwood Mac’s heyday.

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Song of the Day #6,337: ‘Walk Hard’ – Dewey Cox

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, released in 2007, probably should have ended all musical biopics. It’s a ruthless satire of then-recent hits Walk the Line and Ray that exposes every clich&e and tired trope of the genre.

And yet, Hollywood keeps churning them out. In just the past few years we’ve seen movies about Elvis, Bob Marley, Robbie Williams, Amy Winehouse, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen.

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Song of the Day #6,336: ‘U Know What’s Up’ – 4*TOWN

It’s 2002 in Toronto, and pre-teen girls everywhere are swooning to the sounds of Canadian boy band 4*TOWN. That’s the world as depicted in Pixar’s 2022 film Turning Red, one of the studio’s more successful recent efforts.

One of the things Turning Red does best is capture the look and sound of an early-00s boy band. They tapped two songwriters who were little kids in 2002, Billie Eilish and brother Finneas O’Connell, but the duo proved more than capable of channeling the era.

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