Music is extremely important to people of all ages or backgrounds, and it seems to permeate every aspect of people’s lives. This is especially true in entertainment and media. People listen to and go see their favorite artists perform and every show needs a solid theme song to introduce it.
With music being so important to television and film, it’s no surprise that some bands have decided to portray themselves solely through animated media. While this isn’t the traditional way to break into the music industry, several artists have enjoyed great success as cartoon bands.
10 Crazy Frog, Enjoyed By Some And Loathed By Others
Crazy Frog hopped onto the internet from the mind of Erik Wernquist in mid-2003, imagining a character who fit the sound of a ringtone. The company Jamster saw ‘The Annoying Thing’, Crazy Frog’s original name, trending and got the rights to it. From there, they decided to make full music videos in the Eurodance musical style.
Crazy Frog became a huge hit with its first song “Axel F.” This song topped the music charts in several countries and the original music video has become one of YouTube’s most popular shorts. Crazy Frog’s success also spawned a tremendous amount of merchandise, from t-shirts to home decor.
9 Hatsune Miku Could Be The Future Of Music
At first glance, Hatsune Miku seems like an average animated artist, but she is a lot more complex than a human voice attached to a cartoon body. Hatsune Miku, whose name means ‘the first sound of the future,’ is a synthetic voice program, but she has risen to the status of a pop icon.
Hatsune’s vocaloid has been used in over 100,000 songs and has even gone on tour with popular musicians, like Lady Gaga, with the help of holograms. Hatsune Miku has been on live stages, on television shows, and even as the title character in several rhythm video games.
8 Powerline The Powerhouse Performer From A Goofy Movie
If the underrated A Goofy Movie makes anything clear about music, it’s that Powerline is the best of the best. Max is obsessed with Powerline, with merchandise covering his walls, and so are all of his peers. Max is so fixated on the rock star that he attempts to reroute the father-son trip his dad Goofy planned to go to Powerline’s concert, providing the entire film its focus.
Love for Powerline doesn’t stop with the Goofy Movie. Real-life fans have kept Powerline popular and relevant. The songs “Stand Out” and “I2I” have captured a tremendous number of hearts and inspired merchandise that continues to hit the shelves, including t-shirts, posters, and even a Powerline Funko Pop.
7 The Chipmunks Cover Just About Anything
The Chipmunks, made up of brothers Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, have been around since late 1958. They took the music scene by storm with their first track “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)” which was a number-one single in the United States and has gone on to be one of the best-selling singles of all time.
The Chipmunks also had massively popular covers of well-known songs, helping their novelty records stretch across multiple musical genres. Their music, television series, and films have helped The Chipmunks achieve great success and become massively popular among children across the world.
6 Josie And The Pussycats Brought The Girl Power
Beginning with a self-titled comic book published by Archie Comics in 1963, Josie and The Pussycats was turned into a Saturday morning cartoon by Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1970. The show ran for 16 episodes before it was rebranded as Josie and The Pussycats in Outer Space to run for another 16. The final animated performance for the band was in an episode of The New Scooby-Doo Movies in 1973.
Despite its relatively short run-time, Josie and The Pussycats influenced other popular animated bands like The Hex Girls. Thanks to the release of Riverdale, Josie and The Pussycats have enjoyed a return to the spotlight recently, along with other Archie Comics characters.
5 The Archies, A Cartoon Band For Everyone
The Archies were originally formed in the Life with Archie comic in 1967 and played on The Archie Show, along with other Archie Universe programs, from 1968 to 1973. The Archies’ most popular song “Sugar, Sugar” became the pop chart number one song in 1969 and earned a gold disc.
Although songs like “Sugar, Sugar” and “Who’s Your Baby” may be older hits for The Archies, they have been revitalized with a recent comeback. The CW’s series Riverdale has enjoyed great success with live-action representations of The Archies’ ensemble and while they may not be cartoons in this series, they still make great music.
4 Studio Killers, A Digital Phenom
Studio Killers first hit the scene in 2011 with the track “Ode to the Bouncer” and they’ve been something of a mystery since. None of Studio Killers’ identities are known, and they only interact with the public through their animated personas. Even the band members didn’t met face to face until sometime after the band was formed, originally only corresponding through email.
Studio Killers went into on-again-off-again hiatus between 2015 and 2019 and started a Kickstarter in 2019 to make an animated series based on the band. Studio Killers’ popularity was revived via massive success on TikTok when their song “Jenny” was used as the soundtrack for a viral trend in 2020. Studio Killers released the pilot episode of their miniseries on YouTube in December 2021.
3 The Hex Girls Put A Spell On Fans
The Hex Girls enthralled listeners starting in 1999 with the movie Scooby-Doo! and the Witch’s Ghost. Thought to be the villains behind the movie’s villain’s mask, The Hex Girls were found to be innocent and finished the film with an enchanting concert. The Hex Girls were in another Scooby-Doo movie following their first encounter with Mystery Inc. and the girls also starred in various iterations of Scooby-Doo.
The Hex Girls were so popular that there was talk about making a spinoff series, but this dream has yet to be realized. Even without a spinoff series for the band, interest in The Hex Girls hasn’t waned. In 2021 the retailer Hot Topic began making Hex Girls merchandise with some items selling out within minutes of release.
The animated death metal band Dethklok was born in Adult Swim’s series Metalocalypse, and they released their first album, Dethalbum, in 2007. In their universe, Dethklok is the most popular band in history/ Thanks to this success they have amassed more wealth than any nation. Despite being clueless about everyday tasks, the Dethklok members are top-of-the-line entertainers, at least when they’re not actively killing their fans.
Even in reality, Dethklok is extremely popular with metal fans and has been very successful. Dethklok has put on several live shows and even toured with other popular metal bands like Mastodon. Their third album, titled Dethalbum III, was able to earn Dethklok two Independent Music Awards in 2013.
1 Gorillaz Is The Quintessential Animated Band
Any conversation involving animated bands is incomplete without Gorillaz in the mix. The band was created by Damon Albarn in 1998 as a way to try out a new style of music. Gorillaz became massively successful with their first album going multi-platinum in several countries as did their second album, Demon Days, with its lead single “Feel Good Inc.”.
Gorillaz continues to enjoy great success and has developed its own complex lore through music videos, comic strips, and cartoon shorts. Many fans consider Gorillaz history’s most successful virtual band they have won a plethora of awards. Gorillaz went on a world tour in 2022 and recently teased new content to keep fans coming back for more.