History Main / FalseCredit

* Music/BlackFlag's ''My War'' and ''What The...'' both credit Dale Nixon on bass guitar, when no such person exists, and guitarist Greg Ginn also recorded the bass parts: In the case of ''My War'' it was a genuine attempt to downplay that they didn't have a full time bass player; by the time of ''What The...'' the ruse was so widely known that other bands had been using "Dale Nixon" as a CreditsGag, so they apparently just credited him as an in-joke.

* The continued use of fraudulent writing credits brought down the Canadian production company Cinar, whose work included ''WesternAnimation/{{Caillou}}'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'', ''WesternAnimation/{{TheBusyWorldOfRichardScarry}}'' and many, many others. Essentially, Cinar hired American writers for their shows, but defrauded the Canadian government by putting the names of Canadians in the writing credits, and then claiming millions in tax credit money for employing Canadians. The sister of prominent Canadian politician Jean Charest was listed as the author of over 100 Cinar-produced TV episodes that she did not write; other episodes were falsely credited to various relatives of Cinar executives. Cinar settled out of court, paying out over $20 million (Canadian) to various government agencies, but as a result of this and other financial misdeeds, the company eventually shut down. Separately, the company's two founders agreed to pay $1 million in restitution; Cinar co-founder Ronald A. Weinberg was later arrested for securities fraud and eventually sentenced to 8 years and 11 months in prison.

* Music/{{Kiss}}: Peter Criss was the first example. After only playing on his StepUpToTheMicrophone track on ''Music/{{Dynasty}}'', Criss was entirely absent on ''Music/{{Unmasked}}'' despite being credited for playing on the album. Ace Frehley would be credited for an album he did not work on years later. Despite being featured on the album cover and credited as the guitarist, Frehley did not play a single note on ''Music/CreaturesOfTheNight''. The album's lead guitar parts were actually played by Frehley's replacement, Vinnie Vincent on the majority of tracks, with some help from rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley and session musicians Steve Farris and Robben Ford.

* Music/FearFacory: To date, Christian Olde Wolbers is the only bassist the band has had to perform on an album, with Andrew Shives and Byron Stroud being credited for their work on ''Soul of a New Machine'' and ''Transgression'' respectively despite not playing a note on the albums. Wolbers himself did not perform on ''Demanufacture''. Bass on Fear Factory albums is usually handed by guitarist Dino Cazares or by Wolbers after his promotion to guitarist.

* Music/{{The Cure|Band}}: Their original drummer Lol Tolhurst's alcohol abuse reached its worst point during the making of ''Music/DisintegrationAlbum'', and the rest of the band say he spent the recording sessions too drunk to play anything. He's listed in the album credits due to contractual obligations, but they cryptically reference his actual level of involvement by only crediting him for playing "other instruments".

While it's far more common for someone to work on a project and ultimately be left [[Main/UncreditedRole Uncredited]], rarely, someone will receive credit for a work they did not actually do any work on at all. This is rather common within music, most commonly in the form of a band member, usually either a longtime core member on a brief hiatus, or a member added to group very late into production, being credited on a release that they did not actually perform on. Usually, artists aren't too keen on disclosing that someone who was alleged to have performed on an album didn't perform on it, and as such examples are usually only admitted to years after the fact, or even stay an OpenSecret forever.

The opposite of this is an UncreditedRole, though the two concepts often overlap, as usually someone will be given a false credit in place of someone who was uncredited. See also AlanSmithee when someone asks for their credit to be removed.

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[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]

* Music/TheBeachBoys released "Never Learn Not To Love" credited to Dennis Wilson. However, it was actually written by his at-the-time house guest UsefulNotes/CharlesManson, who got very angry that Dennis both changed some of the lyrics and didn't credit him.

* Music/BonJovi: Fans nowadays generally know that the bassline to "Livin' on a Prayer" was played not by Alec John Such, but his future replacement Hugh [=McDonald=]. Other accounts give [=McDonald=] credit for the entire ''Slippery When Wet'', ''New Jersey'', and ''Keep the Faith'' albums, with the band's episode of Series/BehindTheMusic claiming that Alec "stopped contributing to the band's albums" long before his dismissal from the band.

* [[Music/TheCureBand The Cure]]: Their original drummer Lol Tolhurst's alcohol abuse reached its worst point during the making of ''Music/DisintegrationAlbum'', and the rest of the band say he spent the recording sessions too drunk to play anything. He's listed in the album credits due to contractual obligations, but they cryptically reference his actual level of involvement by only crediting him for playing "other instruments".
* {{Music/Kiss}}: Peter Criss was the first example. After only playing on his StepUpToTheMicrophone track on {{Music/Dynasty}}, Criss was entirely absent on {{Music/Unmasked}} despite being credited for playing on the album. Ace Frehley would be credited for an album he did not work on years later. Despite being featured on the album cover and credited as the guitarist, Frehley did not play a single note on Music/CreaturesOfTheNight. The album's lead guitar parts were actually played by Frehley's replacement, Vinnie Vincent on the majority of tracks, with some help from rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley and session musicians Steve Farris and Robben Ford.

* Music/MilliVanilli would eventually become infamous after a [[Main/ThatSyncingFeeling lip-syncing scandal]] lead to the revelation that frontmen Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus never sang on any of the band's music at all and had been lip-syncing during live performances. This led to public outrage, instantly sinking the career of Milli Vanilli and leading to their Grammy award being revoked. Both Morvan and Pilatus, as well as the session musicians who had actually recorded Milli Vanilli's albums attempted to make a comeback, though the latter was a commercial failure and the former never materialized to the [[Main/DiedDuringProduction death of Pilatus]].
* Music/MyBloodyValentine: Bassist Debbie Googe did not perform on the band's landmark album {{Music/Loveless}}, due to bandleader Kevin Shields finding it easier to record the bass parts he had envision himself instead of explaining to Googe what he wanted them to sound like. In a less extreme example, Bilinda Butcher is credited for playing guitar on the album despite only being featured as a vocalist.
* {{Music/Nirvana}}: Rhythm guitarist Jason Everman was both credited and featured on the cover of the band's debut album ''Bleach'', despite not appearing on any of the album's tracks. Everman's credit was both to thank him for both paying for the album's recording, as well as to "make him feel at home in the band", according to bassist Krist Novoselic.

* {{Music/Savatage}}: The liner notes for the album ''Handful of Rain'' list longtime bassist Johnny Lee Middleton and founding drummer Steve Wacholz, neither of which performed on the album. Both chose to not participate in the album's recording due to the death of Criss Oliva, though Middleton would return to the band for the album's tour and all albums afterward. Drum and bass parts on the album were actually handled by former lead vocalist Jon Oliva, who is only credited on the album as a session keyboardist and co-producer.
* {{Music/Sepultura}}: While bassist Paulo Jr. is the only band member to be credited on every album the band released, frontman Max Cavalera later admitted that lead guitarists Andreas Kisser and Jairo Guedz played bass on the band's first five albums, due to Paulo's bass playing at the time being considered unsatisfactory. Paulo would make his actual recording debut on 1993's ''Chaos A.D.''
* {{Music/Whitesnake}}: Due to an injury, Adrian Vandenberg was unable to play on ''Slip of the Tongue'', yet still received a credit as a guitarist. Despite the credit, his absence is still acknowledged with the message "Unfortunately, due to injury, Adrian was unable to perform on this recorded work. Our thanks to Steve [Vai] for fulfilling all guitar responsibilities".
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