History PromotedFanboy / Music

* [[Music/DyingFetus Trey Williams]] was a drummer for a couple lowly Baltimore-area death metal bands, and the high points of his career at that point were a brief Canadian tour and opening for Fetus a few times. That all changed when he received a call from Sean Beasley shortly after Duane Timlin left asking him if he wanted to join and become their new drummer. Trey even acknowledged that he was flabbergasted by how much of a leap it was.

* Derek Boyer and Bill Robinson were both founding members of Music/DecrepitBirth, who were heavily influenced by Music/{{Suffocation}} and whose early work was highly reminiscent of said band. When Suffocation reformed in 2004, Boyer wound up being the man who they chose to fill the bass position; eight years later, Frank Mullen was unable to make the European tour, and guess who got to fill in for him on vocals? Bill, that's who.

* Ed Crawford was a fan of Music/TheMinutemen who heard a false rumor that the band were looking for a new guitarist and vocalist after D. Boon's death, found Mike Watt's phone number, and called to express his interest in trying out. In fact surviving members Watt and George Hurley were still too despondent over Boon's death to even consider continuing to make music. However, Crawford and Mike Watt kept in contact with each other through mail, and Crawford's persistence in wanting the two to keep making music eventually paid off in a big way: He made an unannounced trip from Ohio to California and convinced Watt to let him "audition". He then became the guitarist and vocalist of fIREHOSE, Watt and Hurley's next project.

* Russian keyboard player and Music/{{Yes}} fan Igor Khoroshev got to do session work, and then became a full-time member of Yes (1997 - 2002) as a result of sending them a demo tape. Come to that, the Buggles (vocalist Trevor Horn and keyboardist Geoff Downes) were both Yes fans (they also shared a manager), were both pleased when they were asked to contribute to the group, and both stunned to find out that they were to replace the departed Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman.
** Benoît David. He became the lead vocalist of a Yes tribute band called Close To The Edge in 1994. In 2008, he was selected by members of the group Yes to stand in for an ailing Jon Anderson

** ''Fly From Here'' itself would feature an Promoted Fanboy in the form of Benoit David, a Jon Anderson-soundalike (and lookalike) Canadian member of a Yes tribute band. The album would feature the song The Buggles sent to Yes to record, expended into a [[EpicRocking lengthy epic]], and would mark the return of Horn (as producer and guest vocalist) and Downes (as keyboardist), ironically enough replacing Anderson and Wakeman for the second time!

** Arin Ilejay, in turn, has been a long-time fan of Avenged Sevenfold -- and The Rev, in particular. He was the official replacement for The Rev, but sadly never really managed to fit in the band (he described his experience as "being inside and outside at the same time") and was replaced after four years by [[Music/BadReligion Brooks Wackerman.]] He immediately found a new job, however, with another band he was a fan of, Islander.

* The members of Music/AvengedSevenfold are all fans of Music/DreamTheater. Mike Portnoy from Dream Theater had offer to fill in for the recently deceased Jimmy "The Rev" Sullivan for the rest of Avenged Sevenfold's ''Nightmare'' tour.
** Arin Ilejay, in turn, has been a long-time fan of Avenged Sevenfold -- and The Rev, in particular. He was the second replacement for The Rev -- and is still performing with the band.

* When Bob Weir and Phil Lesh of the GratefulDead reunited to form Furthur, the latest post-Jerry Garcia Dead project, in 2009, they recruited longtime Deadhead John Kadlecik on lead guitar. To be fair, by this point JK had already becaome fairly well known in jam band circles with his own band Dark Star Orchestra. [[spoiler:Given the fact that DSO is a ''Grateful Dead tribute band'', it fits the trope.]]

* Wisconsin musician Sean Carey joined Justin Vernon's solo project BonIver after approaching Vernon during Bon Iver's first show. Carey had "learned all of the drum parts and all of the harmonies," and ended up touring with Vernon for over two years.

** ''Fly From Here'' itself would feature an Promoted Fanboy in the form of Benoit David, a Jon Anderson-soundalike (and lookalike) Canadian member of a Yes tribute band. The album would feature the song The Buggles sent to Yes to record, expended into a [[EpicRocking lengthy epic]], and would mark the return of Horn (as producer and guest vocalist) and Downes (as keyboardist), ironically enough replacing Anderson and Wakeman for the second time! :)

* In one Music/GreenDay concert, Billy Joe Armstrong saw a teenage fan in the audience holding up a sign that said "I can play every song on ''{{Music/Dookie}}!"'' So Billy Joe pulled him up on stage and handed him the guitar. He played "When I Come Around" with the band and ''nailed it.''

* In one Music/GreenDay concert, Billy Joe Armstrong saw a teenage fan in the audience holding up a sign that said "I can play every song on ''Dookie!"'' So Billy Joe pulled him up on stage and handed him the guitar. He played "When I Come Around" with the band and ''nailed it.''

* Quite possibly surpassing Ripper Owens is HenryRollins. Rollins was a Music/BlackFlag fan who, while watching a show, was invited to go up onstage (or simply jumped onstage and the band just went with it, depending on who you ask) and sing "Clocked In." Eventually, he was offered an opportunity to be the band's fourth singer and he accepted. Rollins was the longest-serving and the most well known BlackFlag vocalist.

* Russian keyboard player and Music/{{Yes}} fan Igor Khoroshev got to do session work, and then became a full-time member of {{Yes}} (1997 - 2002) as a result of sending them a demo tape. Come to that, the Buggles (vocalist Trevor Horn and keyboardist Geoff Downes) were both Yes fans (they also shared a manager), were both pleased when they were asked to contribute to the group, and both stunned to find out that they were to replace the departed Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman.

* Helen Love is a bubblegum pop-punk band that writes about almost nothing but the lead singer's crush on [[TheRamones Joey Ramone]]. Joey Ramone did guest vocals on their song Punk Boy.

* Rob Sheridan, current art director for NineInchNails, was lucky enough to be spotted and hired by Trent Reznor [[http://web.archive.org/web/20010625023248/members.nbci.com/ninatt/main.htm/ thanks to his fansite dedicated to the band.]]

** Speaking of Reznor, he's a big fan of DavidBowie, and was influenced by the album ''Low'' when recording ''The Downward Spiral''. NIN would later tour with Bowie in 1995, and Reznor himself would feature in the video for "I'm Afraid of Americans", which was based around one of his remixes.

* Quite possibly surpassing Ripper Owens is HenryRollins. Rollins was a BlackFlag fan who, while watching a show, was invited to go up onstage (or simply jumped onstage and the band just went with it, depending on who you ask) and sing "Clocked In." Eventually, he was offered an opportunity to be the band's fourth singer and he accepted. Rollins was the longest-serving and the most well known BlackFlag vocalist.
** Rollins had a standup bit about desperately trying not to fanboy out upon learning that he'd be working in the studio with [[KingCrimson Adrian Belew]] (as part of the WilliamShatner song "I Can't Get Behind That").

* Music/Devo "Session Drummer to the Stars" Josh Freese learned to drum to DEVO's _Freedom of Choice_ album. When DEVO reunited in 1996, Freese was behind the kit, and has been their regular drummer since.

* A lot of modern pop-rock bands stem from this. A major example is the group PanicAtTheDisco, who stalked Pete Wentz of FallOutBoy on the internet before Wentz signed them to his label.

* [[{{Stalkerwithacrush}} Yuri Chinen]] of [[JapanesePopMusic Johnny's Entertainment's]] Hey! Say! Jump! auditioned for the jimusho because he was a huge fan of [[{{Arashi}} Satoshi Ohno]] and wanted to be leader of a Johnny's group like his hero. The two have had photo shoots together in which Ohno looks decidedly uncomfortable with Chinen's [[PsychoSupporter way too]] [[{{creepychild}} happy]] [[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YX958lWO-mg/S696hlKytPI/AAAAAAAAAWY/z4oaTVl4oV4/s1600/1_942399469l.jpg smile]]

* Music/{{Nirvana}}'s Kurt Cobain was a huge fan of indie rock music and his journals were filled with lists of his favorite bands and albums. After he became famous, made sure to never go an interview without gushing over some obscure twee pop or punk band that he adored. In fact, his love of bands like The Raincoats, BeatHappening, The Meat Puppets, ShonenKnife, Young Marble Giants, Music/{{Melvins}}, Scratch Acid, Gang of Four and Millions of Dead Cops gained these bands (many of them long broken up) [[ColbertBump a major resurgence and increased album sales]]. His favorite band of all time, Scottish twee pop act the Vaselines, were signed to Sub Pop several years after they broke up for the release of a greatest hits album that was created solely from consumer interest spurred by Cobain's constant praise of the band. He even named his daughter after their guitarist Frances Mckee.

* TheBeastieBoys' Adam Yauch was a long time fan of BadBrains - when the self-titled Bad Brains album was reissued on CD, the packaging included a quote from Yauch calling it "the best [[HardcorePunk punk/hardcore]] album of all time". Yauch ended up becoming a friend of the band and produced their 2007 album ''Build A Nation'' (as well as playing percussion on some tracks). After Yauch's death, Bad Brains paid tribute with a song called "MCA Dub".

* Music/ElectricLightOrchestra's lead singer and FaceOfTheBand Jeff Lynne conceived the band's idea with Roy Wood to be a sort of sequel to Music/TheBeatles, taking rock music in the direction "that The Beatles had left off." He later worked with former Beatles members on various projects, including TheTravelingWilburys and producing the "Threetles"[[note]]the nickname given to Music/TheBeatles minus Music/JohnLennon, who went back into the studio together for ''The Beatles Anthology'' to record a few new singles[[/note]] singles "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love".

* John Frusciante, a devoted follower of the Music/RedHotChiliPeppers during their early career, became the band's guitarist in 1988.

* And then there's Zak Starkey, who was a childhood pupil of Keith Moon, and grew up to take his place in TheWho for their tours in the '90s and 2000s.

*** And then he collapsed at a concert and The Who got a fan from the audience to be the drummer for the rest of the show.

* Rappers Kid Cudi and Big Sean, as well as singer Estelle, all first came on industry radars by bumping into KanyeWest and handing him their demos. Within 5 years, the former 2 are members of West's collective GOOD Music, and Estelle is a close friend.