Top 10 Best Musician Cameos on Teen Sitcoms

In the 90s boy bands were a global sensation, and the Backstreet Boys were one of the hottest groups in the world. Though we only get to witness a short glimpse of them at the end, The Band Episode of Sabrina is well worth the watch to experience it. Harvey signs himself, Sabrina, and Valerie up for a battle of the bands even though none of them can play instruments. Luckily, Sabrina whips up some bottled talent and the three become overnight rockstars. At the end of the episode, a group of kids happen upon the leftovers and the Backstreet Boys are born. Almost as cool was when Britney Spears cameoed right after Melissa Joan Hart was in her music video for (You Drive Me) Crazy.

Aaron Carter was an early 2000s sensation. And Lizzie McGuire is still to this day regarded as a Disney Channel classic. When Carter is shooting a music video in Lizzie’s town she, Miranda, Gordo, and Matt all sneak onto set to meet him. Through some hilarious hijinx they actually end up on stage during his performance and dance with him. This music video is iconic for 2000s kids. It’s so much fun watching these two worlds collide. Especially since after their kiss under the mistletoe, Aaron Carter and Hillary Duff dated in real life. Who didn’t swoon when Aaron sang right to Lizzie?

While we’re still in boyband territory, let’s talk about this dream come true. Apparently, Candace Cameron Bure is a huge fan of the New Kids on the Block, a quality adopted by her character D.J. Tanner. Though the height of their popularity was in the late 80s and early 90s, her love for them never faded even in adulthood. You can imagine what an amazing gift front row tickets to their concert would be. Too bad Kimmy accidentally gets counterfeit tickets for D.J.s 39th birthday. So she one ups herself and brings the boy band to the house to sing her Happy Birthday. If that wasn’t awesome enough D.J., Kimmy, and Stephanie all end up on stage singing with the Kids as well.

When Jesse McCartney comes to the Tipton for a concert, it makes everyone a little crazy. London and Maddie are obsessed with meeting him, and Zack just wants to sell all of his stuff and get rich. It’s so funny watching the two girls jump through all of these ridiculous hoops trying to get Jesse’s attention. Especially, when the one he ends up bonding with the most is Zack. Rather than just a quick appearance or a musical performance, like many of the entries on this list, we get to enjoy a whole episode with Jesse McCartney, which is pretty cool. And of course we do also get a couple of awesome musical performances.

If you were a fan of this Disney Channel classic, then you already know that the cast was filled with multi talented actors. So it was no surprise when a musical episode was produced. Raven accidentally lets it slip to the whole school that she had a vision about a talent scout from an American Idol type show, Undercover Superstar, coming to Bayside. The students go crazy impressing the scout, or at least who they believe is the scout. Turns out they’ve been performing for the janitor. The real scout eventually does arrive and is revealed to be Paula Abdul. She only appears for a brief moment, but it’s so cool that this role was filled by the pop superstar and American Idol judge.

Tori and her friends learn of a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory style contest wherein finding all the letters of her name in several different pints of ice cream will earn the winner a private concert with pop star, Ke$ha. Pretty cool, right? Definitely cool enough to eat through countless gallons of ice cream and entertain some gutsy requests to get the letters they need. Of course in the end Tori and friends find their efforts...victorious. All that hysteria turns out to be well worth it, as the gang rocks out to Kesha’s synth pop awesomeness.

This one is actually really interesting. In most of the examples on this list, the musician’s cameo is a cool moment where the characters get to meet their favorite musical artist. But this time the special guest star is actually intertwined in the overall story arc of the other characters. When the Russo’s beloved Uncle Kelbo comes to stay with the kids, Justin, Max, and Alex discover that he is also the latin pop star Shakira. Apparently, Uncle Kelbo invented her years ago to profit from her fame and fortune. But that is a huge violation of wizarding rules, so he begins to lose control over the spell. He can’t stop from transforming between Shakira and his natural state.

Who loves Britney Spears? Kenan and Kel love Britney Spears! Kel wins a contest and gets a trip for two to the orange soda festival. He and Kenan accidentally get on the wrong flight and end up in star studded La La Land instead. With some time to kill before getting on the right plane, what else are they to do but stalk some celebrities? The duo sneak onto the Julie Brown Show where they meet several stars including one Britney Spears. Naturally, they freak out with excitement, and Kenan even faints. These two manage to get themselves into some pretty crazy situations, but this one has got to be one of the craziest.

One Direction rose quickly to success after joining together on X Factor. So it was inevitable that they appeared on the hottest web show in Seattle. This is another example of an appearance where we get so much more than just a performance, or a quick cameo. We get to spend the whole episode with the boy band. 1D agree to appear on iCarly, but Harry fakes sick in order to spend more time with Carly pampering him. They come up with a plan to make Harry think he’s being replaced with Gibby to get him to fess up and perform the show. It’s so much fun seeing the guys join the gang for an episode. It’s a cool peek behind the curtain of fame and stardom.

Part of what makes this one so cool is that Dolly Parton is actually Miley Cyrus’ godmother in real life. On the show, the country music icon appears in several episodes as Miley Stewart’s Aunt Dolly. She’s the fun aunt that Miley goes to for stories of Dolly’s youthful adventures, and to talk about boys and her singing career. It’s implied throughout her appearances that this fictional interpretation has a music career similar to Parton’s real life counterpart. She even performs with Miley in the final episode she’s in. What a treat to see both of these country stars shining together.