Artists/bands that were once quite popular, yet nowadays are mostly ignored in canonical history books

Not until a decade later, though.

Later on, The Alarm dude did this with a pop punk song no better or worse than his glory-ish days output.

In February 2004, Peters' new line-up of Alarm MM++ carried out a hoax on the British music industry by issuing "45 RPM" under the fictitious name The Poppy Fields. Peters, having garnered positive feedback for the song, decided to disassociate it from his veteran band to have it judged on its own merits, and recruited a young Welsh group called the Wayriders to lip-sync the song in the video.[4] The so-called Poppy Fields took "45 RPM" into the UK Top 30 before the hoax was revealed, setting the stage for the album In the Poppy Fields.

How many times did he successfully pull off this "45 RPM" by The Poppy Fields as played by The Wayriders hoax?!

you tell me...

Hearing good things about this new band on Yellow Kid Records tbh

Isn't that trick (a younger more photogenic band miming to a track by oldsters) used in the video for Blues Traveler's "Run-Around"?

also The Killers in the video for Crystal by New Order. actively pretending to be a non-existent band on the release is a different thing though

Isn't that trick (a younger more photogenic band miming to a track by oldsters) used in the video for Blues Traveler's "Run-Around"?

It's used quite often:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbrtS8E0kpY

Paul Revere and the Raiders

― Cunga, Tuesday, May 13, 2008 2:19 PM (twelve years ago)

Paul Revere & the Raiders

― dracula et son fils (morrisp), Monday, October 28, 2019 10:54 AM (ten months ago)

this too, if maybe mostly for sheer quantity

Manfred Mann

― dracula et son fils (morrisp), Monday, October 28, 2019 9:32 PM (ten months ago)