The majority of the musicians in the movie are actual musicians:
Mark Wahlberg fronted Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch;
Jason Bonham (A.C., Steel Dragon drummer) is the son of
John Bonham and was the drummer for Led Zeppelin;
Jeff Pilson (Jorgen, Steel Dragon bassist) is the bassist for Dokken;
Zakk Wylde (Ghode, Steel Dragon guitarist) has played with several bands, including Ozzy Osbourne and has his own band, Black Label Society;
Blas Elias (Donny, Blood Pollution drummer) is the drummer of Slaughter;
Brian Vander Ark (Ricki Bell, Blood Pollution bassist) is a singer and guitarist in The Verve Pipe;
Nick Catanese (Xander Cummins, Blood Pollution guitarist) is a guitarist in Wylde's Black Label Society;
Stephan Jenkins (Bradley, Black Babylon singer) is a singer for Third Eye Blind;
Vitamin C (Guitarist outside the Steel Dragon mansion) is better known as Vitamin C;
Myles Kennedy (Thor) joined Alter Bridge with ex-Creed members after leaving his band, The Mayfield Four, and has also sung for Guns N' Roses guitarist
Slash. The majority of the songs are also played by 80's musicians, including Wahlberg's singing voice, which belongs to Mike Matijevic, lead singer of Steelheart, best known for their 1991 hit power ballad "I'll Never Let You Go". Neil Zlozower, a world famous rock photographer, plays the photographer in the scene where "Chris" does his first photo shoot with Steel Dragon. Steve Plunkett, singer for '80's rock band Autograph, co-wrote the song "Livin' the Life".
