Miss Fingerwood and the Meter-Reader are ringers--real professional musicians brought in for Pete's fictional band. Miss Fingerwood was played by Syd Straw, who amongst other credits performed back-up vocals for Pat Benatar and was a member of the Golden Palominos with REM frontman Michael Stipe. The Meter Reader was Marshall Crenshaw, best known for his hit "Someday, Someway" and his contributions to numerous film soundtracks.
Pete's song is "Summerbaby" by the band Polaris. One line of the song was changed to remove an explicit sexual reference.
The band Pete sees performing his song for the first time is Polaris, who also performed the Pete and Pete opening credits and numerous other songs within the show. The band's name can be seen on the drum-kit in the background.
All of the songs performed by the Blowholes (Summer Wind, Marmalade Cream, You Painted My World, and Piledriver) were written by Robert Agnello, who also played bass on them.While only short segments of each song were used in the show, they all had full-length versions that can be heard on YouTube.
"Marmalade Cream" is a take on "Mississippi Queen" by the band Mountain. Originally the producers wanted to use "Mississippi Queen" but couldn't secure the rights.