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14 bands that put the “super” in supergroup
As Frank Carter and the Sex Pistols join the dream team big leagues this month, we round up the best supergroups in music
Before AI intervention could make any hypothetical scenario a reality, music fans were left to the folly of fantasy when it came to music supergroups. We’ve all played the supergroup game, right? When you cherry-pick your ultimate fantasy band like a pick ‘n’ mix of musical talent? Well, some of these fantasies have actually come to fruition.
The recent unholy union of Frank Carter & the Sex Pistols got us thinking. Having upgraded his Rattlesnakes for original scallywags Steve Jones, Glen Matlock and Paul Cook in aid of London venue Bush Hall, there was overwhelming demand to hear the Sex Pistols’ oeuvre with a new energetic voice. With new dates announced for the autumn, playing Never Mind The Bollocks in full, Jones enthused that the newly formed supergroup will be “tighter than a rat’s arse by the time we get to Kentish Town.” Lovely stuff.
Whether or not some team-ups could be categorised as a side-project or a supergroup is up for discussion as there’s undeniably crossover in the Venn diagram between the two. But who really cares when there’s a fresh musical melange to be experienced, and an incredibly likely clash of egos on the horizon.
That said, here is a comprehensive list of the other bands that put the “super” into the supergroup…
ABBA
Though it’s not particularly well known outside of their native Sweden, ABBA are, in fact, a supergroup. Each of ABBA’s members lived a life in music before coupling up and assembling the Eurovision-winning pop group – Agnetha Fältskog was a folk-pop princess, Anni-Frid ‘Frida’ Lyngstad was a respected jazz singer, whilst Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus achieved pop chart stardom with their respective groups The Hep Stars and Hootenanny Singers. A clue for their supergroup credentials lies in ABBA’s band name, as it’s an acronym for Agnetha, Benny, Björn, and Anni-Frid.
Audioslave
With grunge mainstays Soundgarden calling it a day in 1997 and Zack De La Rocha becoming increasingly bored with Rage Against The Machine three years later, a pathway opened up for Chris Cornell to slot into the rap rock outfit. Thankfully, though, Cornell wouldn’t try his hand at politically-motivated rapping… What they concocted instead was Audioslave, a heavy rock supergroup that felt as close to Led Zeppelin as 20th century music fans could hear, with their groove-indebted rhythm section and Tom Morello’s idiosyncratic riffage complementing Cornell’s powerful shriek and lyricism. After their stellar eponymous debut album in 2002 established Audioslave as a new force in heavy music, it was diminishing returns for their subsequent two albums, with Cornell citing “irresolvable personality conflicts as well as musical differences” for their 2006 split.
Boygenius
The sad girl cerberus of American indie rock: boygenius. When Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus fortified their unique songwriting talents under the supergroup banner in 2018 – taking a dig at male egotism with their moniker – they were already kindred spirits on personal and professional levels who were desperate to find an excuse to perform with one another. By the time they released their debut album, The Record, in 2023, boygenius were navigating obsessive fandom and stardom together in group therapy sessions whilst their delicate and empowering songwriting resonated around the world. A GRAMMY and a Brit award later, boygenius isn’t just a flash-in-the-pan – there’s plenty more where that came from.
Cream
Arguably the group which brought the term ‘supergroup’ into the lexicon of contemporary music, Cream quickly shone as one of the most iconic rock bands of the sixties. Their star faded just as swiftly due to each member’s tempestuous natures, however. Cream’s gritty blues-indebted rock psychedelia was spearheaded by former guitarist for The Yardbirds and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers in Eric Clapton, who had already established himself as a guitar virtuoso by this point, yet evolved into a bonafide ‘guitar god’ with the release of lauded 1967 album Disraeli Gears. Joined by the Graham Bond Organisation’s drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce (who had since left to join Manfred Mann), the trio shook the foundations of rock music with their primal, individual talents. Boiling tensions between former bandmates Baker and Bruce led Clapton to pull the plug on Cream after just two years together.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash left their respective bands The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and The Hollies to embark on Crosby, Stills & Nash; the harmonic folk venture that later went on to become synonymous with the countercultural optimism of the late sixties. But they made their supergroup a little more super after inviting Stills’ former bandmate Neil Young into the mix for their matchless 1970 album, Déjà Vu. From then onwards Young dipped his toe in and out of the folk-rock group yet was welcomed in every time by the trio – not to mention by their fans – despite the frequent sniping and personality clashes, rejoining for several tours and not-so-beloved 1988 album, American Dream.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
They might be consigned to the catalogue of Alan Partridge’s late-night radio hits these days, but there’s no doubting Emerson, Lake & Palmer were once absolutely massive. Like, selling out stadiums across the United States across an entire decade kind of massive. Comprised of The Nice keyboardist Keith Emerson, Atomic Rooster’s drummer Carl Palmer, and King Crimson bassist and vocalist Greg Lake, the progressive rock powerhouse became one of the most commercially successful groups of the seventies, with Emerson’s knife-wielding theatrics at the Isle Of Wight Festival pushing the trio into prominence before eventually splitting in 1979. Often deemed uncool today, Emerson, Lake & Palmer became a symbol of everything that was wrong with progressive rock’s self-important virtuosity. Still, they were laughing all the way to the bank, no doubt.
The Last Shadow Puppets
What’s a standard course of action for Britain’s biggest indie rock band followed-up a record-breaking debut album with a record-breaking sophomore album? Start a baroque pop supergroup, of course. That’s precisely Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys’ thought process, who began writing music in the style of Scott Walker and David Bowie with The Rascals’ singer Miles Kane and Simian Mobile Disco’s James Ford. It proved to be an inspired and reinvigorating creative exercise for all involved, bagging The Last Shadow Puppets a UK No.1 album in 2008 with The Age Of The Understatement which they replicated in 2016 after a lengthy hiatus with Everything You’ve Come To Expect. It begs to be seen if they’ll reunite, especially given the supergroup has audibly informed Arctic Monkeys’ most recent two albums, both of which were produced by Ford.
Temple Of The Dog
Chris Cornell makes another appearance on this list thanks to his involvement in supergroup Temple Of The Dog who appeared in the thick of grunge’s heyday. Formed by members from two of Seattle’s grunge heavyweights in Soundgarden and who would later become Pearl Jam, Temple Of The Dog’s one-off eponymous album was conceived as a tribute to Mother Love Bone frontman Andy Wood who died of a heroin overdose at the age of 24. It became a grunge classic, and even introduced the world to a certain Eddie Vedder, whose vocals on ‘Hunger Strike’ were the first time his voice was laid down on record.
The Dead Weather
Jack White’s supergroup The Dead Weather actually came to fruition because of his other supergroup The Raconteurs. After losing his voice touring with the latter, he invited The Kills’ Alison Mosshart to fill in for him, which inspired him to start a band with her, joined by The Raconteurs’ Jack Lawrence and Dean Fertita who would later join Queens of the Stone Age. Acting out his ambition to revisit the drums, White sat behind the skins whilst Mosshart swooned on the band’s trio of crunchy blues rock albums Horehound, Sea Of Cowards, and Dodge And Burn before returning to their respective day jobs.
The Highwaymen
Staking their claim for the most badass menagerie of musicians in supergroup history, The Highwaymen consisted of outlaw country legends Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson. From 1985 they recorded three albums together: Highwayman, Highwayman 2, and The Road Goes On Forever. Their last collective effort came in 1995, and it’s likely that the band of outlaw’s road will go on forever, with Cash and Jennings sadly passing away since.
The Smile
One for the ‘not quite sure if it’s a side-project’ pile, The Smile are swiftly becoming the primary creative outlet for Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood – especially with the recent announcement of Cutouts, their second full-length within twelve months – which I feel qualifies them as a supergroup for the time being. Any band that consists of 66.66% Radiohead members, let alone their predominant creative force, seems pretty darn super. Sons Of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner adds a layer of fluid rhythmic complexity on the drums too; the cherry on the cake of The Smile’s cosmic art rock that makes them very much the main act for Yorke and Greenwood. For the foreseeable at least.
Them Crooked Vultures
Rock fans had to rub their eyes in disbelief after it was teased that Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme and Nirvana’s Dave Grohl were in the studio with Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. But when the trifecta of respective rock music greats merged, eyebrows were raised as to whether it’d be any good or just another exercise in besmirching the other band’s legacies. Them Crooked Vultures were an overwhelming success however, blending Grohl’s and Jones’ meaty rhythmic chops with Homme’s disorientating fretwork. As early as 2005, Foo Fighters’ main man Grohl mentioned his plan to make a supergroup with Homme and Jones. Talk about manifestation. The power trio only recorded one album together in 2009, touring worldwide in support and only reuniting thus far for the Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts at London’s Wembley Stadium and Los Angeles’ Kia Forum in 2022. Josh recently reiterated his desire to go “one more round”, however. Stay tuned in that case.
Traveling Wilburys
Often described as “the biggest supergroup ever”, it’s easy to see why the Traveling Wilburys deserve the accolade due to the sheer calibre of the artists involved in the line-up. Bob Dylan, The Beatles’ George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Electric Light Orchestra’s Jeff Lynne, and Tom Petty. Their star power even awed the members themselves – George Harrison reportedly recorded videos of Bob Dylan whilst he was unaware, and Dylan once remarked in earnest to Tom Petty when George briefly left the room, “‘You know, he was in the Beatles?’”. Despite their admiration for one another, the Wilburys worked because of their shared love of rootsy rock and friendship prior to forming. It was a bonus that their stint in the supergroup rejuvenated their individual careers. Sadly, Roy Orbison died right before the release of their debut record in 1988 which derailed momentum. They released another record two years later, but never got around to performing live.
Velvet Revolver
Who would’ve thought banding together musicians with penchants for rock ‘n’ roll’s many excesses would yield such fruitful results? Former Guns N’ Roses’ members Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum thought so at least, who recruited Stone Temple Pilots’ writhing frontman Scott Weiland for their heavy rock supergroup Velvet Revolver in 2002. Commercial success and a GRAMMY Award later – for stand-out gloomy glam-rock single ‘Slither’ – ghosts from the past caught up with Weiland, creating tensions within the band that eventually fired him, with Velvet Revolver all-but dying with his departure.
