Watching Rock Star: Supernova the other day, and I got to wondering. Every once in a while a group of refugees from successful groups team up and put out an album. IIRC, none of them seem very successful, but I may be wrong. I had heard that Asia was a “super-group”, and I guess you could count The Traveling Wilberries (I probably butchered the spelling), but I have two questions:
What is the most successful “super-group”?
Were any "super-groups"more successful that the bands that spawned them?
Please note, in asking these questions, “super-groups” do not include bands made up of successful but generally unknown session musicians (i.e. Mr. Mister) or bands with one major star and a bunch of unknowns (i.e. Wings).
Crosby, Stills & Nash (& Young)? Very successful for a couple of years, and at least as well remembered now as their former bands The Byrds, The Hollies, and Buffalo Springfield.
Cream arguably fits the definition of supergroup, and Audioslave has proven pretty popular, although they haven’t eclipsed Soundgarden and Rage Against the Machine just yet.
Cream was considered a super-group when it formed, although CSNY was the first group I heard referred to as such. Eric Clapton had been in the Yardbirds and then achieved fame in The Bluesbreakers. Jack Bruce was well known from the Graham Bond Organization as well as The Bluesbreakers, and Ginger Baker left the Graham Bond Org to join Cream. And then came Blind Faith.
Was Led Zeppelin a supergroup? I’d think that they were fairly successful (did anyone other than Jimmy Page have major label albums out at the time though?)
How about Dashboard Confessional? It wasn’t formed as a supergroup, so it probably doesn’t count, but its founder, Chris Carrabba, wanted to expand his sound he included former members of Sunny Day Real Estate and The Promise Ring, fairly well-known bands in their own right.
John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page were both session musicians well before forming Zep (and of course Jimmy was in the Yarbirds for a stint right at the end), but Robert Plant and John Bonham were just in small local bands jamming around.
**Blind Faith **was successful – a #1 album – before breaking up. In that respect, it was more successful than Traffic or Family, and equalled Cream.
Bad Company clearly fits your definition of successful supergroup: it was made up of members of King Crimson, Mott the Hoople, and Free, and did better than all of them.
The Firm was a super group with Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) and Paul Rodgers (Free and Bad company). Their albums didn’t sell as well as those of the members’ previous groups, though, and Page subsequently said that the Firm wasn’t intended to last more than two albums.
The Power Station was a fairly successful group, consisting of Robert Palmer, John Taylor and Andy Taylor from Duran Duran, and Tony Thompson from CHIC. All four of those members were fairly well-known, so they’d fit your definition of super group.
Also, Damn Yankees was a damn successful group. It had Ted Nugent, Tommy Shaw from Styx, and Jack Blades from Night Ranger.
The Highwaymen might be the only country supergroup and I think they are considered to have been successful I think mostly because it revitalized some sagging careers.
In its day, Emerson, Lake & Palmer were considered to be a supergroup, with members from The Nice, King Crimson, and Atomic Rooster. So Asia may have been the first second generation supergroup. :dubious:
I like the band Electronic. It’s Bernard Sumner (singer of New Order), Johnny Marr (guitarist from the Smiths), and in some songs the guys from the Pet Shop Boys. I doubt they were really popular, but they were successful in that they had some great songs.
Is The New Pornographers a supergroup? I’d say they are successful.
My all-time favorite band… as you note, Neil Tennant was involved in the first album. Karl Bartos from Kraftwerk was involved in the second album. Arthur Baker, super-producer (Afrika Bambaataa, New Edition) co-produced and did other stuff.
At one point Electronic also featured Jimi Goodwin (of Doves) on bass.
Gorillaz might be a stretch, but it consisted of Damon Albarn (Blur), Jamie Hewlett (cartoonist/creator of Tank Girl), and Del Tha Funkee Homosapien.
There’s talk of a band called Freebass which consists of Peter Hook (New Order), Andy Rourke (The Smiths), and Mani (The Stone Roses). I know they exist but I don’t know if they’ve recorded anything yet.
I get what you mean, but King Crimson could actually be considered “Robert Fripp’s Supergroup”,couldn’t it? I think it’s debatable that Bad Co. has “done better” than Crimso, though. Over their respective careers, I wonder how their record and ticket sales stack up against each other.
(did anyone other than Jimmy Page have major label albums out at the time though?)
It had Ted Nugent, Tommy Shaw from Styx, and Jack Blades from Night Ranger.