In the 60’s and 70’s, it was fairly common for a band to disband and then join together with other well-known musicians to form a super group. Eric Clapton did it at least 3 times. Steve Winwood did it a couple of times. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young all did. These are just off the top of my head.
Does this not happen much anymore or am I just too far removed from today’s music to see it?
I feel like songs these days are “X artist featuring Y artist.” So not a supergroup, but there are a lot of collaborations between major artists.
Chris Cornell did it a few times before he died a few years ago.
Jack White seems to be a band butterfly.
Ditto Eddie Vedder and Dave Grohl.
Rap artists do it all the time.
Chickenfoot comes to mind (Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani, and Chad Smith).
IMO today’s music focuses on singers, who can access any number of session musicians, and collaborations among singers may not go well.
I consider Case/ Lang/ Veirs to be a “supergroup.*”
A favorite song from their only? album: Atomic Number
I think the difference is that a “super group” was typically a band where ALL the musicians were famous in their own right, not just a collaboration or duo between two famous singers.
So with today’s music landscape being predominantly solo artists, you don’t really see “supergroups” anymore, because nobody knows who Taylor Swift’s guitarist is, who Katy Perry’s keyboard player is, or who does the drum/rhythm tracks for Beyonce.
Today’s equivalent are the collaborative songs - X featuring Y type stuff, with few exceptions like Chickenfoot.
To create a supergroup, you need a well-known singer, a well-known guitarist, a well-known drummer, etc to get together and form a single group.
But today, there aren’t really any well-known guitarists or drummers, so you can’t have a supergroup.
Velvet Revolver definitely qualifies, and probably the Raconteurs.
ETA: How about Them Crooked Vultures, with John Paul Jones and Dave Grohl?
And Josh Homme with all his drugs.
Definitely in the “few exceptions” category.
I’ve got a question though… is there a distinction between a group made of famous musicians from defunct bands as their primary gig, and ones where the members are still part of their own bands/solo acts and are just doing it for fun in between their other bands’ engagements and tours?
I always conceived of a “supergroup” as being the second one, and the first as being something fundamentally different. Like say… Bad Company being the first, and “Them Crooked Vultures” being the second.
The Hollywood Vampires feature Alice Cooper, Joe Perry and… Johnny Depp.
The music the super groups play has fallen out of favor. It’s relatively common in Prog music. Dream Theater’s once and present drummer Mike Portnoy seems to be in a new prog super group every week. The members of those bands might not be household names but they are in the Prog community.
The 60’s and 70’s were a long time ago. That kind of music isn’t being done any more. There aren’t any more legends like Eric Clapton who have done music for the ages. The old-time rockers like Hall and Oates and Peter Frampton are in their 70’s and playing gigs at casinos, not banding together to create ‘super-groups’… Now, it’s all singers in hootchie-mama outfits, rap artists and who knows what else. Maybe if they’re big enough they band together for things like the super-bowl. Pink is coming to the Dome here with Sheryl Crow - (I didn’t know they were ‘big enough’ to play at the Dome). I’m out of it, but - IMO.
Supergroups don’t have to contain super guitarists, super drummers, etc. The Traveling Wilburys had Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, and Jeff Lynne. None slouches as musicians, but they weren’t in the group because of their guitar chops. They were there because they were big musical stars and friends.
If Beyonce, Christina, Dua Lipa or any number of current stars put out an album together under a group name they’d be a super group even if none of them played an instrument.
Certainly boygenius qualifies as a modern indie super group. I just wonder if music has become so diverse that these will be a little harder to spot.
I am very disappointed this thread wasn’t about the Avengers and the Justice League.
Chickenfoot sort of morphed into The Circle with Jason Bonham on drums and Vic Johnson on guitar. Joe Satriani is back on board for the upcoming “Best Of All Worlds” tour.
Also FIZZ
How could we forget Supernova, that amazing supergroup consisting of Tommy Lee, Jason Newstead and Gilby Clarke?
Sorry, after typing that I totally realized why we forgot about them.
I for one hope those guys guys get together to do something else pretty soon. Last I heard, Grohl was saying he would be all in.