So what is a ‘supergroup’?
The truth is that nobody seems to know for sure. But the calculation seems to be that if someone is successful (and makes loads of money) in one group, they’ll be even more successful (and make even more money) if teamed up with a bunch of similarly successful people. Sometimes this is nakedly commercial in intent. On other occasions, the musicians themselves seem genuinely interested in what they could create together. And occasionally, the results go stratospheric. Read on for our hall of fame of rock's greatest bands-on-steroids.
23. Mr. Big
Not to be confused with the ‘70s British pop band of the same name, this Mr. Big featured the talents of singer Eric Martin; impressive shredder Paul Gilbert, formerly of Racer X; bassist Billy Sheehan, who’s recorded with David Lee Roth and Steve Vai; and journeyman drummer Pat Torpey, who’d worked with everyone from Robert Plant to Ted Nugent.
Taking their name from the Free song of the same title, they combined virtuoso musicianship with songwriting skill that produced the 1992 hit single ‘To Be With You’, which topped the chart in 15 countries. Gilbert subsequently left the band and was replaced by the equally impressive Richie Kotzen (formerly of Poison), but Mr. Big finally decided to call it a day after 10 albums, following Torpey's death in 2018.
22. Badlands
Okay, so we’re stretching the definition of ‘supergroup’ here, since Badlands never sold many albums and their biggest names were founding guitarist Jake E. Lee, who’d just been kicked out of Ozzy Osbourne’s band and drummer Eric Singer, who’d served time with Black Sabbath and went on to join Kiss.
But they also featured tremendous singer Ray Gillen, who became one of the many vocalists to pass through the ranks of Black Sabbath following the departure of Ozzy and Ronnie James Dio. Sadly, Badlands only lasted for two albums (track ‘em down if you can) and Gillen died of an AIDS-related disease in 1993.
21. Hagar Schon Aaronson Shrieve
Yep, supergroup bend names sure do have a habit of sounding like firms of solicitors. HSAS was formed by former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar and Journey guitarist Neal Schon. They were joined by journeyman bassist Kenny Aaronson and drummer Michael Shrieve, best known for his stint in Santana. They lasted for just one album, 1984's Through the Fire, before Schon returned to Journey. Today they’re best remembered for their cover of ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’, which was a minor hit single.
20. National Health
A Canterbury scene jazz-rocker supergroup founded by Dave Stewart whose line-up included, at various times, Bill Bruford, Steve Hillage and future Whitesnake bassist Neil Murray. They released three albums, the first of which (from 1978) remains something of a neglected classic.
19. The Firm
After the demise of Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page made no secret of his desire to get back into a band situation. Former Free frontman Paul Rodgers felt the same way after the break up of Bad Company. Together, they put together The Firm with drummer Chris Slade (later of AC/DC) and bassist Tony Franklin.
Their debut album inevitably failed to meet high expectations – but it sold well enough, and was one of Kerrang! magazine’s albums of the year in 1985. The follow-up, released the following year, was less successful and the band split shortly afterwards.
18. Frost*
A fabulously talented British prog supergroup founded by Jem Godfrey with John Mitchell of It Bites and Arena, Nathan King of Level 42 and drummer to the stars Craig Blundell, whose credits include work with Steven Wilson and Steve Hackett. Prog connoisseurs love their debut album 2006 debut Milliontown for its epic title track, but they have released several albums of equally high quality since then, including the excellent Day and Age (2021).
17. Black Country Communion
Dubbed ‘The Voice of Rock’, with a string of successful solo albums to his credit, the great Glenn Hughes certainly seems more comfortable in a band situation. Initially, Black Country Communion seemed like a rather contrived attempt to weld his talents to those of guitarist Joe Bonamassa, alongside drummer Jason (son of John) Bonham and former Dream Theater keyboard player Derek Sherinia.
But the quality of their hard rockin’ 2010 debut album soon put paid to such cynicism, as did the follow-up, excitingly titled Black Country Communion 2. A falling-out and reformation followed the release of their third set, Afterglow. They’re currently up to album number five and hopefully have plenty of gas left in the tank.
16. Audioslave
Soundgarden's Chris Cornell teamed up with Rage Against the Machine members Tom Morello, Tom Commerford and Brad Wilks for this unlikely if hugely successful supergroup, whose debut album went triple platinum in the US. Absent were Rage’s angry politics, apparently at Cornell’s insistence, to be replaced by old-school hard rock on the likes of singles ‘Cochise’ and ‘Show Me How to Live’. Critics were not exactly bowled over, but the public loved them and they went on to record two more albums before Cornell’s death finished off the project.
15. Chickenfoot
On paper, the combination of two Van Halens (Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony), a Red Hot Chili Pepper (Chad Smith) and a solo guitar hotshot (Joe Satriani) seemed like a match made in an accountant’s office rather than a rehearsal room. But Chickenfoot worked remarkably well together.
Their self-titled debut album was a big success in 2009, reaching number four on the US Billboard charts, possibly because so many of us were eager to find out what this unlikely combination would sound like. Its follow-up, Chickenfoot II (2011), was less successful. The band members’ other commitments mean that a third album (Chickenfoot III?) could be a while away.
14. GTR
A supergroup featuring the guitarists (geddit?) of Yes and Genesis must have seemed like a licence to print money. And so it proved, at least initially. Steves Howe and Hackett even had the same initials. Post-Asia, Howe was casting around for a new project when former Yes manager Brian Lane suggested that he team up with Hackett, whose last few solo albums hadn’t exactly set the world alight.
They recruited singer Max Bacon, former Marillion drummer Jonathan Mover and bassist Phil Spelding, but pointedly no keyboard player, and were off. The band’s self-titled debut and, as it turned out, only studio album was released in 1986 and was an instant success, reaching number 11 on the US Billboard chart and spawning the hit single ‘When the Heart Rules the Mind’.
But the duo soon fell out, Hackett left, and although Howe attempted to continue the band for a while that was it for GTR. Howe eventually rejoined Yes while Hackett has enjoyed a successful solo career combining new material with revisiting Genesis classics.
13. Liquid Tension Experiment
An instrumental prog-metal supergroup founded by – who else? – busy Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy in 1997. He brought DT buddy John Petrucci (guitar) plus the band’s future keyboard player Jodan Rudess, who joined forces with formidable King Crimson bassist Tony Levin, for a collection of compositions which delighted hardcore proggers – not least the 28-minute ‘Three Minute Warning’. They have so far released three deliciously complex albums, the last of which boasted a prog-metal cover of George Gershwin’s jazz-classical marvel ‘Rhapsody in Blue’.
12. Transatlantic
One of the most creatively satisfying of supergroups, the aptly named Transatlantic combined the talents of Swedish guitarist Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings), English bassist Pete Trewavas (Marillion) and Amerinan drummer Mike Portnoy (ex-Dream Theater) and keyboard player/vocalist Neal Morse (ex-Spock’s Beard). Juggling their other commitments meant that finding time for writing and recording was tricky, but the results were spectacular, delighting fans of old-school, multi-part epic prog. Remarkably, they lasted for 21 years (with time off for good behaviour) and recorded five studio albums.
11. The Winery Dogs
A hard rock supergroup power trio spun off from Mr. Big, The Winery Dogs feature the talents of drummer Mike Portnoy (yes, him again), Mr. Big bassist Billy Sheehan and guitarist Richie Kotzen. They’ve released three albums to date and are a hugely impressive live act.
10. Temple of the Dog
Typically, sulky grunge musicians tended to be wary of the ‘supergroup’ label, though some of the genre’s best music was produced in this format. Temple of the Dog only lasted for one (eponymous) album, which was conceived as a tribute to Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell’s pal and Mother Love Bone singer Andrew Wood, who died of a heroin overdose in 1990.
In addition to Cornell, Temple of the Dog’s line-up featured Pearl Jam members Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament, and Mike McCready, as well as Matt Cameron, who played drums for both Soundgarden and Pearl Jam at different times. Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder also contributed backing vocals. Temple of the Dog was a beautiful, elegiac collection of songs, notably ‘Hunger Strike’ and ‘Say Hello 2 Heaven’, which initially sold poorly because nobody knew who the hell Temple of the Dog were. They did one US tour in 2016, but the suicide of Chris Cornell in 2017 put paid to any hopes of further gigs.
9. Mad Season
Yes, it’s another grunge supergroup! Mad Season brought together members of Pearl Jam (guitarist Mike McCready), Alice In Chains (singer Layne Staley) and the under-appreciated Screaming Trees (drummer Barrett Marton) and released just the one rather excellent album, Above, in 1995. After Staley left, the band recruited Mark Lanegan, also of Screaming Trees.
But as you might perhaps expect of a band who formed in rehab, things did not go smoothly for Mad Season. The deaths of Staley, Lanegan and bassist John Baker Saunders means that there are currently only two surviving members.
8. Velvet Revolver
Guns N’ Roses refugees Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum joined forces with rhythm guitarist Dave Kushner and – uh-oh! – troubled former Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland for this supergroup that no one expected to last. They actually survived from six years from 2002 until 2008, when Weiland was fired.
Their first album Contraband was hugely impressive, despite standing in the shadow of the bend members’ former achievements, and debuted at number one on the US Billboard chart. Slash and McKagan subsequently retuned to Guns N’ Roses. Weiland was found dead on his tour bus in 2015.
7. The Traveling Wilburys
Probably the starriest supergroup of all time, featuring the talents of Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty. They lasted for three years from 1988 to 1991, with two hit albums and several hit singles (notably ‘Handle With Care’ and ‘End of the Line) to their credit. Sadly, they never toured and the death of Roy Orbison in 1989 robbed the band of a key component in advance of recording their second album, ‘The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3’.
6. Blind Faith
Uniting key members of Cream (Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker) and Traffic (Steve Winwood) after their respective splits, Blind Faith carried a huge weight of expectation. They certainly didn’t make things easy for themselves by playing their first gig in front of 100,000 people at Hyde Park in June 1969. The self-titled debut album, which proved to be their only release, didn’t even include the band’s name on the cover, featuring instead a dodgy image of a topless pubescent girl.
Nonetheless, it reached number one in the UK and on the US Billboard charts, and still holds up today thanks to such classics tracks as Winwood’s ‘Can’t Find My Way Back Home’ and Clapton’s ‘Presence of the Lord’.
5. UK
Founded by bassist John Wetton and drummer Bill Bruford, both formerly of King Crimson, together with violinist/keyboard player Eddie Jobson and guitarist Allan Holdsworth, UK were a ferociously talented prog supergroup whose 1978 debut breached the UK top 50. Holdsworth was then fired thanks to our old friend 'musical differences'. Bruford also left and was replaced by Terry Bozzio of Frank Zappa’s band for the 1979 follow-up, Danger Money, which was recorded as a trio and didn’t sell as well.
4. Cream
Billed as the very first ‘supergroup’, Cream also laid down the formula for clashing egos that was to plague the format. Jazz drummer Ginger Baker instigated the group, when he approached guitarist Eric Clapton, who agreed to join providing that Jack Bruce was recruited as bass player.
To say that Baker and Bruce did not gat along would be one of the all-time rock’n’roll understatements. But despite the personal tensions, the trio succeeded in creating some brilliant music during the relatively short time they were together, notably 1967’s psychedelic masterpiece ‘Disraeli Gears’.
3. Asia
Initially, one could be forgiven for thinking that Asia was a project inspired by accountants eager to team up musicians who’d been successful in ‘70s prog bands in the new musical landscape of the 1980s. But there was no arguing with the quality of the self-tiled debut album by the band featuring Steve Howe (ex-Yes), John Wetton (ex-King Crimson) and Carl Palmer (ex-ELP), alongside Geoff Downes (formerly of Yes and, er, Buggles).
Producer Mike Stone, hot from Journey’s massive Escape album, successfully reined in the musicians’ more self-indulgent tendencies to fashion a state-of-the-art modern rock album on which none of the nine songs were more than six minutes long. The result was a massive commercial success, spending nine weeks at number one in the US Billboard chart. Remarkably, even some critics were kind. A version of the band is still out there, though they have never matched the success of that debut.
2. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
Another supergroup whose name sounds like a firm of solicitors. Feuding solicitors, mind, in the case of CSN & (occasionally) Y.
Brought together by Joni Mitchell, David Crosby (who’d been chucked out of The Byrds), Stephen Stills (formerly of Buffalo Springfield) and Graham Nash (formerly of The Hollies) soon found they harmonised exceptionally well. Their brilliant, eponymous debut album included such classics as ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes’ and ‘Marrakesh Express’.
Little wonder Stills’ old chum Neil Young wanted to clamber on board. He played with them at Woodstock but ornery old Neil can’t be seen in the film because he refused to be filmed. Déjà Vu (1970) was another masterpiece, as was the rush-released Neil Young-penned protest song, ‘Ohio’. Bickering ensued, followed by a split, during which the quartet pursued a number of mostly excellent but comparatively unsuccessful solo and band projects, before they eventually got back together for a lucrative tour.
CSN was a huge success on release in 1977, though critics were sniffy. 1982’s Daylight Again was another success, spawning the hit ‘Wasted on the Way’. Young rejoined the great soap opera for 1988’s American Dream, which was dominated by political satire. Live It Up (1990, most memorable for its awful cover design) and 1994's After the Storm both sold comparatively poorly. Speculation about a full reunion continued, but the death of David Crosby in 2023 finally put paid to that.
1. Emerson, Lake & Palmer
If it seems odd to talk about ELP as a ‘supergroup’, that’s probably because they were a collective entity for the best part of a decade – and then for a further decade after they inevitably reformed. But in fact Keith Emerson, Greg Lake and Carl Palmer had served time in The Nice, King Crimson and Atomic Rooster respectively before joining forces to become one of the most successful supergroups of the 70s – as loved by fans and they were derided by sneery critics.
Following a suitably bombastic performance at the 1970 Isle of Wight festival, the great prog trio got down to work recording their self-titled debut album, which even spawned a hit single of sorts in the form of Lake’s ‘Lucky Man’. History records that critics were actually quite kind to this album, though they were soon to change their tune as the band’s popularity increased.
1971's Tarkus, with its 20-minute, seven-part title suite, and the trio’s take on Mussorgsky’s evocative Pictures at an Exhibition followed. The critics turned on ELP for their undeniable pomp and bombast, but by this point the band had achieved a level of popularity that could not be undone by the hacks – which served only to make them even more enraged.
The eclectic Trilogy (1972) and 1973's epic, proto-metal Brain Salad Surgery increased the trio’s fame and, were accompanied by OTT stage shows – including Emerson’s revolving suspended piano – which drove music journalists to new extremes of impotent rage. After a long break, the band returned in the mid-70s with the two-part Works and an extensive, hugely successful if ruinously expensive accompanying tour.
Emerson’s arrangement of Aaron Copland’s ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’ also proved to be ELP’s biggest hit single, reaching number 2 in the UK. By this stage, critics were positively incandescent, but ELP were apparently in self-destruction mode, releasing the awful Love Beach (one of rock's worst albums) in 1978, whose cover made them look like the Bee Gees. They split shortly afterwards, resisting the lure of the comeback trail until 1990.
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