The term “supergroup” should be really reserved for only the moments when major players get together and form a new band, where each band member in that band is already well-known from other other musical projects. According to , a supergroup, technically, is a “group made up of very talented, renowned, or expert members; a blog run by an international supergroup of academic linguists.”
But, sometimes that term is used, well, a bit loosely. Not every band that has members who have played in previous projects can be considered a supergroup, but many bands often call themselves that, even when it’s not really warranted.
Of course, there are some supergroups that really are supergroups and carry that star power. It’s also cause for excitement when a new supergroup is announced, and over time, a handful of these projects have actually lived up to the hype and delivered incredible albums and performances. In honor of these moments in time, here are three of those groups that truly lived up to the hype, in alphabetical order.
Rock Supergroups That Truly Ruled
Audioslave
What’s not to love about ? You have the rhythm section and guitars from Rage Against the Machine with the melodic vocals of Chris Cornell. Rage was a very rhythmic band, with its hip-hop tendencies, so having a melodic singer like Cornell with them was super different and created music that was nothing like Rage Against the Machine or Cornell’s band, Soundgarden. But, that’s what made this band so special. It truly had its own sound and style and cultivated a fanbase of not just Rage and Soundgarden fans but also listeners that only knew of these guys as members of Audioslave. The band released from 2002 to 2006.
Them Crooked Vultures
Talk about a supergroup. Them Crooked Vultures brought together Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin and Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters. Guitarist Alain Johannes also performed live with the band for their . It was a much shorter-lived project than the other groups on this tally, but they sure packed a punch with their sole studio album, their 2009 self-titled release.
Velvet Revolver
This was another A-list project featuring some incredible rockers. of Stone Temple Pilots. The result was a pure, hard rock onslaught of music, and that made Velvet Revolver one of the most popular bands of the mid-2000s. They released , 2004’s “Contraband” and 2007’s “Libertad,” and while the first one got more fanfare, both are solid listens.
