FMD — Super Groups

Remember back in the 70s when Super Groups were a thing? For all you youngsters, a Super Group was when members of various bands or solo artists would get together to form one Super Group or band. Creem is generally considered the first Super Group (or at least named as such) CSNY is an obvious one, perhaps the Travelling Wilbury's too, although that band could've been considered a "one-off."

Generally Super Groups fell out of favor by the 80s, another version of dinosaur rock that was bestowed on these aging rockers. I bring this up because there seems to be a slight surge in Super Group-ism. Boy Genius was formed by three accomplished solo artists and on Saturday I saw the Flesheaters, which consisted of Punk poet Chris D, but two members of X, two members of The Blasters, and the saxophone player from Los Lobos. Clearly a Super Group of the early 80's Punk scene.

Any favorite Super Group? Any Super Group that was more popular or accomplished than the bands they came from? Any Super Groups you wish had never formed?

Of course drop your lists if you got 'em.

32 thoughts on “FMD — Super Groups”

  1. 01. "Holy Will (feat. Ian Isiah) – Blood OrangeNegro Swan
    02. "It's Nice" – Screaming FemalesUgly
    03. "Heroin" – The Velvet UndergroundThe Velvet Underground
    04. "The D Bag Rag" – The Avett Brothers A Carolina Jubilee
    05. "Lay It Down Clown" – The ReplacementsTim
    06. "Rings Of Saturn" – Nick Cave & The Bad SeedsSkeleton Tree
    07. "Smile Please" – Stevie WonderFufillingness' First Finale
    08 "The Transfiguration" – Sufjan Stevens Seven Swans
    09. "Cold Shot" – Stevie Ray Vaughn Couldn't Stand The Weather
    10. "Mass Romantic" – The New Pornographers Mass Romantic

  2. Golden Smog is still my favorite. I'd really like to see a concert with Soul Asylum, Jayhawks, Wilco, and Golden Smog.

  3. Supergroups I can recall listening to:
    1980s: Travelling Wilburys, Highwaymen
    1990s: Mad Season, Temple of the Dog (maybe: they were like a supergroup in reverse)
    2000s from bands of the 90s: Audioslave, Eyes Adrift (then Volcano)
    2010s: boygenius
    Maybe I'll come up with more

      1. I didn't know that (or anything about them really other than that they existed and had a few songs).
        I now see that Nuge! was in it (among others).

          1. Yeah, I was just going through that too. Agreed it's mostly questionable entries. Also, "super" is tossed around pretty loosely as well.

    1. A Perfect Circle?

      They've got a lot of iterations, but Thirteenth Step had Maynard (Tool), James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins), Twiggy (Marilyn Manson), and Josh Freese (Guns N Roses - he apparently was the drummer for everyone in the late 90s).

  4. 1. Another Day--Paul McCartney
    2. Please Come to Boston--Dave Loggins
    3. Photograph--Ringo Starr
    4. Tiny Dancer--Elton John
    5. Operator--Jim Croce
    6. I Write the Songs--Barry Manilow
    7. All I Have to Do Is Dream--Everly Brothers
    8. Annie's Song--John Denver
    9. My Life--Iris DeMent
    10. You Don't Mess Around With Jim--Jim Croce

        1. As an aside (and as you should know), a good portion of our nursing home audience are not the silver hair generation.

          When we decided to choose what to sing, we decided on songs that we grew up with and liked a lot, too. And the fact that folks sing along with us, we think we've hit on a good mix.

  5. 1. Christian Falk feat. Robyn and Ola Salo “Dream On” People Say
    2. Abul Mogard “Drooping Off (edit)” Works
    3. Gas “Rausch 5” Rausch
    4. Elite Gymnastics “Slime Crown” Neu! '92
    5. Ha Ha Tonka “Going That Way” Heart-Shaped Mountain

    6. Aaron Dilloway & Tom Smith “Untitled XIX (The Dutch Viruses)” The Dutch Viruses
    7. Fovea Hex “Carol XXI:XII:X”* Hail Hope!
    8. Gang Gang Dance “House Jam (Hot Chip Remix)”* First Communion
    9. Maisie Kelly “My Home in the Valley” Buried Country: The Story of Aboriginal Country Music
    T. Cat Stevens “Tuesday's Dead”* Teaser and the Firecat
    E. Horse Lords “Towards the Omega Point” Interventions

    *Notes:
    7. 21/12/10 being winter solstice 2010 in the Euro-Date writing.

    8. This remix really doesn't work. Trying to force 4ttF kicks and clean up this beautifully odd song was the wrong choice. I don't know what time the original was in, but it can't have been 4/4 given the way it now sounds like it's got two grooves fighting to a tie for the pulse of the song.

    T. The first song I ever heard the word "sex" sung in, beating Simon and Garfunkel's "Baby Driver" and George Michael by several months. But here it just means the state of being male or female.

  6. Wondering if you can be a 'supergroup' if you only release one album together...
    Fav supergroups would probably be Audioslave, Them Crooked Vultures, The Highwaymen, The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather and Little Joy.

    Fav reverse supergroup: The Beatles

      1. I mentioned TotD above.
        I called it a "supergroup in reverse" because it was Soundgarden and Pearl Jam members from before Pearl Jam founded (The post-Mother Love Bone band was trying out Eddie Vedder as a vocalist at the time) and before Soundgarden had any major success (Louder than Love peaked outside the top 100).

        1. I was reading about TotD the other daaaayyyy...

          Apparently, Vedder was hanging out watching the fellas recording the album and Chris Cornell was struggling with the lower parts of the Hunger Strike chorus. He jumped up just to help save Cornell's voice a bit in rehearsals and Chris ended up asking him to be on the album. That album is one of my favorites, especially "Say Hello to Heaven".

  7. I'm deep in another Nisennenmondai obsession.
    As in the last obsession, I focused on everything from N (2013) forward, I'm now working backwards. It really seems that Fan (a one-track album from 2009) is where they started landing on their current sound. Seems they've got two really killer songs from before the shift, "Mirrorball" and "Ikkyokume", both of which they've recorded several times. Their other stuff before 2009 is more hit-and-miss and they definitely took some time to figure themselves out.

    I'm glad I found them in their current, more minimal and crystallized form. "Ikkyokume" (which first appeared in 2004) has real rockish elements in it. Had I started there, I might have missed the rock guitars as they disappeared from their records, instead of delighting in the different sounds they used to make as I go backwards. The same effect as starting Plastikman at Consumed and working backwards and forwards from there.

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