6 supergroups as pants-wetting as Monsters Of Folk
For music geeks, the announcement of a “holy shit, is this real?” supergroup can make your week. Much like when your favorite football team signs a Pro Bowl quarterback, or your favorite business announces a merger with America Online, a new supergroup produces a sublime feeling, a comfort in knowing that the future results are going to rule. As much as these superstars downplay such groups as being merely for artistic collaboration, make no mistake—what they really want is for you to piss your pants in delight, then spend hours struggling to figure out what band member thinks he's the frontman and who actually is the frontman. With the newest addition to the supergroup lore, Monsters Of Folk (M. Ward, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, and Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes) playing the Orpheum Theatre tonight, Oct. 29, The A.V. Club took a look back at some of the supergroups that blew/are still blowing our minds, and the tunes that couldn’t have been conceived without each mind involved.
1. Cream
The players: Eric Clapton of The Yardbirds, and Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker of Graham Bond Organisation (GBO).
Best supergroup in the category of: Eric Clapton, who also shows up in supergroups like Blind Faith, the John Lennon/Keith Richards one-off The Dirty Mac, and the short-lived Eric Clapton’s Powerhouse.
Why the band’s existence should blow your mind: Kids in England were already spraying “Clapton is God” and the subsequent “Clapton is dead, and we have killed him” on the walls of Underground stations when he quit his gig in The Yardbirds and set out to form this blues-centric power trio. His recruits, the not quite as famous but well-revered Bruce and Baker from GBO, were known for shouting at each other on stage and basically hating each other’s guts, but decided to set aside differences to play with the glorified guitarist.
Quintessential song: “Crossroads,” their cover of an old Delta blues tune. Between Clapton’s breakneck solos and Bakers’s aggressive drumming, “Crossroads” is an absolute onslaught of Delta blues in your face.
2. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
The players: David Crosby of The Byrds, Steven Stills and Neil Young of Buffalo Springfield, Graham Nash of The Hollies.
Best supergroup in the category of: Bands that insist on lazily listing themselves in their band names (see: Emerson, Lake & Palmer and the Jeff Beck power trio Beck, Bogert & Appice). What a copout—especially since “Crosby Stills Nash Young” has plenty of fantastic anagrams, like “Glossy, Stylish Bacon Urn.”
Why the band’s existence should blow your mind: Egos are held in check by the fact that the band’s most appealing charm is its casual harmonies, as if CSNY had already been a modest barbershop quartet (any super-barbershop quartets out there, by the way?).
Quintessential song: “Our House,” a sleepy, idyllic tune relating Graham Nash’s affair with Joni Mitchell with his love affair of predictable suburban living.
3. The Highwaymen
The players: Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson.
Best supergroup in the category of: Bands that consider themselves the Mount Rushmore of country music.
Why the band’s existence should blow your mind: The Highwaymen are still the most impressive collection of good ol' boys that sweetly sang about being outlaws and tough country living. And like most cowboys, their estates amount to millions upon millions of dollars.
Quintessential song: “Highwayman,” a Jimmy Webb cover about a spirit with various embodiments in time and history—a sailor, a construction worker, and a spaceman—which veers suspiciously close to the plot of the Darren Aronofsky film The Fountain. Lawsuit!
4. Damn Yankees
The players: Ted Nugent, Tommy Shaw of Styx, and Jack Blades of Night Ranger.
Best supergroup in the category of: ’80s butt metal.
Why the band’s existence should blow your mind: With Shaw and Nugent, it’s the ultimate pairing of the stereotypical blonde pretty boy who sings like a castrato and wears short shorts with the maniacal blue-collar hard-rocker who eats squirrels.
Quintessential song: “High Enough,” which is also the quintessential power ballad: a chorus that’s painful to sing by the third time around and a video featuring cops incapable of shooting a soloing guitarist at point-blank range.
5. The Traveling Wilburys
The players: Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, George Harrison, Tom Petty, and E.L.O.’s Jeff Lynne.
Best supergroup in the category of: Most awe-inspiring collection of icons that, after collaborating, managed to pen about two solid songs.
Why the band’s existence should blow your mind: While the band formed at least a few years past each member’s prime, the Wilburys still include at least three of the most recognizable voices in rock history. That’s assuming you can recognize Dylan’s voice through all his excess phlegm.
Quintessential song: “Handle With Care,” featuring all five on lead vocals and a video that depicts the fellas inexplicably rocking out in an abandoned warehouse, as superstars tended to do in those days.
6. The New Pornographers
The players: Dan Bejar of Destroyer, Neko Case, and Carl Newman, among others.
Best supergroup in the category of: Canadian supergroups. With Swan Lake, Broken Social Scene, and Valley Of The Giants, Canadian supergroups are about as numerous as average Canadian groups.
Why the band’s existence should blow your mind: Carl Newman’s power-pop is at the core of band, but between Bejar’s poetic, drunken rants and Case’s entrancing alt-country alto, The New Pornographers have an abundance of weapons.
Quintessential song: “Sing Me Spanish Techno,” a bouncy anthem with indiscernible lyrics and a killer hook that probably caused a few listeners to search interminably for Spanish techno.
