10 Awesome (and one shitty) Music Supergroups

Them Crooked Vultures (2009 - ????)

If you liked this post, check out my new one: 5 Bands to Marinade the Brain:
http://imgur.com/gallery/zta7C

Members:
Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana)
John Paul Jones (Led fucking Zeppelin)
Josh Homme (Queens of the Stoneage)

I have no idea what we did as a collective species to deserve this band. They have the ball-busting awesome sound of a revamped prog-rock Led Zeppelin. Some of their songs can drone on a bit, as Josh Homme is on lead vocals... But, you take the good with the bad.

Sounds like: That feeling you get when you upgrade an app on your phone from a really old version, and the new app is kickass, user friendly, intuitive, and doesn't crash. I guess many of us don't know that feeling, though.

Tracks:
New Fang-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7_vH3H8LPI

Scumbag Blues-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGp97OVybUM

No One Loves Me (And Neither Do I)
Skip to 2:20 to rock your ass off-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M89qz4aWbBo

The Hollywood Vampires (1970-????)

Members-
(Oh boy here we go)

John Belushi
Marc Bolan (T. Rex)
Keith Emerson (ELP)
Keith Moon (The Who)
Ringo Starr (The Beatles)
John Lennon (The Beatles)
Joe Walsh (Everything)
Mickey Dolenz (The Monkees)
Alice Cooper
Johnny Depp
Joe Perry (Aerosmith)
Duff McKagan (GnR)
Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine)
Ke$ha (ew)
Zak Starkey (Ringo Starr's son)
Marilyn Manson
Paul McCartney (The Beatles)

Less of a "band" and more of a "club," every teenage and early-20's girl lost their fucking minds this year when they found out Johnny Depp started a band. Not quite accurate. Alice Cooper, Ringo Starr, and Keith Moon started the Hollywood Vampires Social Club in the 1970's as a drinking gang. The only requirement was to outdrink another member to get in. Some of these members were not permanent fixtures of the group, but the list of people who passed through is impressive.

Sounds like: That party you went to when you were too young to drink, but did so anyways. You're lying on the bathroom floor, and your buddy Jake is at the door yelling at you to let him in because he really has to piss. You crawl to the door, and pull yourself up, and walk down the hall, bracing against every wall. You walk outside and there's a fire. Two dudes are playing guitar and another has bongos. They are just fuckin' JAMMING. Maybe it's because you're drunk, but they might be the best band ever.

Tracks:

Ace of Spades(Motohead Cover)-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFcNVJxKQS0

My Dead Drunk Friends-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFxpmL6bIKM

Whole Lotta Love-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1wyqTGUU2o

The Best (1990-1994)

Members-

Keith Emerson (ELP)
John Entwistle (The Who)
Joe Walsh (Everything)
Jeff Baxter (Steely Dan)
Simon Phillips (Toto)
Zak Starkey (Ringo Starr's son)

The star that burns the brightest, burns the shortest. The Best is fucking impossible to Google, because of their name. Seriously. Google "The Best Band" and tell me what you find. Far as I can tell, this group probably started in a smoke-filled room after Joe Walsh lost a drunken bet to Jeff Baxter.

Side note: Jeff Baxter left Steely Dan to be a missile defense consultant for the Pentagon. Not bad, huh?

Sounds like: A group of only-children, raised to be the best at their craft, but competing for the spotlight subtly, while a tone-deaf David Lee Roth struts around like a tarted-up peacock on ecstasy. All-in-all, pretty good.

Tracks (low quality)

Rocky Mountain Way-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ctM9giFEJ0

Bodhisattva-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucsQ6e9G6_g

Boris the Spider
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXU7GSztxvk

The Travelling Wilburys (1988-1990)

Members:

Bob Dylan
George Harrison (The Beatles)
Tom Petty
Jeff Lynne (Electric Light Orchestra)
Roy Orbison

This band is basically just George Harrison dicking around with some of his best friends (without Eric Clapton). Basically, Georgie had made a lot of friends in high places by being with the world's biggest band. And when a member of the world's biggest band says "hey, wanna get together and record some stuff, see where it goes?" Step 1: STOP dancing like a little girl and get your shit together. Step 2: Get to that recording studio. Joe Walsh could not be reached for comment.

Sounds like: That stoner circle at your high school that used to bring guitars every day.

Tracks-

End of the Line
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwqhdRs4jyA

Inside Out-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPAwrtm-JK8

Last Night-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja65XrIXKbc

(Had to use that video, it's funny as hell)

Pigface (1990-????)

NOTABLE members-
(I say notable because FUCK, MAN, here's their full list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigface#Members)

Flea (Red Hot Chili Pepers)
Trent Reznor (NIN)
Danny Carey (Tool)
Penn Jillette (WHAT THE FUCK)
Mark Atkins (Public Image)
William Rieflin (Ministry)

I don't know.

Sounds like: Regret.

Tracks-

Suck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl9_enhs9ro

Asphole
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJn969aXsCc

The Horse You Rode In On (Feat. Penn Jillette)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3foVZZtd670

Cream (1966-1968)

Members

Eric Clapton
Ginger Baker
Jack Bruce

Eric was in the Yardbirds at the time, but felt a little put-off by the tight constraints of the band. Ginger was in another band, and was in the same boat. So, why not form a band, huh? Sometimes, shit is that simple. Even though Ginger and Jack fucking hated each other.

Sounds like: That black light rainbow poster in your parent's basement came to life, and wrapped you in it's weird felty-feeling warmth.

Tracks-

White Room-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkae0-TgrRU

Crossroads-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE9HvSdcaL4

Sunshine of Your Love-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt51rITH3EA

The Dead Weather (2009-????)

Members

Alison Mosshard (The Kills)
Jack White (The White Stripes)
Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stoneage)
Jack Lawrence (The Greenhornes)

Jack White can play drums. That's kinda the point of this band. It feels like Jack woke up and went "eh fuck it, imma drum today," and so he did. During a Raconteurs show, Jack lost his voice, and asked Alison to take over for a few songs. She did such a good job (according to Jack. Personally, I dislike her) that they talked about forming a band on the spot, with former Raconteurs members.

Sounds like: A kid-friendly version of NIN. Alternatively, a parallel-universe version of Smashing Pumpkins where Billy Corrigan was born as Billie Corrigan; a rich young white girl who's trying a little too hard to rebel against her totally oppressive parents. They're just trying their best, Billie. They love you.

Tracks-

So Far From Your Weapon-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4pRru5sANI

Cut Like a Buffalo-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImbW-p4c4gQ

3 Birds (Instrumental)-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E1pwMMf_Cw

Temple of the Dog (1990-1992)

Members-

Chris Cornell (Soundgarden)
Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam)
Mike McCready (Pearl Jam)
Jeff Ament (Mother Love Bone)

Scroll back up. Look at that picture. Can you just taste the Surge? Can you just feel the moonshoes? Are your tips frosting as we speak? The most 90's thing to ever happen was Temple of the Dog. Cornell was rooming with a dude from Mother Love Bone, and came home to find him OD'd on heroin. He started writing tribute music to his dead friend, only to find it was a little slower than Soundgarden stuff. So, he approached his dead friend's friends, and made a band. Death. Heavy stuff, man.

Sounds like: The way a record store smells.

Tracks-

Say Hello 2 Heaven-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qi8hhiYEQA
(tribute to his friend)

Hunger Strike-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro5FT9NxNCg

Reach Down-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QCEW0HbxZ0

Velvet Revolver (2002-2008)

Members-

Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots) (RIP)
Slash
Duff McKagan (GnR)
Dave Kushner (Wasted Youth)

Fuck you, Scott. Why did you have to die and prevent a Velvet Revolver reunion? This band formed when they did a collaboration at a memorial concert for a mutual friend and decided to keep playing. God dammit, Scott.

Sounds like: If Stone Temple Pilots had laid off the heroin, done a lot of coke, and stopped trying to relive the 90's.

Tracks-

She Builds Quick Machines-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hqe3jMHhvA

Pills, Demons, Etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjyiJOIfkMo

Just Sixteen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFbuEfyXyOI

Chickenfoot (2008-????)

Members-

Joe Satriani
Sammy Hagar
Chad Smith (Anchorman, Elf, Talladega Nights)
Michael Anthony (Van Halen)

What happens in Mexico... Doesn't always stay there. Sammy Hagar owns a town in Mexico called Cabo, where the rivers run with tequila, and the prostitutes have only curable STDs. So, Sammy, Mikey, and Chad were all drunk, and decided to drunk dial Joe. He showed up, they got drunk, and bam. Albums. Some day, they'll all sober up. Somebody will ask Joe to do a reunion show, and he'll say, "Chicken-what? That's a stupid name."

Sounds like: The last time you took your car to the mechanic and you heard that badass music playing in the shop, but couldn't quite place it. It must've been good, because the guy in front of your old Volvo is absolutely KILLING IT on the air guitar with that wrench.

Tracks-

Get It Up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlDNZBUqB4I

Oh Yeah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy04wm_bj3Q

Something Going Wrong
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhdFSIMwOxc

Oysterhead (2000)

Unfortunate Members-

Les Claypool (Primus)
Stewart Copeland (The Police)
Trey Anastasio (Phish)

This... Is just terrible. Bad. I don't advocate listening to this. Even they couldn't stand it. They only did one album. Oh, God, it's terrible. They call it "funk metal." What the fuck does that even mean? Copeland is from the Police, for Christ's sake! He doesn't do Funk OR metal! If anyone has a time machine, go back and convince them to do something less harmful to their careers... Like heroin, or murder.

Sounds like: Dropping acid, watching reruns of 90's cartoons with nature sounds playing in the background at 1/2 speed. And for some reason, Stewart Copeland is there trip sitting you, trying to tell you it'll be alright. But it won't, man, it won't.

Tracks-

Mr. Oysterhead
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C-qKFZeXFg

Little Faces
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPWBKLRsdtY

Wield the Spade
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfpE7BecHIk