10 Rock Supergroups You Had No Idea Existed

Some of the weirdest combos in music history.

By Jacob Simmons /

Wikipedia defines a supergroup as "a musical group whose members are successful as solo artists or as members of other successful groups".

Advertisement

We define a supergroup as "an excuse for a bunch of famous musicians to get together and muck about for millions of dollars".

Cynicism to one side, there have been some utterly fantastic supergroups over the years.

The Travelling Wilburys. Temple of the Dog. Velvet Revolver. Cream. These are all great examples of successful rockers coming together to share their brilliance and give the world even more incredible music.

However, for every industry-shifting coalition, there are about twenty more who came and went in the space of a couple of years.

It turns out that even famous people struggle to get a band going every now and then, as these ten projects all started off well enough but have since faded into obscurity.

That's not to say they were bad, though. In fact, you might be about to discover your favourite supergroup of all time!

One thing we can assure you is that you're about to do a lot of going "Wait, they were in a band with them?"

10. Atoms For Peace

When Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke released his first solo album The Eraser, he needed a band to play it live.

Advertisement

Rather than call up any old session musician or put an ad in the local paper, he decided to bring in some of his most famous friends.

He was joined by Flea of Red Hot Chilli Peppers' fame, Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, Beck and R.E.M drummer Joey Waronker, and the Brazillian percussionist Mauro Refosco, who had experience touring with Talking Heads' David Byrne.

After the Eraser tour, the newly-formed Atoms for Peace decided that they weren't happy just playing Yorke's music and set out to make their own.

Their one and only studio album Amok came out in 2013 to a decent reception. It charted at number 5 in the UK, number 2 in the US, and number 3 in the Netherlands! That's where the big bucks are.

Unfortunately, this was all we'd get from the band in its full form. Various members have come together in some combination or other over the years, but the bonds between these atoms just weren't strong enough.

Advertisement