10 Best Supergroups In Hard Rock And Metal

A lot of people tend to take the chemistry of rock bands for granted. Even though these acts may be able to combine different layers of shred on their own, that doesn't always equate to a great project at the end of the day. As much as the idea of a supergroup feels like a vanity project, there are often those rare bands where everything falls into place.

Across each one of these supergroups, these musicians play off each other perfectly, as if they had already been playing together for years before. From the way that they work off of each other to the unique ways of approaching riffs, these projects all have their own unique identity that's completely removed from the acts they were originally associated with. Aside from just the great licks on display, the sounds of these are on a completely different level than the mainstay acts, never feeling like they're reaching into the well of riffs or phone it in.

While not all of these bands manage to stick around all that often because of time commitments, the fact that they were even able to come to fruition at all should be considered a musical blessing. Forget the new school of rockers...we're walking in the land of musical gods here.

When it comes to the greatest guitarists in rock and roll, Eric Clapton is pretty much the embodiment of the lonesome drifter. Much like the blues artists that he has emulated, evert facet of Clapton's career has created some form of impeccable rock and roll, even when he's doing one-offs like the lovelorn Derek and the Dominos project. If you want to hear him getting back in tune with himself though, Blind Faith makes for a pretty healthy cocktail.

While not exactly on the level of something like Cream in terms of raw heaviness, Clapton's third supergroup at this point was one of his most worn-in, with Ginger Baker bringing in some of his more ferocious drum performances left over from Cream. Although Clapton could have easily gotten by singing the vocal tracks for this album, bringing in Steve Marriott from Traffic was a genius move at the time, providing just the right amount of soulful grit into the mix on songs like Can't Find My Way Home.

Aside from the more radio friendly stuff, the deep cuts like Had to Cry Today and Baker's invention Do What You Like stand as some of the wildest compositions to ever have Clapton's name associated with it. We're a long ways off from the Yardbirds days, and yet you can still hear that blues as pure as ever across this record.