10 Greatest Supergroups In Rock History

Make Way for the Musical Avengers.

There's something to be said about the band dynamic. No matter how much you may think you have the chops to pull off a great rock song, it all comes down to the way that you interact with your fellow bandmates to create a glorious wall of noise. On the other hand, these acts proved to work just as well when operating outside of their main outfits.

On the surface though, the idea of a supergroup seems a bit artificial. When looking at something like Damn Yankees, you tend to feel like you're not watching a band per se but a group of musicians thrown under one roof to make money. Every so often though, a supergroup is actually formed that is genuinely super, having been working off each other and putting their creative ideas together.

The real "super" aspect comes in when these artists are able to play off each other, make the most of their strengths, and enhance each player's abilities that much more. Compared to other corporate cash ins, these artists actually did live up to the hype that they conjured up.

10. Derek and the Dominoes

As the '70s opened up, Eric Clapton had already been in enough rock acts to secure his legacy. I mean, you don't get a gig in Cream, Blind Faith, and the Yardbirds and get called the God of electric guitar just on accident, right? That comes with a lingering question though: what if you put two guitar gods together on the same record?

Growing more and more infatuated with his friend George Harrison's wife Patti, Slowhand eventually started a new group called Derek and the Dominoes to put together a record to let out his romantic angst. Alongside some of the best sessions players in the business like Bobby Whitlock and Jim Gordon, the shining star of this album is the addition of Duane Allman, who brings his trademark slide work to the forefront of every track.

Hell, there are even some tracks on here that act as straight up guitar duels, with the Southern rock pioneer really giving Clapton a run for his money. This isn't just a bunch of jams though, with songs like Layla becoming some of the greatest classic rock songs of all time and Bell Bottom Blues perfectly showing the jilted feelings that Clapton had at the time. Though Clapton eventually married Patti after she was divorced from Harrison, the amount of passion on these tracks alone really speak for themselves.

 
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