10 Perfect Supergroups In Rock History

When everyone was going down the road of nu meal in the late '90s, you couldn't really fit a band like Tool into any one box. Whereas bands like Slipknot and Korn were making songs that made you want to lose your mind and jump into the mosh pit, songs like Forty Six and Two and Schism felt like they were trying to force open your third eye, becoming more entranced by the music than just banging your head against the wall. You can't play the cerebral stuff forever though, and Maynard James Keenan got his rock star chops down with the help of Billy Howerdel.

Forming midway through the Lateralus era of Tool, A Perfect Circle was a much more straight ahead metal band than what Maynard was used to, making songs that had a dark undercurrent to them and an almost gothic atmosphere on songs like 3 Libras and Judith. With Billy as the mastermind behind most of the tracks, the cast got a lot more star studded as they went along, bringing in Troy Van Leeuwen from Queens of the Stone Age to play guitar and James Iha joining forces with them for the album Thirteenth Step.

None of these guys were looking to just throw something together for fun either, with Thirteenth Step being one of the most eye opening dissections of what it's like going through the mind of an addict, complete with Iha's abrasive production coating everything else. Tool may have been a bit more difficult for your average nu metal fan to take in, but A Perfect Circle is a good gateway drug to find out what else exists beyond just the chunky guitars.