I love a team-up! For what it’s worth, I don’t think there will ever be another communal movie experience akin to the final battle in Avengers: Infinity War, but even before that, I loved a musical supergroup. When Dawn left En Vogue — one of my favorite girl groups at the time — and popped up again with one part of Tony! Toni! Toné! and one part of A Tribe Called Quest, that was my R&B Avengers. Following up on that, these are some of my favorite musical supergroups.
The Carters “Apeshit”
Between the two of them, Beyonce and Jay-Z have more Grammys in their house than any other household in the world, and the two of them always seem to bring their A-game when they work together: Bonnie and Clyde, Crazy In Love, Hollywood, Deja Vu, etc. A full-length project felt like a slam dunk, and even though the album was released within the Trilogy of We’re Not Divorcing, a couple of tracks are still on rotation.
Journey “Don’t Stop Believin”
In 1973, Journey came together with former members of Santana, the Steve Miller Band, and Fruminous Bandersnatch. Eight years later, one of the all time great tracks of White People Karaoke Nights was born.
boygenius “Cool About It”
I love when three solo artists (Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus) get together to make music just because they love working together. I love it even more when the vibes are lesbian.
Triple H “365 Fresh”
Sometimes a supergroup leads to some mess! K-pop entertainment companies are notoriously image-conscious, so when Pentagon members Hui and E’Dawn formed Triple H with solo artist Hyuna, everything was fine until Hyuna and E’Dawn started sleeping together. They were fired right after that became public because Cube Entertainment said they couldn’t be trusted. How Puritanical!
Honey Cone “Want Ads”
This was one of my mom’s favorite songs when I was growing up, but I didn’t realize they were a supergroup until I was much older. Edna Wright (sister of Darlene Love), was a member of gospel group The COGIC, Carolyn Willis was a member of The Girlfriends, and Shelly Clark was an Ikette.
Chickenfoot “Oh Yeah”
This is really good rock music for old white dudes. Chickenfoot is Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony from Van Halen, Joe Satriani (who plays with some bands here and there, but most of his Grammy nominations are for his solo guitar work), and Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but it’s amazing how Peppersy “Oh Yeah” sounds until Sammy starts singing.
Broken Social Scene “KC Accidental”
Broken Social Scene doesn’t even have a set membership list and there are a million people who play in various bands around Toronto, so we’re not listing all of that. Feist is probably the only one most people have heard of.
LSG “My Body”
Gerald Levert, Keith Sweat, and Johnny Gill — R&B Royalty, really — linked up and released a monster of a single back in 1997, blocked from the #1 spot by LeAnn Rimes “How do I Live”, Usher “You Make Me Wanna,” and Elton John “Candle in the Wind.”
SuperM “Jopping”
SM Entertainment is another South Korean company putting its artists together in supergroups. In 2019, this one debuted with members from Shinee, Exo, NCT 127, and WayV, but unlike a lot of K-pop supergroups, their videos and performances feel organic.
Eagles “I Can’t Tell You Why”
We can thank Linda Rondstadt for this one! She recruited Don Henly, Bernie Leadon, Randy Meisner, and Glenn Frey to play backup for her on tour and on her third album. The guys had their own chemistry, struck out on their own, and 200 million records later, they’re one of the best selling bands of all time.
+44 “Lycanthrope”
When Blink-182 split up (the first time), Mark and Travis formed another band with Shane Gallagher of The Nervous Return and Craig Fairbaugh from the Mercy Killers. Secretly, this album is my favorite Blink-related album, but I feel like the public does not share my opinion.
BluPrint “Birds Eye View”
Kiely Williams first went viral for the pilot of Last Chance (that didn’t get picked up), going tit for tat with Luggage. Many moons later, BET actually launched a show called the Encore with a whole gang of women from the crumbs of girl groups. Most of them dropped out before any music was recorded, but we did end up with Kiely from 3LW, Shamari from Blaque, and Fallon & Felisha from Cherish.
The Postal Service “Such Great Heights”
Talk about a time capsule. Few bands are as instantly recognizable as coming from the early 00s the way Ben Gibbard, Jimmy Tamborello, and Jenny Lewis are with The Postal Service.
GOT the Beat “Step Back”
SM Entertainment is planning to put all of their female artists into one big project called Girls On Top, with different subgroups focused on various areas. GOT the Beat is the first group, with emphasis on hard beats and lots of choreography. Consisting of BoA (the grandmother of K-Pop), Taeyeon & Hyoyeon from Girls’ Generation (the mothers of K-Pop), and Seulgi & from Red Velvet and Karina & Winter from Aespa (current daughters), you might not know them, but it would be like if Janet Jackson and Destiny’s Child linked up with Fifth Harmony and Little Mix.
Audioslave “Like A Stone”
Rage Against the Machine broke up in 2000, and when three of the remaining members searched for a new lead singer, they went with Chris Cornell from Soundgarden who had broken up three years earlier. Chris as a vocalist was completely different from the rap/sung style of RATM’s last singer — so Audioslave was born with a new sound.
Major Lazer “Keep It Goin’ Louder” feat. Ricky Blaze & Nina Sky
Major Lazer has had a few different lineups, but Diplo and Switch put out their best album in 2009. Guns Don’t Kill People…Lazers Do is hit after hit, but this jam with Ricky Blaze and Nina Sky is so catchy (and the video is so weird) I feel like people should listen to it more often.
Muzz “Knuckleduster”
Paul Banks’ (Interpol) baritone is one of my favorite voices in rock. Even though he had been friends with Matt Barrick (The Walkmen) and Josh Kaufman (Bonny Light Horseman) since their respective bands were trying to get noticed in NYC, they didn’t link up and start playing together until 2015, and their first album came out in 2020 as Muzz.
Pistol Annies “Lemon Drop”
Miranda Lambert is my favorite songwriter in country music, so I’ll listen to anything she puts her name on. Fortunately, she’s got two very talented friends (Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley) who like to get together and bust out bops, and the Pistol Annies discography is second in consistency only to the Chicks among country girl groups.
And that’s it. Stay tuned for next week. As always, the clue is in the last song!
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