Since the 1960s, singers and musicians from different popular bands have teamed up to form supergroups. Hopes often are high when well-known artists with their own fan bases join forces in a new project. Though, the results don’t always live up to expectations.
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In addition, many of these supergroups often don’t stay together too long. Band members often experience creative differences, their egos clash, they are drawn to other musical endeavors, or they reunite with their original bands.
[RELATED: 3 Supergroups From the 1990s You’ve Never Heard Of (but Feature Your Favorite Rock Star)]
Here are three examples of supergroups from different decades that created music that pleased fans and critics, although they didn’t stick around too long.
Blind Faith
Cream is sometimes cited as being the first supergroup. The British power trio, which featured guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce, and drummer Ginger Baker, lasted a little over two years, during which time they released four hugely popular albums.
After Cream’s November 1968 breakup, Clapton and Baker wound up in an even shorter-lived supergroup, Blind Faith. Blind Faith came together in late 1968, when Clapton began jamming with his friend Steve Winwood, who was on a hiatus from his own group, Traffic. While Clapton and Winwood were rehearsing in early 1969, Baker showed up, and the three discussed forming a new group.
Bassist Ric Grech of the band Family was invited to join the new group, completing the lineup. The name Blind Faith was chosen around that time by Clapton, reflecting the belief by the members that the band would be successful, no matter what happened.
Blind Faith recorded one self-titled album that was released in August 1969. The album topped the U.K. chart and the Billboard 200 for two weeks in September of that year.
Among the best-known songs featured on Blind Faith are “Can’t Find My Way Home” by Winwood and “Presence of the Lord” by Clapton.
The band launched its first and only tour while still recording the Blind Faith album. Since the group didn’t have enough material to fill a whole show, Clapton and Winwood were forced to include songs by Cream and Traffic in their sets. Audiences loved this, but Eric wasn’t happy about it.
By the final show of the tour in late August, Clapton and Winwood had decided to end the group.
Clapton subsequently began playing with Delaney & Bonnie, who had been an opening act during the tour. Winwood returned to Traffic, and Grech also joined that group.
GTR
GTR was a British prog-rock supergroup formed in 1985 by former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett and longtime Yes guitarist Steve Howe.
Not long before GTR’s formation, Howe had left another supergroup, Asia. As for Hackett, he was in the middle of a solo career he launched after departing Genesis in 1977. The band’s name came from the standard abbreviation for “guitar” featured on a studio mixing console.
GTR also featured lead singer Max Bacon, bassist Phil Spalding, and drummer Jonathan Mover. Bacon had previously sung with the bands Moby Dick, Nightwing, and Bronz. Spalding was a respected session musician. Mover, meanwhile, had briefly played with the popular U.K. prog-rock group Marillion.
GTR released one self-titled studio album in 1986, which was produced by Asia/ex-Yes keyboardist Geoff Downes. The 10-track collection focused on an accessible album-oriented-rock sound. It featured seven tracks co-written by Howe and Hackett, and one penned by Downes. GTR also featured “Sketches in the Sun,” an instrumental piece Howe had written and recorded years earlier, and a song titled “Hacketts to Bits” that was an abbreviated version of Hackett’s 1978 tune “Please Don’t Touch.”
GTR was a commercial success, reaching No. 14 on the Billboard 200. It included the hit “When the Heart Rules the Mind,” a soaring rock anthem that reached No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.
GTR mounted a 1986 tour in support of the album that visited North America and Europe. By the end of the trek, conflicts between Howe and Hackett led to the latter guitarist leaving the band. Howe initially tried moving forward with a modified lineup, but disbanded the group in 1987 after recording a few demos.
Howe rejoined Yes in 1990 and continues to play with the band. Hackett has mainly focused on solo projects since the late 1980s.
Oysterhead
What do you get when you combine the frontmen of a popular jam band and a quirky alt-metal act with the drummer of a legendary New Wave group? Apparently, something called Oysterhead.
Oysterhead was formed in 2000 by Phish singer/guitarist Trey Anastasio, Primus singer/bassist Les Claypool, and Police drummer Stewart Copeland. The supergroup came together after Claypool was asked to assemble a band to play during the 2000 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Les got in touch with Trey, and they both agreed to ask Stewart to round out the lineup since he was a mutual hero of theirs.
Oysterhead’s debut performance took place on May 4, 2000, at the Saenger Performing Arts Theater in New Orleans. The show, which was intended to be a one-off gig, featured a mix of new material written by the band for the event and a selection of covers. The group combined elements of alternative rock, funk, and psychedelia.
Oysterhead then decided to record an album of new original material. The group released its first, and to date only, studio effort, The Grand Pecking Order, in October 2001.
Most of the album’s 13 tracks were co-written by Claypool, Anastasio, and Copeland. The Grand Pecking Order received generally positive reviews and reached No. 41 on the Billboard 200 chart.
The band supported the album with a 2001 fall North American tour, and then became inactive.
In June 2006, Oysterhead reunited to perform at the Bonnaroo festival in Manchester, Tennessee.
In 2020, the group played a February 14-15 engagement in Broomfield, Colorado. A full reunion tour was also planned for 2020 and 2021, but that was canceled because of the global health crisis.
Oysterhead did play one-off shows at the 2021 Peach Music Festival in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and the 2022 SweetWater 420 Fest in Atlanta.
(Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images; Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
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