While they probably never aspired to the gold standard Super Group status that Cream enjoyed, over the years some folks have thrown in their lot with other similarly situated folks (read: modestly successful/past their prime/second or third banana in a successful group) and formed “B” curve Super Groups. Sort of like if The Green Lantern, The Atom, and Hawkman formed their own Justice League (I’ve been watching a lot of superhero shows with my 4 year old lately).
Anyway, which of the following second- and third-tier Super Groups did you think had the most promise before you actually heard the music?
Which did you like the most after you heard their music?
Feel free to add a poor man’s Super Group of your own but make sure that it is comprised of at least three people who have had a modicum of success on their own.
- Gutterball (Long Riders, Dream Syndicate, Silos)
- Continental Drifters (Bangles, Cowsills, dB’s)
- Magic Christian (Flamin’ Groovies, Plimsouls, Blondie)
- Tinted Windows (Cheap Trick, Fountains of Wayne, Hanson, Smashing Pumpkins)
- Damn Yankees (Styx, Night Ranger, Amboy Dukes)
The other day, I was glancing at the lineup for Conan’s first week as Tonight Show host and there was something called “Chickenfoot.” Come to find out, it’s Hagar and Michael Anthony from Van Halen with the drummer from the Chili Peppers and Joe Satriani. It’s, um, not good.
Tinted Windows really bummed me out, too. I love FoW and thought this might have been good. It ends up sounding more like three old men grabbed themselves the kid form Hanson and decided to see if some Cheap Trick ripoffs could score them some of that Jonas Brothers money. Just awful.
On the small-scale supergroup front, Those Bastard Souls (Grifters, Dambuilders, Jeff Buckley’s band, Red Red Meat) was pretty good. Basically Dave Shouse stirring up his glam fetish with Jeff Buckley’s sound and a whole lot of electric violin. Debt & Departure was a great unheralded record.
Lemme see… there are tons…
Golden Smog (Wilco, Jayhawks, Replacements, Run Westy Run, Big Star) have at least one terrific record (Weird Tales) and a few others with definite high points.
I <3 Me First & the Gimme Gimmes (NOFX, Foo Fighters, etc.) It’s a stupid gag, but perfectly executed.
“The Backbeat Band” was fun stuff too. (Beatles-styled early rock n’ roll covers with Dave Pirner taking the Paul parts, Greg Dulli subbing as Lennon, and Thurston Moore, Don Fleming, Mike Mills, and Dave Grohl doing the music.
Little Village was REALLY boring when I heard that record for the first time. I never bothered asking my friend to spin it for me a second time. I had high hopes for something good.
The first Golden Smog record is A-OK as is The Minus 5 CD of that “battle of the bands” album they did with Young Fresh Fellows. Both of those “B” curve offshoot bands met with my humble expectations.
I’m sure there’s one that far outperformed my expectations, but it’s not coming to mind at the moment…
I think what was best about Damn Yankees is that you knew they would be shitty, but when you hear a song like “High Enough”, it’s differently shitty than the shittiness you expected. And yet, once you’ve heard it, you come to realize that this was truly the only kind of shittiness it could possibly have been.
Good one, sourbob. There’s some real nice stuff on that Golden Smog album, although the ep of cover tunes that came out first is kind of lame.
Little Village was pretty disappointing, especially because Ry Cooder is one of my favorite guitarists and Keltner is my favorite drummer.
I never liked Van Halen or the RHCP or Satch so Chickenfoot has all the appeal to me of the Damn Yankees.
Maybe I’m biased because I like the underlying groups so much but Magic Christian were excellent live and their album is filled with understated, classic sounding songs.
I keep meaning to get that Magic Christian album. I bet I’d love that. They were here on a bad night for me to go, though.
I like the Minus 5 usually, too. I think the album with the gun on it is pretty swell.
I like The New Pornographers pretty well.
I don’t know if any of the offshoots from Black Mountain would work, but that Lightning Dust album is pretty cool (if a little mellow) and I think Blood Meridian is really cool.
Oh yeah, Chickenfoot, Velvet Revolver, Audioslave – who cares? The suck is built in, it’s just amped up.
Well said, 2000 Man. My reaction to Chickenfoot was essentially, “That’s a thing? Blurgh.” A few YouTube clicks confirmed by suspicions.
If we’re going to crap on ill-fated supergroups/pairings (and oh LET’S!) who’ll take the first shot at Coverdale/Page?
I’m all for that, sourbob! I’d like to be the first to take a crap on The Firm………UUuuunnnnhhh!!!
Let’s start a YouTube trend of filming ourselves defecating on bad records. They don’t have to be explicit, mind you, just show the record, the guy’s grunting face, the pooped-upon copy of _______.
Speaking of The Firm, did the Firm video analysis thread from last year go AWOL?
The link was messed up. I just repaired it:
https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/index.php/2008/06/13/performance-analysis-the-firm-and-jimmy
I’m slogging through the Tinted Windows record as we speak. I don’t think I hate it, but I never expected total greatness. I love the James Iha solo record from back in the day.
Anyone know about this group?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Hard_Men
TB
Sour Bob said….
“Golden Smog (Wilco, Jayhawks, Replacements, Run Westy Run, Big Star) have at least one terrific record (Weird Tales) and a few others with definite high points. “
I am a HUGE fan of their “Down By The Old Mainstream” and consider it among the best records of the 1990’s. Have to say that “Weird Tales” left me cold….I guess I will have to give it a “second chance” play tonight.
I did see them on the “Mainstream” tour and the thing that stuck out was that Jeff Tweedy was a happy drunk who sang but played little guitar. He held the mic like he was Donny Osmond or Keith Partridge and leaned over the crowd like he was some hearthrob batting his eyelashes…it was damn funny
Chickenfoot is no Van Halen, the tone of the record is fantastic (the instruments sound great) but the playing is just good, not amazing and the songs have no hooks…
The Thorns were a good B-level super group… Matthew Sweet, Pete Droge and Shawn Mullens… good CD, not as good as any of them at their best but far from their worst.
My favorite C-level super group is Homemade Sin – Dan and Mauro from Georgia Satellies, Keith Christopher from Billy Joe Shaver band and Warner Hodges from Jason & The Scorchers….also Dans previous super group The Yahoos were pretty good…
I liked The Firm…then again I was 13 and just found out about Led Zeppelin
You mean the Yayhoos, right? “Baby I Love You (But Leave Me the Fuck Alone)” is a genius song.
How was that Hindu Love Gods album? All I ever heard was the Prince cover…
Hindu Love Gods was not good. The Prince song was cool but the rest was uninteresting versions of old blues tunes.
Tin Machine?
Iggy’s rhythm section (Sales Bros)
a Glenn Branca flunkie
and Dave Jones
does this count?
I wanted to give a shout out to the Continental Drifters, whom I came to with very low expectations. I liked what various members had done previously, but it just seemed like the mix wouldn’t work. It turned out they were great. The real revelation was Susan Cowsill. What a terrific voice! Even though they were based in New Orleans, I never managed to see them while I was living there.
They supposedly broke up somewhat acrimoniously, but I was reading Holsapple’s blog recently, and it seems they got over it and, after being mostly scattered by Katrina, did a reunion gig during Jazzfest last month. I recommend their records highly.
The Honeydrippers had potential, on paper. Plant, Page, Beck…
What’s the group Lisa Simpson dreams about after she realizes she’s no longer the “number one” student?
Garfunkel, Oats, and Messina, right?
There’s the ultimate in an underwhelming combo.
Were The Grays “B” or “C” curve? They had some good songs.
I really like that Tinted Windows, for what it is. Also like Gutterball.
Chickenfoot is like what you’d get if you put Silly Putty on Van Halen and peeled it up.
one of the problems with these bands is that because they’re constituted with members of other successful groups, they’re going to be hyped (and even the most talented have unraveled once the hype machine started ratcheting up the pressure. plus, the hype tends to provoke extra cynicism, over and above the kind of cynicism that bastards like us bring to the game).
but the fact that they are secondary members of other groups still suggests an uphill battle in the quality department.
so it’s a dumb move to start a band like this and everyone knows it.
and that’s also part of the curse; since we all know how dumb it is to start a band of this variety, once a bunch of B players start one, lots of people figure that they are lacking in the brain department as well as in talent.
these bands are triple or quadruple damned!
most of them also have SUPER lame names. in fact the names of these bands are so consistently lame, that it almost appears to be a requirement of forming one.
even the relatively okay Velvet Revolver is a pretty dumb name, but Tinted Windows?
Chickenfoot? Can I start a band and call it…oh Idunno…Cat Haunch?
Tin Machine? The Firm?
it’s almost as if there’s a theme somewhere in these names…a tradition, here.
And speaking of such….after The Firm, didn’t Paul Rogers actually form a band with Kenny Jones called The Law? That’s another band for this list. Good Lord…
I would put The Grays as C list (I did not even know they were from other bands until years later), but maybe the best record of the bunch
Neurotic Outsiders featuring Steve Jones, John Taylor (Duran Duran), Duff & Matt Sorum (G&R) are one of my fave B-List super groups. It’s jus’ pure cock-rawk/pop-punk, unashamed of it’s cheese factor. Much better than similiar stuff from the Offspring/Green Day/Foo Fighter corporate rock template.
I still can’t help but wonder how the Duran Duran guy hooked up with these dudes.