Who Are the ‘Massive 4’ of Rock Supergroups?

Supergroup could appear to be a nebulous time period, however it’s, in fact, a Factor that has given us a number of the biggest rock bands of all time — and quite a lot of duds as properly.

At its most elementary that means it is a mixture of musicians who got here from different bands and joined collectively for one thing that, when it actually works, creates music that is higher than the sum of its components.

Typically that genuinely occurs, different instances not a lot. However within the 60 years since Cream was cited as the primary supergroup, some guidelines have been established…

* The band members come not solely from different teams however from acts that had real accomplishment, both commercially or critically.

* That it had some success, once more commercially or critically, by itself.

* And that, in the very best circumstances, the group had some semblance of longevity — not a one-and-done proposition however as a functioning act that generated a narrative of its personal and a physique of labor that outlived its historical past, lengthy or quick.

Once you apply these, it truncates the listing significantly and pushes the intriguing however in the end unsuccessful likes of, say, Detective and Tough Diamonds to the facet.

However there’s nonetheless a formidable listing of supergroups — not solely in rock but in addition nation, jazz, rap and opera, and in some unspecified time in the future Okay-pop — that did produce at a degree value of its collective pedigree.

So it wasn’t straightforward narrowing it right down to a Massive 4, however with apologies to worthy candidates equivalent to Blind Religion, Asia, the Touring Wilburys and Chickenfoot, we’re assured that this quartet gives the prototype and the excessive bar for what actually makes a supergroup, properly, tremendous…

Cream

Not-so-arguably the primary of its breed, there was real star energy when Eric Clapton, credentialed from the Yardbirds and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, joined forces as Cream in 1966 with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, contemporary out of the Graham Bond Organisation.

In addition they had stellar assist in the studio from Robert Stigwood and Mountain’s Felix Pappalardi, whereas 1969’s “Badge” was co-written by Clapton and the Beatles‘ George Harrison, below the nom de visitor L’Angelo Misterioso.

Virtuosic and unstable — particularly Bruce and Baker — Cream had quite a bit going for it and a temperament that was difficult. “We had a variety of ambition and angle and did not know the right way to rein it in,” Bruce, who handed away in 2015, advised UCR some years in the past.

“Ginger and I might be at one another’s throats, quite a bit, and I feel that frightened Eric. He had monumental expertise however not a variety of confidence and did not know the right way to deal with the battle. It was irritating for all of us.”

Cream however spent a heady three or so years collectively, releasing 4 albums, together with the partly reside Wheels of Fireplace, and delivering enduring favorites equivalent to “White Room,” “Sunshine of Your Love,” “Unusual Brew,” “Tales of Courageous Ulysses” and extra, and definitive electrified renditions of Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads” and Willie Dixon’s “Spoonful.”

The interior conflicts curdled Cream by 1968, with a pair of farewell concert events at London’s Royal Albert Corridor. Clapton and Baker went on to type Blind Religion, and Cream wouldn’t reunite till its 1993 Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame induction, and through 2005 for concert events in London and New York, the previous featured on a reside album and residential video later that yr.

Cream additionally obtained a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. Baker handed away in 2019, and Clapton nonetheless performs “White Room,” “Sunshine of Your Love” and “Crossroads” in live performance.

Learn Extra: Rock’s Most Sudden Supergroups

Crosby, Stills & Nash (& Younger)

Who would not have wished to be a fly on the wall that evening in July of 1968 when David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash first sang collectively at Mama Cass Elliot’s home in Laurel Canyon?

All three had had hits with their respective bands — the Byrds (Crosby), Buffalo Springfield (Stills) and the Hollies (Nash) — however all three have been presently on their very own for quite a lot of artistic causes. “

It was instantaneous,” Nash recalled a couple of a long time later. “The harmonies have been fully pure. Thirty seconds in we had the sound, and we knew we needed to do one thing collectively.” The harmony-laden, self-titled Crosby, Stills and Nash debut album in 1969 was a bona fide Occasion, Prime 10 on the Billboard 200 and in the end promoting four-times platinum.

And issues bought even greater when Atlantic Data chief Ahmet Ertegun steered including Nonetheless’s Springfield mate Neil Younger to the combo — a transfer Nash opposed till he met with Younger to hash issues out.

The quartet’s second live performance collectively was on the first Woodstock pageant, and its Deja Vu album went No. 1 in 1970. Between the 2 albums they racked up rock and folk-combining favorites equivalent to “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” “Marakesh Categorical,” “Our Home,” “Educate Your Kids” and “Carry On.”

However the group turned a cleaning soap opera of egos, sensibilities, substance abuses and temperaments — “We’re brothers, and brothers typically combat, laborious,” Stills defined — however they managed to provide 5 CSN studio albums and three as CSNY, in addition to the legendary reside album 4 Means Avenue.

In addition they labored in duo configurations and whilst a short-lived Crosby, Nash & Younger. Protecting monitor requires a spreadsheet, however Crosby — who did jail time for drug and weapons convictions through the mid-80s — alienated himself from the others, and in 2016 Nash, previously his closest ally within the group mentioned he’d by no means sing with Crosby once more.

They have been, nevertheless within the means of reconciling when Crosby handed away in 2023, scotching any reunion potentialities. Nash and Younger stay busy with their respective solo careers, whereas Stills has been largely scarce since touring to advertise All people Is aware of, his 2017 album with Judy Collins.

CSN was inducted into the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame in 1997, and the three have been inducted with their earlier teams as properly. Younger can be in with Buffalo Springfield and as a solo artist.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer

The members of the prog-rock powerhouse Emerson, Lake and Palmer have been properly conscious of one another by the point they joined forces throughout 1970 in London.

Greg Lake was the voice and bass of King Crimson’s landmark debut, Within the Court docket of the Crimson King, whereas Keith Emerson had attracted consideration taking part in keyboards for the Good.

They broached the thought of working collectively in New York in the direction of the top of 1969, and solidified issues as soon as they have been again throughout the pond and nearly attached with Jimi Hendrix and drummer Mitch Mitchell after the Expertise imploded.

That by no means transpired, and Carl Palmer, late of Atomic Rooster and the Loopy World of Arthur Brown, was steered by Emerson’s (and Genesis‘) supervisor Tony Stratton Smith.

The trio’s preliminary concert events — the second was in entrance of 600,000 on the Isle of Wight Pageant, three months earlier than the discharge of their first album — let the world know what it was in for; the set blended melodic originals (“Take a Pebble,” “The Sage”) with Modest Mussorgsky’s epic Photos at an Exhibition, a twist of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker as “Nutrocker” and the Dave Brubeck Quartet’s “Blue Rondo a la Turk.”

ELP would comply with that muso mix all through its first section (1970-79) and located itself within the Prime 10 of the U.Okay. charts and scoring gold albums there and within the U.S., with occasional radio hits equivalent to “Fortunate Man,” “From the Starting” and “Karn Evin 9: First Impression, Half 2” (aka “Welcome again my pals to the present that by no means ends…)”

It was prog with a capital P — and, to some, particularly the punks, Pretentious with the identical designation. Trying to tour with a symphony orchestra in 1977, the Yr Punk Broke, actually did not assist that notion.

Emerson’s response; “When individuals select to criticize a band as being pompous, I view that as the very fact they cannot obtain what we have been doing. It is like, ‘We won’t get that far, so…they are a load of crap, anyway,’ which is actually unhappy.”

ELP break up up in 1979, and through the 80s Emerson and Lake labored with one other P (Cozy Powell), and later Emerson and Palmer had a short-lived band referred to as 3 with Robert Berry.

ELP regrouped between 1990-99, recording a pair of albums in addition to touring, and performed a closing efficiency at Britain’s Excessive Voltage Pageant in 2019.

Emerson and Lake each handed away throughout March of 2016 –March 11 and Dec. 7, respectively. Palmer continues to play ELP’s music with is personal trio, and alongside video pictures of his late bandmates.

Unhealthy Firm

Unhealthy Firm was a case of 4 malcontents discovering the best scenario to make nice music in. Frontman Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke got here from the ravages of Free, guitarist Mick Ralphs was fleeing Mott the Hoople, and bassist Boz Burrell had purged himself from the fourth lineup of King Crimson.

“We might type of been launched from our three separate hellholes,” Kirke recollects, “and we had this newfound life, this new freedom. We have been all seasoned. We have been like children in a sweet story.” Rodgers provides that, “it felt proper, and as songwriters there was a pure move, an unstated understanding and connection between us. My mission was to go in whole-hearted and ship our music from the center and soul to the center and soul and let…the followers determined in the event that they favored it or not.”

And so they did. Signed to Led Zeppelin‘s Swan Tune Data and likewise managed by Peter Grant, Unhealthy Firm got here out of the field sturdy with a multi-platinum debut album in 1974 and hits equivalent to “Cannot Get Sufficient” and “Unhealthy Firm.”

Extra adopted; its first 5 albums have been all Prime 20 (largely Prime 10) and yielded extra singles, making Unhealthy Firm one of the crucial in style rock acts of the ’70s and early ’80s. “(The success) did not take us fully unexpectedly,” Kirke mentioned.

“That first album was simply loaded with slam dunkers…We nonetheless needed to pay our dues and tour and open up for different bands, do the little van factor round America. However Jesus, we knew we have been onto one thing. It was simply, like, this good storm.”

The storm petered out by 1982, nevertheless, although Kirke and Ralphs fashioned one other, considerably profitable model of the band that labored between 1986-1998 with the late Brian Howe and Robert Hart as frontmen.

Rodgers, in the meantime, launched lower-key supergroups with Jimmy Web page (the Agency) and the Faces/Who drummer Kenney Jones (the Legislation).

The unique Unhealthy Firm lineup reformed in 1998, and although Burrell left the next yr (he handed away in 2006), Rodgers, Ralphs and Kirke saved issues going on and off afterwards.

Ralphs stopped touring after struggling a debilitating stroke throughout late 2016 and handed died in June of 2025, shortly after the group’s Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame induction was introduced.

Kirke attended and performed on the ceremony whereas Rodgers, battling his personal well being points, despatched a video message; each, nevertheless, performed on final yr’s Cannot Get Sufficient: A Tribute to Unhealthy Firm, contributing to tracks by Halestorm, Blackberry Smoke and Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott and Phil Collen.