From left: The Raconteurs' ''Little'' Jack Lawrence and Jack White have joined guitarist Dean Fertita of Queens of the Stone Age and Kills vocalist Alison Mosshart to form the Dead Weather.
(David Swanson)
Super sounds
From left: The Raconteurs' ''Little'' Jack Lawrence and Jack White have joined guitarist Dean Fertita of Queens of the Stone Age and Kills vocalist Alison Mosshart to form the Dead Weather.
(David Swanson)
Musicians have been banding together forever in the hopes of creating an entity greater than the sum of its parts. This summer is shaping up to be a particularly fertile time for supergroups like Chickenfoot, which will be in good company when indie collaboratives such as the Dead Weather and Tinted Windows come to town. Here's a look back at some previous meetings of the musical minds.
1960s
Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young: A harmonious collision of members of the Byrds (David Crosby), the Hollies (Graham Nash), and Buffalo Springfield (Stephen Stills and Neil Young) that set a gold standard for supergroups.'70s
Derek and the Dominoes: This one-off project by Eric Clapton, members of the Delaney and Bonnie band, and Allman Brothers Band guitarist Duane Allman remains potent thanks to fiery axwork and unrequited love for a lady code-named "Layla."'80s
The Traveling Wilburys: Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne. It's hard to get more super than that.'90s
LSG: Proving that supergroups were not the sole provenance of rocking white dudes, Gerald Levert of Levert, solo artist Keith Sweat, and former New Edition new addition Johnny Gill teamed up for a little super(lover)man R&B, including the hit "My Body."'00s
Audioslave: Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell joined the non-singing portion of Rage Against the Machine to sometimes thunderous and sometimes ponderous results.Summer '09
The Dead Weather: Jack White of the White Stripes must have really enjoyed his previous indie supergroup, the Raconteurs, now two strong albums deep, because he's started another one with Raconteurs bassist "Little" Jack Lawrence. This time the Jacks' compatriots include guitarist Dean Fertita of Queens of the Stone Age and Alison Mosshart, vocalist for the Kills. The ferocious foursome - already stunning with the raw rocker "Hang You From the Heavens" - drops its debut album July 14 and plays the House of Blues onJuly 18.
Tinted Windows: This multigenerational power-pop combo is so wacky it makes sense. Taylor Hanson of Hanson, Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos, Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha, and Fountains of Wayne bassist Adam Schlesinger released their fizzy self-titled debut album last month and plan to tour this summer.
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