Strange Bandfellows: Top 10 Oddest Supergroups

AP Photo/SuperHeavy, LLC., Frank W. Ockenfels3

Ever since there have been Eric Claptons walking the earth there have been supergroups. Most of the time they make total sense -- like when New Order's Bernard Sumner and the Smith's Johnny Marr enlisted Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant and Karl Bartos of Kraftwerk fame to form Electronic. Then there are the weird ones. Sure it's tough to find quality bass players, but Radiohead's Thom Yorke grabbing Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea for Atoms for Peace? If there's one thing music snobs don't want, it's Saint Thom joining up with a dude whose initial fame came from wearing a sock on his penis. And with that unfortunate vision in our heads, we got to thinking, "Who are the strangest supergroups we've ever heard of?"

10. Tinted Windows

Members: Taylor Hanson (Hanson), James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins), Bun E. Carlos (Cheap Trick) and Adam Schlesinger (Foundations of Wayne).

If you told 1994 that the kid from Hanson would eventually end up in a band with a Smashing Pumpkin and a member of Cheap Trick you'd have been forced to eat your 14-hole Doc Martins. But Taylor's desire to be taken seriously as an adult combined with Iha's no-longer-secret love for power pop propelled this unlikely union.

9. Broken Social Scene

Members: Kevin Drew (KC Accidental), Brendan Canning (By Divine Right), Leslie Feist, Jason Collett, Emily Haines (Metric), Amy Millan (Stars), Elizabeth Powell (Land of Talk) and more.

There are lots of supergroups who aren't actually "super" and Broken Social Scene) were probably the least super of 'em all when the 'You Forgot It in People' album broke in 2002. When that happened this collective of aspiring Toronto musicians suddenly became world famous, helping springboard and acts like Feist, Metric and Stars. They were, in essence, a reverse supergroup.

8. Foo Fighters

Members: Dave Grohl, Nirvana), Pat Smear (the Germs, Nirvana), Nate Mendel (Sunny Day Real Estate), William Goldsmith (Sunny Day Real Estate, the Fire Theft), Taylor Hawkins (Sass Jordan, Alanis Morissette) and Chris Shiflett (No Use For A Name, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes).

One of the guys from Nirvana calling on his friends to start another band after Kurt Cobain dies seems relatively conventional, right? That is, until you get to Hawkins. Not many people can say they went from working with Sass Jordan and Alanis Morissette to one degree of separation from 'Nevermind.'

7. How to Destroy Angels

Members: Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), Mariqueen Maandig (West Indian Girl) and Atticus Ross (Nine Inch Nails).

So how is Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, one of the scariest dudes from one of the scariest bands ever, suddenly end up in a band with that hippie chick from West Indian Girl? He put a ring on it. That he would be part of a supergroup is no real surprise, though. Reznor's also been part of don't-bring-'em-home-to-your-mother industrial acts Revolting Cocks and Pigface.

6. The Good, the Bad and the Queen

Members:Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz), Paul Simonon (the Clash), Simon Tong (the Verve, the Shining) and Tony Allen (Fela Kuti).

What do you think the hook was that Albarn used to lure in Allen? "Hi, my name's Damon. I'm in a band made up of cartoon characters. Wanna be my drummer?" Nah. It was probably, "Hey Tony, I've got the guy from the Clash on board to play bass. Whaddaya say?"

5. Zwan

Members: Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), Paz Lenchantin (A Perfect Circle), Matt Sweeney (Chavez), Dave Pajo (Slint, King Kong), Jimmy Chamberlin (Smashing Pumpkins).

The dissolution of the Smashing Pumpkins resulted in a number of weird off-shoots and Corgan's attempt to go post-rock with dudes from Slint and Chavez ranks right up there. Granted, Corgan and Sweeney were real-life buddies, but those guys inhabit an entirely different musical world than Mr. '1979.'

4. CCCP

Members: Stewart Copeland (the Police, Oysterhead), Neil Peart (Rush), Danny Carey (Tool) and Les Claypool (Primus, Oysterhead).

The drummers from the Police, Rush and Tool walk into a bar... and the result is too many drummers. If your first instinct, like everyone's first instinct, is to blame Claypool for this percussive wildebeest, you'd be wrong. It's totally Copeland's fault. On the bright side, this is way more fun than Sting's lute music.

3. The Last Hard Men

Members: Kelley Deal (the Breeders), Sebastian Bach (Skid Row), Jimmy Chamberlin (Smashing Pumpkins) and Jimmy Flemion (the Frogs).

We're mostly going to blame Bach for this because he's tried pretty much every musical hat he's come across since getting turfed from Skid Row. He's spent time on Broadway, was in the VH1-created supergroup Damnocracy with Ted Nugent, and became a reality TV country musician, too, but none of those are as weird to music nerds as teaming up with a Breeder.

2. Traveling Wilburys

Members: George Harrison (The Beatles), Bob Dylan, Tom Petty (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers), Jeff Lynne (Electric Light Orchestra, the Move), Roy Orbison and Jim Keltner.

Perhaps the most super of all supergroups, the Traveling Wilburys' weirdness comes in the form of its cross-generationalism. Sure it's plausible that '70s pop-prog producer Lynne would know his workman rock peer in Petty, but that they were both in the same social circle as '60s icons Dylan and Harrison is the stuff of imagination. Throw first generation rock 'n' roller Orbison into the card game and you end up with a group whose various members had ruled popular music since all the way back in 1957.

1. SuperHeavy

Members: Mick Jagger (the Rolling Stones), Dave Stewart (Eurythmics), Joss Stone, Damian Marley and A. R. Rahman.

And then there's SuperHeavy, the undisputed No. 1 strange supergroup and inspiration for this whole list. Jagger and Stewart make sense. They've worked together in the past. And the Traveling Wilburys actually recorded their first album at Stewart's studio, so he knows all about all-star bands. Stone? Well, there's always room in a collective for a pretty young woman who can sing. But throwing Bollywood soundtrack master Rahman, who won an Oscar for 'Jai Ho,' into the mix is where things start to get far out. Then add Damian Marley, son of Bob, and you end up with a band that now officially puts Mick Jagger one degree of separation from both Nas and a Pussycat Doll. And that's super strange.