The 5 Best Rock Supergroup Singles, Ranked

When we think about the best supergroups in history, it's reasonable to look back on the bands that assembled extraordinary virtuosos for a glorified jam session or the sheer amount of talent some of these groups managed to squeeze into one room. At the heart of it all, though, are the great songs. While we may marvel at the superhuman rock gods that make up the membership of these bands, they are, ultimately, human beings just like us. Stripped of the legendary artifice, these creative conglomerations can knock out some memorable material.

To that end, we wanted to line up the top five best singles by supergroups from various eras of rock history. There are grunge/nu-metal crossovers, the rare '90s hair band, and more as we delve into a choice batch of singles from a choice assemblage of rockers. "Best" is always going to be a bit subjective, so what we're looking for here is bands that accomplished something uniquely creative above and beyond just sounding like a get-together of the greats.

Some supergroups don't sound like they should work, and others just make sense from the get-go. That was undoubtedly the case with Audioslave, the pairing of Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell with rap metal pioneers Rage Against the Machine. Cornell was already a veteran of the supergroup circuit, having provided vocals for Temple of the Dog, easily one of the five best rock supergroups of all time, and Rage Against the Machine was looking for a new direction after parting ways with vocalist Zack de la Rocha. With "Like a Stone," the new ensemble made clear that they weren't interested in being Rage Against the Machine 2.0. 

"Like a Stone" sees the former RATM instrumentalists abandoning their signature hip-hop-infused funk metal for an aggressively simplistic backbeat accentuated only by a melancholic single-note drone from the guitar. Onto that subdued (but no less tight) groove comes Cornell's dreary, detached vocal and lyrics that ponder the end of life and encroaching mortality. While Cornell's fellow grunge cohorts in Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains regularly dealt with such morbid subject matter, the former Soundgarden frontman sounds as if he's actively giving up his ghost. 

Cornell eventually rises out of his reflective doldrums and delivers a chorus with mounting angst, but he's soon outshone by Tom Morello's wholly unexpected wailing guitar solo. The scorching high-end tones come courtesy of a DigiTech WH-1 Whammy pedal and sound remarkably soulful and heartfelt, even on notes that could knock bats out of the sky.

Even though it sets its sights squarely on mainstream radio success, "High Enough" is a unique piece of work. Some of the best supergroups don't make sense right away. Motor City madman Ted Nugent partnering with a member of Styx, the prog rock outfit that flirted as much with hard rock as they did with musical theater and adult contemporary, is definitely one of them. But Styx guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw was always the dirt-kicking, down-home everyman of the group, and he gels with Ted remarkably well on Damn Yankees, the Southern rock/'80s metal crossover act that also featured Night Ranger bassist Jack Blades.

Despite two highly fretboard-literate axe men, what makes "High Enough" work isn't the wailing guitars (although it doesn't hurt either). The single's foremost strength is its lush, high-end vocal harmonies. Shaw and Blades blend together in the hard rock stratosphere with the kind of intoxicating melding of voices that calls to mind Simon and Garfunkel, Seals and Crofts, and so many other great harmonizers. After two choruses of their ethereal blend, the swaggering sentimentality of Ted Nugent's guitar solo just feels like icing on an already satisfying cake.

Damn Yankees couldn't keep their success high enough to warrant sticking together. Their sophomore LP, 1992's "Don't Tread," failed to gain traction, and the group called it a day. Tommy Shaw and Jack Blades would start the aptly named Shaw Blades, while Ted Nugent would return to the manic lunacy of his solo career. Their success was short-lived, but for a brief time, Damn Yankees scored big with soaring harmonies, wailing blues leads, and the ability to confidently rhyme "anymore" with "anymore."

Much like Extreme, another post-hair metal band from the same era that went mainstream with a pop hit, Mr. Big's "To Be With You" is an acoustic ballad that is far removed from the shred-happy hard rock of the rest of their album. There's something ironic about the idea of David Lee Roth bassist Billy Sheehan and Racer X guitarist Paul Gilbert — two shredders so enamored with the outer reaches of speed picking they used to play their instruments with electric drills — scoring massive mainstream success with a chilled-out, vocally-driven acoustic track.

In that narrow window of the late '80s and early '90s between the waning popularity of hair metal and the massive onset of grunge, there was a period where rockers were casting about in all directions for the next big thing, and unorthodox tracks had the opportunity to make considerable headway. Thus, "To Be With You," a song built around acoustic guitars and the kind of lush, multi-part vocal harmonies more commonly associated with the Beach Boys or the Manhattan Transfer than arena-pounding hard rock, scored big (pun intended). Lead vocalist Eric Martin wrote the song at just 16 years of age, making it the stuff of a true local-kid-makes-good rock 'n roll success story.

Although mostly a one-hit wonder in the States market, Mr. Big went on to sustained success in Japan, where they remain massively popular to this day. To that end, the group released the concert film "The BIG Finish" in 2024, which features their 2023 concert at the Budokan, Japan's legendary concert venue. 

Few supergroups could make a wider swath of curious listeners perk up with a disbelieving "Wait ... really?" than Them Crooked Vultures. With Nirvana/Foo Fighters mastermind Dave Grohl and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones teaming up with Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age fame (to say nothing of his previous work in Kyuss and concurrent work with Eagles of Death Metal), it's not hard to imagine three generations of rockers being floored by the combo's unlikely pairing. "New Fang" captures the fruits of that labor in grand fashion.

Drummer Dave Grohl does a solid job capturing the big, open feel of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham's iconic drumming, thus laying down a comfortable background for John Paul Jones to occupy. That retro throwback aura gives Josh Homme's desert rock modernism a sophisticated familiarity. The vocals, such as they are, go in one ear and out the other, and the hook is fairly unmemorable. But what "New Fang" lacks in singalong accessibility, it makes up for in its sheer atmosphere. This is the leading lights of three distinct rock movements coming together to honor the mold that was cast by Led Zeppelin and filled by decades of rip-roaring distortion forever after. 

"Judith" is an arresting track in its own right, but it came with an impressive pedigree. For a legion of '90s alt-rockers stepping into the new millennium, A Perfect Circle came out of nowhere and was immediately embraced with euphoric acclaim. Built around the guitar work and intricate arrangements of Tool guitar tech Billy Howerdell, the cathartic, introspective vocals of Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan, and drummer Josh Freese, whose lengthy credentials include Nine Inch Nails and Guns N' Roses, the band's lineup for 2000's "Mer de Noms" was completed by bassist Paz Lenchantin and guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen (who would go on to work with the Pixies and Queens of the Stone Age, respectively).

Lyrically, the song explores the faith of Keenan's mother and her decision to remain a Christian following a debilitating stroke. "It's not like you killed someone," he seethes in lyrics that see him wrestling with God in the most visceral manner. It's a stark, arresting portrait of a man confronting the injustice of tragedy befalling the pious and his own bitter frustration at his mother's continued devotion. Few supergroups tackle such brutal emotional nakedness, and the band's willingness to do so on their first single is a bold artistic statement indeed. 

Where most supergroups are short-lived (and usually one-off projects at that), A Perfect Circle has managed to become a legacy band in their own right, continuing to release albums and tour into the present day. The supergroup roster also included appearances by Smashing Pumpkins' James Iha and Marilyn Manson's Jeordie White (aka Twiggy Ramirez) in various incarnations of the band.