A supergroup is a musical group formed with members who are already successful as solo artists or as members of other successful groups. The term became popular in the late 1960s when members of already successful rock groups recorded albums together, after which they normally disbanded.[1][self-published source?]Charity supergroups, in which prominent musicians perform or record together in support of a particular cause, have been common since the 1980s. The term is most common in the context of rock and pop music, but it has occasionally been applied to other musical genres. For example, operasuperstarsthe Three Tenors (José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, and Luciano Pavarotti) have been called a supergroup.[2]
A supergroup sometimes forms as a side project for a single recording project or other ad hoc purposes, with no intention that the group will remain together afterwards. In other instances, the group may become the primary focus of the members' career.
The very definition of a supergroup hinges on the members already having been "successful". This itself is a subjective term, though metrics such as career earnings, records sold, number of commercial hit songs written and musician longevity can all be used to establish the objective success of a musical band and its individual members.[13][14]
Tyler Golsen in Far Out writes that "Today, the term “supergroup” has something of a negative connotation. It usually signifies a short-term vanity project that attempts to profit off members’ reputations with their past works".[15]
In 1974, a Time magazine article titled "Return of a Supergroup" quipped that the supergroup was a "potent but short-lived rock phenomenon" which was an "amalgam formed by the talented malcontents of other bands". The article acknowledged that groups such as Cream and Blind Faith "played enormous arenas and made megabucks, and sometimes megamusic", with the performances "fueled by dueling egos". However, while this "musical infighting built up the excitement... it also made breakups inevitable."[16]
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Supergroup_(music), and is written by contributors.
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