If you could create a rock supergroup, who would be in it?

Question

I saw this little exercise in Spin magazine back in fall of '04 (props if you can find it in an archive). The basic premise is to create a supergroup of your favorite musicians from the past and present, and describe what kind of sound you'd like to hear from the group and what sort of dynamic you think they'd likely have.

There are a few allowances and rules:
1) you can use people from past and present, and they can be dead or alive
2) the people you choose must be able to work together as a cohesive band. even if you love them all, you wouldn't put prince, jamiroquai, and michael jackson in the same band because they would clash personally, they would all kind of serve the same purpose, and the band just wouldn't work.

3) it's not concrete, but it's encouraged to at least pick a guitarist, a bassist, a drummer, and a singer, and you can add onto that as necessitated by your conceptual design.

4) please don't be unimaginative and say something like "led zeppelin is my supergroup" or "the who with david gilmour instead of pete townsend." the idea is to create an original concept/sound.

So, I'm curious as to who everyone in the community would choose for their supergroup, and can you describe how they would sound and how they would work together to create your perfect band. I'll tell you mine to start off:

Guitar: John McLaughlin (Mahavishnu Orchestra)
Bass: Les Claypool (Primus)
Drums: Thomas Pridgen (Mars Volta)
Vocals: Jon Anderson (Yes)
Keys: Herbie Hancock
Production/Songwriting/Sound effects/Guitar: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (Mars Volta)

So I imagine this as a largely instrumental group, a combination of prog sensibilities (long songs, focus on the album as an art form, space/fantasy concepts) and a hard funk-fusion sound akin to the song Vital Transformation by the Mahavishnu Orchestra and the bass-heave rock-out parts of a lot of Yes songs.

I feel Geddy Lee would be more appropriate than Jon Anderson if this were the only style we're going after, but I think he'd bring a certain softness and sense of dynamics that would work against the raw funk of Pridgen and Claypool.

I think all these guys are still alive so there is hope!!!

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Woof. That sounds like the most ungodly prog rock monstrosity ever. If something so vile were ever to come into existence, surely the planet would be compelled to swallow itself to prevent even a single note to emanate from that putrid beast (and there go my chances of getting best answer on this question)

Vocals: Zombie Otis Redding
Lead Guitar: Johnny Thunders
Rhythm Guitar: Joe Strummer
Bass: Mike Watt
Drums: Brendan Canty
Sax: James Chance

Otis Redding rises from the depths of Lake Monona and recruits a cadre of punk stalwarts to back him up as he gurgles freshwater and tunes of loss, regret, and dissatisfaction. Watt and Canty lay down the grooves while Strummer hammers out the chords and provides backing vocals as Thunders's licks and Chance's ungodly saxophone squaks amble through the chaos. **** yeah.

Peepaw · Answer

Vocals: Robert Plant
Lead Guitar: Jeff Beck
Bass Guitar: John Entwistle
Rhythm Guitar: Tom Petty
Drums: John Bonham
Keyboards: Jonathan Cain

Lumino C. · Answer

Wonderful question buddy!
I made 3, here we go...

First band: (British)
Richard Wright: Keyboard and Synthesizer
Jeff Beck: Electric Guitar
Bill Bruford: Drums
Greg Lake: Bass Guitar
Jon Anderson: Vocal
Producer/Record engineer: Alan Parsons

Second band: (German)
Klaus Schulze: Keyboard and Synthesizer
Harald Grosskopf: Drums
Frank Bornemann: Guitars and Vocal
Manuel Gottsching: Guitars
Holger Czukay: Bass

Third band: (US)
Jimi Hendrix: Guitar
Michael Shrieve: Drums
Steve Winwood: Bass
Janis Joplin: Vocal

Wake Up · Answer

Singer: Layne Staley (Alice in Chains)
Guitar 1: Jerry Garcia (The Grateful Dead)
Guitar 2: David Gilmour (Pink Floyd)
Bass: Billy Sheehan (Mr. Big)
Keys: Brent Mydland (The Grateful Dead)
Drums: John Densmore (The Doors)

Andrew™ · Answer

First Band:

Singer: Freddie Mercury (queen)
Lead Guitar: Steve Vai
Rhythm Guitar: Slash (Guns N Roses and Velvet Revolver)
Bass: Nikki Sixx (Motley Crue and Sixx AM)
Drums: Dave Grohl (Nirvana and Foo Fighters)

Second Band:

Singer: Tom Keifer (Cinderella)
Lead Guitar: Eddie Van Halen (Van Halen)
Rhythm Guitar: Matthias Jabs (Scorpions)
Bass: Geddy Lee (Rush)
Drums: Tommy Lee (Motley Crue

Sorry I couldn't choose one

Anonymous · Answer

The Beatles 

Plus Roger Daugherty on keys

John Al-nezur · Answer

Mike Portnoy [Dream Theater] - Drums
Dimebag Darrell [Pantera] - Lead Guitar
James Hetfield [Metallica] - Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
John Lord [deep Purple] - Keyboards
Geezer Butler [Black sabbath] - Bass guitar

James · Answer

Lead Guitarist: Jimi Hendrix (R.I.P) (Jimi Hendrix Experience)
Rhythm Guitarist: Scott Ian (Anthrax)
Vocals: Ozzy Osbourne (Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne)
Drums: Dave Lombardo (Slayer)
Bassist: Jason Newsted (ex Metallica)

I guess they would sound a lot like early thrash, but with a classic rock twist in there (with Ozzy and Jimi) but it would sound awesome.

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If you could create a rock supergroup, who would be in it?

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