Ancient Rebirth
Thursday, March 15, 2007 at 10:06AM 
Some call them super groups, I call them spinoffs. Just like television series, spinoffs are (sometimes) a great way to breathe new life into an old idea.
Think about the best television spinoffs. Cheers spawned Fraiser. Beavis and Butthead spawned Daria and The Practice is based on original characters in Boston Legal.
Glam bands often rose from the ashes of other groups.
Slaughter is a prime example of the music spinoff. Mark Slaughter and bassist Dana Strum performed together in the Vinnie Vincent Invasion before jumping ship for their own band.
Remember, Vincent was a guitarist for KISS.
Over the weekend, I watched Classic Concert: Damn Yankees on VH1 Classic. The brainchild of Ted Nugent, Damn Yankees were a spinoff band that included members of Styx and Night Ranger. Of course, Tommy Shaw (Styx) and Jack Blades (Night Ranger) just released a new album under the name Shaw/Blades.
Out of the ashes of the once great Guns n' Roses came Slash's Snakepit featuring Matt Sorum, Gilby Clarke, Dizzy Reed, Mike Inez, Eric Dover, Teddy Andreadis, and of course, Slash.
Another super group spinoff of note is Brides of Destruction, brainchild of my beloved Nikki Sixx. Tracii Guns, Kris Kohls, and London LeGrand rounded out the line-up. Sixx left the Brides in favor of the massively successful Motley Crue reunion tour. After all, it's hard to beat an original.
Fellow Motley Crue alum Tommy Lee is also on tour right now as a member of a super group spinoff. Rock Star Super Nova - a creation of modern reality television - features members of Guns n' Roses, Metallica, and the former unknown singer Lukas Rossi. I don't have much to say about these boys because their debut album is pretty bad and I'm told the tour is even worse.
Do you have a favorite super group spinoff?
Reader Comments (7)
Good topic Allyson!!
p.s. Slash is also involved with the "super" group... Velvet Revolver. It is him, a couple other former members of GnR, and the vocalist for Stone Temple Pilots.
Aint Life Grand is a killer disc.
Kelly Keagy (Night Ranger) - Drums, vocals
Doug Pinnick (King's X) - vocals
Timothy Drury (Eagles, Whitesnake) - keyboards
Reb Beach (Winger, Whitesnake) - guitars
...oh, and Kip Winger was the producer, co-writer, and bass player. :)
Unfortunately, the album didn't do too well, so I doubt we'll ever see them together again. :(
I thought they were pretty good too. At least you will get Reb and Timothy on the new Whitesnake disc this summer.
David Lee Roth's first solo band
Blue Murder
Desperado
Brides of Destruction was a great start--I wish they'd taken that further. Velvet Revolver also worked for, and I'm looking forward to their second album.
In the hard rock/prog area, Asia was pretty damn good, and I thought there was a lot of potential in GTR (with Steve Howe of Yes and Steve Hackett, the soul of classical pre-pop Genesis). More recently, one of the best has been Liquid Tension Experiment (Mike and John from Dream Theater, Tony Levin from King Crimson/Peter Gabriel, and keyboard genius Jordan Rudess).
The only mainstream one I find tolerable right now is Army of Anyone, with the brothers from STP and the Filter singer.
I would have loved to have seen this dream glam/hair metal band in the late 80s/ealry 90s: George Lynch (Dokken, Lynch Mob), Rudy Sarzo (Ozzy, Quiet Riot, Whitesnake), Tommy Lee (Crue), and Paul Shortino (Rough Cutt, Quiet Riot). I don't know why, but I always thought that would be a fun mix--and Shortino is one of the most underappreciated singers of 80s pop metal!
-- david
Then Desperado, surely. I think I like them better than Widowmaker, though the Pitrelli/Snider collaboration's also cool...