Despite all the sludgy sounds, despite all the raucous music, the buzzy guitars, and the screeching lyrics, grunge music had a purity about it in the late 1980s and early 1990s. There was an overarching understanding in the movement that selling out was wrong and playing music with your friends was where it was at.

The style, born in Seattle in the Pacific Northwest, spread across the globe and was the dominant form of music in the mid-90s. Audiences were privy to groups like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden. Bands that blew minds thanks to their talent and auras.

But amongst those gigantic stalwarts were short-lived supergroup bands that also helped to define the grunge sound. We wanted to explore three such examples. A trio of bands that were formed by members of other big marquee outfits. These are three grunge supergroups that still rock today.

Temple of the Dog

For all of the amazing things about grunge music, one of the clearest and most devastating aspects of the genre is all the loss those within it have seen. In many ways, that began right as the 1990s began. That’s when Seattle lost one of its favorite songs, Andrew Wood, the lead singer of bands like Mother Love Bone and Malfunkshun, who died of a drug overdose.

In the wake of his passing, Wood’s roommate Chris Cornell (of Soundgarden) organized a tribute band that included the likes of himself, Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready, and lead vocalist Eddie Vedder. Named Temple of the Dog, the supergroup put out one self-titled album in 1991. And the single from that LP, “Hunger Strike,” remains an iconic grunge track today.

Mad Season

In 1995, just as the wave of grunge was cresting, a new supergroup was formed in a rehab facility. That’s where Mike McCready met bassist John Baker Saunders. Together, they recruited Alice in Chains lead singer Layne Staley, Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin, and vocalist Mark Lanegan into the studio to record.

The project was dubbed Mad Season, and they released their sole LP, Above, in 1995. The breakout single from that album was the sad-yet-self-aware song “River of Deceit,” on which Staley tragically laments his addictions.

3rd Secret

While Temple of the Dog and Mad Season were created in the throes of the grunge movement, for those looking for new blood, there is a new band in town. That group is called 3rd Secret, and it is comprised of members of Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana.

Boasting the likes of guitarist Kim Thayil, drummer Matt Cameron, and bassist Krist Novoselic, the modern-day grunge supergroup released two albums this decade, its self-titled album in 2022 and follow-up The 2nd 3rd Secret in 2023. Fronted by vocalists Jillian Raye and Jennifer Johnson, the band is just what fans of the sound need now.