Best Side Projects/Lesser Known Bands of Famous Musicians

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Golden Smog is a loosely connected group of musicians comprised, at various times, of members of Soul Asylum, The Replacements, Wilco, The Jayhawks, Run Westy Run, The Honeydogs and Big Star. Golden Smog's lineup has often changed, but relative constants who appear on all the recordings are guitarists Kraig Johnson (Run Westy Run), Dan Murphy (Soul Asylum) and Gary Louris (The Jayhawks), along with bassist Marc Perlman (The Jayhawks).

The group took their name from a nickname given to Fred Flintstone in The Flintstones episode "Hot Lips Hannigan", which, in turn, was a parody of singer Mel Tormé's nickname (The Velvet Fog).

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"Looking Forward to Seeing You"

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Sagittarius was an American late 1960s studio group, devised by the record producer and songwriter, Gary Usher.

Usher had been involved with music as a songwriter since the early 1960s (including writing lyrics for some of Brian Wilson's earliest songs), and soon branched out into production work. After considerable success as a producer, he eventually became a staff producer for Columbia Records. It was at this position that, during 1967, he produced Chad & Jeremy. They had played him several songs, which he felt lacked any commercial potential. He had heard a demo around that time for a song called "My World Fell Down" (also recorded by the British pop group The Ivy League), and he played it for them, thinking that it was a sure-fire hit. They balked at the idea of covering the song, and Usher felt that he would do it himself.

He brought in Los Angeles session musicians, as well as drafting friends such as Beach Boys touring alumni Glen Campbell (who did the lead vocal on the track)[1] and Bruce Johnston and singer-turned-producer Terry Melcher for vocals. He finished the recording by adding a musique concrète bridge. He presented it to Columbia executives under the group name Sagittarius, named after his astrological sign.

The single, reached #70 in the Billboard Hot 100. When there was pressure from Columbia for the group to tour, it was revealed that a group did not exist. Usher did, however, start working on an album for Columbia under the Sagittarius name. Most of this work was done in conjunction with Curt Boettcher.

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"My World Fell Down"

Did you know Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings?!

Anyway, I always enjoyed Van Morrison's work with the Chieftains.
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Choose any of three that Chino Moreno is the lead singer.

John Fogerty - The Blue Ridge Rangers (Full Album)

Loose Fur is an American rock band comprising Wilco members Jeff Tweedy and Glenn Kotche, and Wilco collaborator Jim O'Rourke. The trio first convened in May 2000 in preparation for a Tweedy performance at a festival in Chicago. Tweedy was offered the opportunity to collaborate with an artist of his choosing, and he decided to work with O'Rourke. O'Rourke brought Kotche to a rehearsal session, and the trio recorded an album's worth of songs. The trio have since released two albums, 2003's Loose Fur and 2006's Born Again in the USA, for Drag City. The band has only toured once.

frick!! Beat me to the punch on Loose Fur. Also, Whiskeytown is far better than anything Ryan Adams has done since. As well as Tarkio before the Decembrists. I just wanted to post one before anyone else in this thread.

Place Vendome
With singer Michael Kiske of Helloween and now Unisonic.



Revolting Cocks
Also known as RevCo, was an American–Belgian industrial rock band and sometime supergroup that began as a musical side-project for Richard 23 of Front 242, Luc Van Acker, and Al Jourgensen of Ministry.

Hindu Love Gods - REM minus Michael Stipe plus Warren Zevon multiplied by some interesting cover songs divided by one album.

Raspberry Beret

Stephen Stills Manassas