Take two or three modestly successful rock groups. Break those apart, interchange band members and a new “super group” is born.

Super groups are the latest trend in rock ‘n’ roll, inspired by the success of bands including Audioslave and Velvet Revolver, and the popularity of the reality shows “Supergroup” and “Rock Star: Supernova.”

But the phenomenon is not new. It’s a tradition originated in the late 1960s with Blind Faith, the Jeff Beck Group, and Derek and the Dominoes, and has spread from the world stage down to local and regional circuits.

“You have to start from scratch because you’re still starting a new band,” says Fosterchild guitarist and former Octane band member Brian Quinn of suburban Philadelphia.

For many musicians, super groups offer a chance to explore territory they wouldn’t have dared ventured into before.

“I really wanted to get back to writing and doing originals,” says Quinn. “In Octane, we did covers as well as originals but that wasn’t really for me anymore.”

Fosterchild, which also includes alumni of the bands Fuel and Freak, is one of many regional acts to rise from the ashes of the post-grunge rock movement.

Long before Sebastian Bach wiggled his way into a unitard and belted out “Cat Scratch Fever” with the rest of his Damnocracy band mates on VH1 reality TV, super groups were a part of the cultural vernacular, though they weren’t called it at the time.

Before they were household names, the likes of Rod Stewart, Jimmy Page, Neil Young, Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton were teaming with one another on side projects and band mergers.

“The original bands run their course; then they would become friends through festivals and what not. It’s only natural to say, “Hey, my band is broken up, your band is broken up, let’s do something,”‘ says Paul Green, who runs the Paul Green School of Rock in Philadelphia. His school inspired the Jack Black movie “The School of Rock.”

“I’ll take the best five kids, have them get together, practice and see what happens. The greatest bands are the ones in which each person is a star in their own right,” Green says.

Rock music’s first critically recognized super group was the progressive blues outfit Blind Faith, which featured Clapton, Winwood, Cream drummer Ginger Baker and Family bassist Ric Grech.

For Clapton, it was the second stop on a trip through several of rock’s most influential groups, including Cream, Derek and the Dominoes, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and the Yardbirds. The last was an experimental blues-folk outfit spearheaded by Page and guitarist Jeff Beck.

After the band’s split in 1968, Beck went on to form the Jeff Beck Group while Page attempted to get the ‘Birds back in the sky. Page eventually hooked up with Robert Plant, who introduced Page to his childhood friend and drummer John “Bonzo” Bonham.

Impressed, Page brought the two on board along with session bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones. The quartet renamed itself Led Zeppelin and began writing what would become its debut album, though many of the tracks on “Led Zeppelin” were reworked from unused Yardbirds riffs.

“I think Led Zeppelin was the greatest super group,” says Green. “I mean, you want to talk about a dynamo at each position.”

By the late ’70s, super groups were passed off as byproducts of the psychedelic hippie culture. As disco, punk and glam metal became the dominant music styles, experimentation between bands was seen as unconventional. Competition and power chords were the norm.

The rise and fall of the ’90s grunge movement breathed new life into many of the era’s biggest and most influential names.

From the ashes of Soundgarden and Rage Against the Machine rose Audioslave, which has released three consecutive best-selling albums.

Troubled Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland found a second calling as front man for Velvet Revolver, the rough-and-tumble, hard rock band rounded by former Guns ‘n’ Roses members Slash, Duff McKeegan and Matt Sorum.

“What happens is that you have movements in rock. It’s a natural thing when bands break up to form another band with big personalities,” Green says.

Some musicians have gone the other way, preferring the comfort of anonymity over potential ego clashes.

Jack White, known as the leader and guitar virtuoso of the White Stripes, won over critics with his latest project, the Raconteurs, which includes several members of the relatively obscure indie band the Greenhornes.

Super groups have inspired two hit reality shows: VH-1’s “Supergroup” and CBS’ “Rock Star: Supernova.”

The latter featured former ’80s metal-heads Jason Newsted (Metallica), Gilby Clarke (Guns ‘n’ Roses) and Tommy Lee (Motley Crue) searching for the next great lead singer to front the ultimate rock band.

The panel’s fourth judge, Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro, is on the road with his own super group, the Panic Channel, in support of its debut album, “One.”

With a Rock Star: Supernova winter tour in the works, a CD tentatively scheduled for a November release and a slew of super groups on the horizon, the genre shows no signs of slowing down.