After a trip to the USA in 1999, Jennifer Ayache went looking for musicians to make a group. She met Michel Giovannetti, a guitarist, and François Even, a bassist, who already knew each other from another group, and formed a new band. They started out as a three-piece before 2 other members joined. Those two were later replaced by Guillaume Roussé (on drums), and Patrice Focone (on guitar). Roussé quit the band in 2005 and was replaced by Greg Jacks.

The band got their name from the Latin word "superbus", meaning proud, supposedly when lead singer Jennifer Ayache stumbled upon that word while browsing a Latin dictionary.

Superbus' style is reminiscent of a vast array of bands, from No Doubt to Weezer, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Sublime.

In 2002, Superbus released their debut album, Aéromusical. The band's second album, Pop'n'Gum, released in 2004, was produced by David Salsedo from Silmarils. In 2005 they won the Best French Act award at the MTV Europe Music Awards. Superbus also made a debut in Guitar Hero III with their song Radio Song, featured as an unlockable bonus song. According to the Sikoras, Superbus are the founders of 'girl noise garage rock', a genre involving garage rock mixed with girl noise.