It’s unsurprising that given the fame, money and adulation heaped at the feet of musicians, rivalries often heat up between rivals.
And once the media discover bad blood between stars, the drama tends to escalate. Here are some of the most notorious feuds in music history.
Robert Smith vs Morrissey
In the grey corner – it’s the bequiffed edgelord of indie, The Smiths’ singer Morrissey. And in the, er, grey corner, the bedraggled and quirky king of the goths, Robert Smith of The Cure.
You might think that the two frontmen would share plenty of common ground, but from the early ’80s, they were sworn enemies. ‘Robert Smith is a whingebag,’ Morrissey told The Face in 1984, presumably shortly before chucking handfuls of stones through his single-glazed walls. ‘It’s rather curious that he began wearing beads at the emergence of The Smiths and has been photographed with flowers… I’ve never liked The Cure.'
‘I dislike [The Smiths] immensely,’ Smith later said in a Spanish TV interview. ‘I just don’t like him, I think he’s really arrogant.’ The pair carried on trading barbs in the music press over the years – Morrissey once called Smith ‘a fat clown in make-up weeping over a guitar’ – but in recent years the pair seem to have mellowed their stance on one another.
Elton John vs Rod Stewart
For decades, Elton John and Rod Stewart – or Phyllis (Stewart) and Sharon (John), as they call one another – indulged in a playful rivalry defined by grand gestures of one-upmanship. When John saw blimp-like balloons with Stewart’s face on them advertising the ‘Do Ya Think I’m Sexy’ singer’s huge run of shows at London’s Earl’s Court in 1985, he hired a sniper to shoot them down.
A year later, a massive banner to promote John’s Olympia show was mysteriously cut down as soon as it was put up. ‘I learned this had happened from Rod,’ John wrote in his memoir, Me. ‘Who seemed curiously well-informed. “Such a shame about your banner, love. I heard it wasn’t up even five minutes. I bet you didn’t even get to see it.”’
But the japery took on an edge in 2018, when Stewart criticised John’s farewell tour as ‘dishonest’, saying it ‘stinks of selling tickets’ on Watch What Happens Live. John hit back, ‘I thought he had a cheek, complaining about me promoting a tour while he was sat on a TV show promoting his own tour.’ Hopefully Phyllis and Sharon have put it behind them by now.
Anthony Kiedis vs Mike Patton
Though Red Hot Chili Peppers and Faith No More shared bills as far back as the early ’80s, it was only when Mike Patton became FNM’s singer in 1990 that things kicked off. ‘My drummer says he’s gonna kidnap [Patton],’ Chillis singer Athony Kiedis told Kerrang! in 1990, ‘shave his hair off and cut off one of his feet, just so he’ll be forced to find a style of his own.’
Fighting talk by anyone’s standards; turns out Patton liked a scrap. ‘Reading that article gave me a good laugh,' Patton told Kerrang! a few months later. ‘It sounded like old Anthony felt a little threatened.’
In 1999, the feud reignited when California, the new album by Patton’s Mr Bungle project, was delayed to avoid clashing with the Chili Peppers’ Californication (the two acts shared a label). What’s more, Patton was told that Mr Bungle were to removed from festival bills at Kiedis’ request, ‘It’s something to do with Anthony, the rest of the band doesn’t care,’ Patton told BBC Radio 1.
‘Maybe it’s that small penis complex. Maybe he thinks that I stole some of his dance moves.’ When Mr Bungle played a Halloween 1999 show, they came on stage dressed as the Chili Peppers and proceeded to mock the funk-rockers mercilessly, which only made Kiedis more furious. Presumably, the feud rumbles on.
Paul Simon vs Art Garfunkel
![American folk rock duo Simon and Garfunkel (Art Garfunkel [L] and Paul Simon), 1983](https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/43/2026/04/GettyImages-3202490.jpg?webp=1&w=1200)
Simon & Garfunkel’s relationship became fraught almost immediately. When the duo’s debut single, ‘Hey Schoolgirl’ released under the name Tom & Jerry, was a hit in 1957, the song’s writer, the then-16-year-old Simon agreed a solo deal. The problem was, he didn’t tell Garfunkel.
‘The friendship was shattered for life,’ Garfunkel wrote in his memoir What Is It All But Luminous, Notes from an Underground Man. ‘I never forget, and I never really forgive… Paul won the writer’s royalties. I got the girls.’
They split the following year but reunited as Simon & Garfunkel in 1963, becoming folk-rock stars thanks to the 1966 single ‘The Sound Of Silence’. But the pair’s insecurities nagged at them, and they knew how to push each other’s buttons. In 2017, Simon recalled, ‘During a photo session Artie said, “No matter what happens, I’ll always be taller than you.” I guess it hurt enough for me to remember 60 years later.’
Annoyed by the praise Garfunkel received for singing his (Simon's) songs, not to mention his partner’s burgeoning movie career, Paul Simon split the duo up at their peak, shortly after the release of Bridge Over Troubled Water. Despite short-lived reunions over the years, the old grudges never really went away, but in 2024, Garfunkel revealed to The Times that they had made their peace. ‘It was about making amends before it’s too late. It felt like we were back in a wonderful place.’
Pavement vs Smashing Pumpkins
Perhaps it’s inevitable that the indie slackers and goth kids were never really going to get on. In 1994, Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus used their beautifully irreverent single ‘Range Life’ to take a swipe at Billy Corgan’s grunge heroes, singing, ‘Out on tour with the Smashing Pumpkins/Nature kids, they don’t have no function/I don’t understand what they mean/And I could really give a ****.'
Corgan was incensed and used his clout to get Pavement dropped from the Lollapalooza line-up, claiming, ‘I think it’s rooted in jealousy. People don’t fall in love to Pavement… they put on Smashing Pumpkins or Hole or Nirvana, because these bands actually mean something to them’. In 1999, Malkmus laughed it off, saying, ‘I never dissed their music. I just dissed their status. I never really cared for the rock’n’roll lifestyle or being “indie”.’
Corgan held a grudge and in 2010 lashed out at Malkmus when he found out that he’d be sharing a festival bill with the reformed Pavement, ‘Funny how those who pointed the big finger of “sell out” are the biggest offenders now. Yawn. They have no love ... We’ll be the band up there playing NEW songs because we have the love.’
Dave Lee Roth vs the Van Halen brothers
It’s amazing that the first line-up of Van Halen lasted as long as they did. Brothers Alex (drums) and Eddie Van Halen (guitar) began playing together as kids and, enlisting pal Mark Stone on bass, formed heavy rock act Mammoth in 1972. Initially, Eddie handled the vocals but eventually they gave local R&B singer Dave Lee Roth a chance on vocals – mainly as they’d been renting a PA from him and wanted to save money.
Dave’s flamboyant showmanship and Eddie’s virtuosic guitar playing won them a following, but the two forces were pulling in opposite directions. This came to a head on their most successful album to date, 1984, with Roth unhappy at the decision to record at Eddie’s new studio. At their peak, Roth quit to go solo.
‘The band as you know it is over,' Eddie told Rolling Stone. ‘Dave left to be a movie star. He even asked if I’d write the score for him.’ A 1996 reunion proved short-lived after a bust-up at the MTV Video Music Awards and it was the same story for the mooted 2007, 2012 and 2015 tours.
Speaking to Billboard in 2015, Eddie said, ‘It’s hard, because there are four people in this band, and three of us like rock’n’roll. And one of us likes dance music. And that used to kind of work, but now Dave doesn’t want to come to the table… he does not want to be my friend’.
Lynyrd Skynyrd vs Neil Young
Never shy about voicing his opinions, Neil Young’s ‘Southern Man’ (from After The Gold Rush, 1970) was a no-holds barred condemnation of racism in the US south. The song caused a backlash in the Southern states, but Young doubled down with ‘Alabama’ (Harvest, 1972), focusing his ire specifically on the state which had been the battleground of the US civil rights movement.
Lynryd Skynyrd singer Ronnie Van Zant spoke out about the song, telling Rolling Stone, 'We thought Neil was shooting all the ducks in order to kill one or two. We’re southern rebels, but more than that, we know the difference between right and wrong.' That anger found its way into Lynryd Skynyrd’s massive hit ‘Sweet Home Alabama’, which featured the lyric, ‘I hope Neil Young will remember, a southern man don’t need him around anyhow’.
Both parties presumably came to an understanding as Young wrote one of his greatest rockers, ‘Powderfinger’, for Skynyrd’s planned follow-up to 1977’s Street Survivors. The tragic events of 20 October 1977, when Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines were among six fatalities when the band’s plane crashed near Gillsburg, Mississippi, meant they never recorded Young’s olive branch of a song.
Roger Waters vs David Gilmour
Singer and bassist Roger Waters left Pink Floyd acrimoniously in 1985, causing a flurry of lawsuits and side swipes in the press, but it was a storm that had been brewing for some time. During the ’70s, Waters had become increasingly dominant, causing tensions in the band.
‘There wasn’t any room for anyone else to be writing,’ an unapologetic Waters told Rolling Stone in 1987. ‘There was no point in Gilmour, Mason or Wright trying to write lyrics. Because they’ll never be as good as mine. Gilmour’s lyrics are very third-rate. They always will be.’ Things came to a head during the making of The Final Cut (1983) and two years later, Waters attempted to split up Pink Floyd, claiming they were ‘creatively spent’.
His fellow Floyds had other ideas and wanted to continue to use the name. Waters unsuccessfully took the others to court but lost the legal battle. There were short-lived hopes of a full reunion raised when they played a one-off performance at Live 8 in 2005 but a recent series of incendiary exchanges on social media have suggested there’s very little hope of Waters and Gilmour sharing a stage again.
Guns N’ Roses vs Nirvana
The phenomenal success of Nirvana’s second album, Nevermind, made them the hottest rock band on the planet. At first, Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose was a fan of Kurt Cobain’s band and was interviewed wearing a Nirvana baseball cap in 1991.
A lapse of taste spoiled all that, though. When GNR began using ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ to soundtrack a part of their show where they would encourage women to flash for the cameras, which were linked to massive video screens behind the band, Cobain was appalled. Shortly afterwards, GNR asked Nirvana to join them on their 1992 co-headline tour with Metallica and Cobain turned them down.
‘I had to make the phone call to Kurt to talk to him about the possibility of joining our tour,’ Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett told NME in 2022, ‘and he just went on and on about how he just didn’t like what Guns N’ Roses stood for.’ Cobain and Rose began trash talking in the press and things spilled over at the MTV Music Video Awards in 1992, when Rose told Cobain to keep his partner Courtney Love in line after an altercation.
Speaking to The Advocate in 1993, Cobain clarified his position on Rose, ‘The guy is a sexist and a racist and a homophobe, and you can’t be on his side and be on our side.’
Paul McCartney vs Michael Jackson
In the early ’80s Michael Jackson approached Paul McCartney about working together. The two superstars hit it off and wrote a couple of songs – ‘Say Say Say’ and ‘The Girl Is Mine’. Jackson took the opportunity to ask the older man for words of wisdom on surviving in the music industry; McCartney suggested Jackson look into music publishing.
A couple of years later, Jackson purchased publishing company ATV – which owned the rights to 251 Beatles songs, among its 4,000-song catalogue for $47.5 million. ‘I think it’s dodgy to do something like that,’ McCartney later said of the purchase. ‘To be someone’s friend, and then buy the rug they’re standing on.’
The pair barely spoke again, though McCartney said in a 2009 interview on The David Letterman Show that he had tried to bring up the possibility of a better royalty rate, ‘I kept thinking, it was time for a raise… I did talk to him about it, but he kind of blanked me on it. He kept saying, “That’s just business, Paul.” So, I thought, “Yeah, it is,” and waited for a reply, but we never kind of got to it…’
Cher vs Madonna
This feud between two pop divas was ignited back in 1991. ‘There’s something about her that I don’t like,’ Cher said about Madonna in a CBS interview. ‘She’s mean. I don’t like that. I remember having her over at my house a couple of times because Sean [Penn – Madonna’s then-partner] and I were friends, and she just was so rude to everybody. It seems to me that she’s got so much that she doesn’t have to act the way that she acts like a spoiled brat all the time.’
Fast forward to 2018 and Cher was still throwing shade at Madonna – when she was asked on the Ellen DeGeneres show which three singers she’d like to duet with, she said, ‘Adele, P!nk and… not Madonna.’ For her part, Madonna kept quiet on Cher until her 2023 Celebration tour when a video montage included the 1991 clip of Cher calling her mean. Later that year, Cher told The LA Times that Madonna had forgiven her – watch this space to see how long that lasts.
Blur vs Oasis
In the early days of Britpop, relations between the movement’s two flagship bands – Blur and Oasis – seemed cordial enough. When Blur scooped five awards to Oasis’ three at the 1995 NME Awards, Liam Gallagher handsomely commented, ‘I don’t think we should’ve got more than Blur. Blur are a top band.’
Months later, though, relations soured when Damon Albarn was taunted by Liam at a party to celebrate Oasis’ first UK No 1 single, ‘Some Might Say’. From that point on, the gloves were off and barely a week went by without the two bands trading blows in the weekly music press.
‘Oasis were utterly sincere about hating Blur; that’s what’s been lost in translation,’ Alan McGee, boss of Oasis’ label, Creation Records, told NME in 2021. ‘Blur thought it was comedy and a joke, but when Oasis were saying they wanted to kill them, they meant it.’
Things came to a head in August 1995, when Blur’s record label moved the release of their single ‘Country House’ to coincide with Oasis's own seven-inch, ‘Roll With It’. The media reaction was hysterical and, though Blur won the battle (thanks to multiple versions of the single going on sale), Oasis won the war.
Eventually, both sides buried that hatchet – in 2017 Noel Gallagher even collaborated with Albarn on the Gorillaz track ‘We Got The Power' – but while it lasted, it was one of the most notorious rivalries in music.
Liam Gallagher vs Noel Gallagher
Here’s a rivalry that goes back to before either of the protagonists were famous. Liam Gallagher suggested on The Harold Stern Show back in 2017 that his long-standing feud with his elder brother Noel went back to their teenage years, when a drunk and stoned Liam couldn’t find the light switch in the night and relieved himself over his brother’s new stereo system.
The sibling rivalry heated up under the intensity of the spotlight, notably at an off-the-rails gig at the Whisky A Go-Go, Los Angeles in 1994, where Liam threw his tambourine at Noel, causing him to storm off stage and temporarily qui the band. Noel rejoined, but the arguments went on – for a taste of their constant bickering, check out 1995’s ‘Wibbling Rivalry’, the 15-minute single released by UK indie label Fierce Panda of a Noel and Liam argument captured on tape by journalist John Harris.
After years of in-fighting, Oasis finally split in August 2009 when a trivial argument over an advert for Liam’s clothing band, Pretty Green, turned into a full-on fight, with Liam smashing one of Noel’s treasured guitars. ‘It’s with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight,' Noel announced. ‘People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer.’
Having gone their separate ways, the brothers continued to squabble in the press and Liam took great delight in regularly comparing his brother to a potato on social media. Then in 2025, the unthinkable happened and they finally patched it up for a triumphant world tour. But how long will it last…?
Slash v Axl Rose
Like Oasis, there was longstanding animosity in the Guns N’Roses camp long before matters got out of hand. ‘The fight with me and Slash started the day I met him,’ Axl Rose told The LA Times. ‘He came in, popped my tape out and put his in and wanted me in his band. And I didn’t want to join his band. We’ve had that war since Day One.’
As GNR grew into the biggest rock band on the planet, the relationship between their two main forces became even more strained. Years of drug abuse, runaway egos and miscommunication saw a deep divide grow between the two. Rose believed as far back in 1991 that the guitarist was planning a coup (‘Slash wanted the touring to get the better of me, given my circumstances at the time. My safety and well-being were not their concern’) and went to great lengths to take control of band’s name.
The flashpoint came in 1994, when GNR recorded a cover of the Stones’ ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ for the Interview With The Vampire soundtrack and Rose allegedly removed Slash’s solo. The guitarist quit in 1996, after which Rose told Spin, ‘In a nutshell, personally I consider him a cancer and better removed, avoided – and the less anyone heard of him or his supporters, the better.’ But in 2016, the pair buried the hatchet and Slash rejoined GNR – they’re still touring to this day.
Prince vs Michael Jackson
The rivalry between Prince and Michael Jackson was like catnip for tabloids in the 1980s. As a youth, Jackson was one of Prince’s heroes and, when the former Jackson 5 singer went solo and looked for an edgier sound, he turned to Prince albums such as For You and 1999 for inspiration.
Prince, for his part, viewed the staggering success of Jackson’s Thriller as a challenge, coming up with the concept for the Purple Rain movie. When Purple Rain became a worldwide phenomenon, Jackson started looking over his shoulder.
In early 1985, Prince refused to sing on Jackson’s charity single ‘We Are The World’ and in December that year, Jackson visited Prince, who was working on Under The Cherry Moon at the Samuel Goldwyn Soundstage. Prince challenged his visitor to a game of ping-pong, which Jackson had never played before.
As producer Susan Rodgers recalled, ‘They started very politely volleying the ball back and forth. Suddenly, Prince said, “C’mon, Michael, get into it,” and he slammed the ball right at Michael's crotch. I was rolling my eyes!”’ The following summer, a collaboration on the Jackson track ‘Bad’ was shut down by Prince when he was worried that he was being set up.
Years later in an interview with comedian Chris Rock, Prince said, ‘The first line of that song is “Your butt is mine.” Now I said, “Who’s gonna sing that to whom? ’Cause you sure ain’t singing it to me. And I sure ain’t singing it to you… So right there, we got a problem.”’
Over the years, the tabloids played the two superstars off one another. In 1988, the National Enquirer claimed Jackson was furious because Prince had been using his powers of extra sensory perception to talk to animals and was communicating directly with Bubbles the chimp, brainwashing Jackon’s beloved pet into going on violent rampages (“What kind of sicko would mess with a monkey? This is the final straw!”, Jackson is alleged to have ranted). Prince was tickled enough by the allegations to reference them in the video to 1988 single 'Partyman', in which he gives a chimp a banana, which – when peeled – has ‘Psyche’ written on it.
In tapes recorded for Jackson’s autobiography, Moonwalk (1988), and made public by the Daily Mirror in 2016, Jackson is reported as saying, ‘I don’t like to be compared to Prince at all. I have proven myself since I was real little. It’s not fair. He feels like I’m his opponent.
'I hope he changes because boy, he’s gonna get hurt. He’s the type that might commit suicide or something. He was so rude, one of rudest people I have ever met. Prince is very competitive. He has been very mean and nasty to my family.’
The pair continued to have digs at one another in the ’90s but gradually, the rivalry cooled down. When the news of Jackson’s death broke, Prince was in rehearsals for his headline set at the Montreux jazz festival in Switzerland.
He immediately cancelled the rehearsals and, according to one interview, locked himself in his room for four days. When asked about Jackson’s death on French television, Prince simply said: ‘It is always sad to lose someone you loved’.
Pics Getty Images. Top pic: David Gilmour and Roger Waters at Live 8, 2005 (composite pic)
