16 Explosive Musician Feuds That Still Haven’t Been Resolved

Wolf Alice V Fat White Family: Although the two bands once toured together, they found themselves at loggerheads when FWF called Wolf Alice’s music “drivel for nine-year-olds” in an interview with Time Out in 2016. Ellie Rowsell of Wolf Alice responded by saying; “I don’t think they should call out other bands, you know?” but bassist Theo Ellis simply responded with “Also, fuck off”.

Oasis V Bloc Party: The Gallaghers and Kele Okereke have been at each other since 2005, with widely diverging styles. Just when you thought a ceasefire might have been reached, Noel Gallagher struck again on the debut of Chris Moyles’s Radio X show, calling Bloc Party “bobbins” and insisting “their only redeeming feature is they have ‘party’ in their name.” Ball’s in your court, Kele.

Kasabian V Clean Bandit: In February, Serge Pizzorno said it was an outrage popsters Clean Bandit were nominated for Brit Awards because they “don’t even write their own tunes”. The band responded that they do, with saxaphonist Jack Patterson snarling, “He is a wanker, that guy. If I see him, I’ll probably knock him out” faster than you can say, ‘Cortana, where can I buy knuckle dusters?’

Meek Mill V Drake: Cattier than Meow The Jewels, the beef of the summer started when Mill accused Drake of using a ghostwriter. Diss tracks and onstage outbursts followed. Drizzy was widely considered to have won the war with ‘Weak Mill’ – the punchline of tonnes of internet memes – but he still kicked his rival when he was down, on new Future co-helmed mixtape ‘What A Time To Be Alive’.

Sun Kil Moon V The War On Drugs: After sound bled from The War On Drugs’ set onto Mark Kozelek’s at a festival, the Sun Kil Moon man introduced his next song as ‘The War On Drugs Can Suck My Fucking Dick’. He released another fellatio-themed one online, plus a derisive reading of the TWOD frontman’s online post about the incident. Kozelek could start an argument in solitary confinement.

Taking Back Sunday V Brand New: The spat between emo merchants Taking Back Sunday and Brand New is erupted when the former band’s guitarist was caught with the then girlfriend of Brand New frontman Jesse Lacey. Brand New penned the diss track ‘Seventy Times Seven in 2001’. Taking Back Sunday retaliated a year later with ‘There’s No I In Team’. The grudge remarkably rumbles on.

Peter Hook V New Order: “We’re a bunch of fat old men arguing,” Peter Hook once said about his long-running feud with Bernard Sumner and co. Ever since 2007, when he said New Order had split up – news the group’s other members swiftly denied – they’ve regularly traded barbs in the press. Any hope of resolution disintegrated in 2011 when the band reformed – sans Hook – to record a new album.

Black Keys V Justin Bieber: Patrick Carney and Jack White seem to have made up, but there’s no such resolution between him and Bieber. He said of the wayward pop twink, “Grammys are for music, not for the money, and he’s making a lot of money”. Biebs told his Twitter followers that the drummer should be “slapped around”. A year later, Carney insisted Bieber was an “irresponsible asshole”.

Tom DeLonge V Blink-182: Eight months ago, Tom DeLonge left Blink-182, and the bad blood has since flowed like angsty haemophilia. Bassist Mark Hoppus insisted the guitarist was “holding Blink-182 back”; drummer Travis Barker added he was “disrespectful and ungrateful.” The band are going through a “friendly divorce”. Next they’ll be fighting over custody of the knob gags.

Wayne Coyne V Arcade Fire: The Flaming Lips frontman attacked Arcade Fire in 2009, accusing them of “pompousness” and treating their crew “like shit”. He later apologised, but four years later, he criticised Butler and co’s album Reflektor – “I’m not really looking for that kind of, ‘We’re gonna survive’ kind of music.” His next Fire-related bitch-fit should be due next year…

Crystal Castles V… Crystal Castles? When Alice Glass quit in 2014, Ethan Kath claimed she was wrongly credited for the band’s best music. Replacing her with ‘Edith’, he carried on with CC. Glass has kept the feud alive by revealing she was “locked into rooms and criticised daily about my abilities, my weight, my looks, my intelligence and almost every move I made”.

Tegan and Sara V Tyler, The Creator: Sara Quin wrote about misogyny and homophobia in Tyler’s lyrics in 2011, to which he tweeted, “If Tegan And Sara Need Some Hard Dick, Hit Me Up!” Later that year Quin went on, “I think it’s shameful that people in our industry put out his music.” He recently released anti-homophobia t-shirts, but they’ve yet to publicly patch things up.

Nicki Minaj V Miley Cyrus: Nicki buried the hatchet with Taylor Swift at the 2015 VMAs only to declare war against Miley. After thanking her pastor in her acceptance speech, she turned to Cyrus, on a nearby stage, and snarled, “And now back to this bitch that had a lot to say about me the other day in the press – Miley, what’s good?”

Morrissey V Robert Smith: It’s not often you can use the words “Morrissey” and “beef” in the same sentence without referencing PETA. In the Moz corner, he’s said “The Cure, a new dimension to the word ‘crap’” and denounced Rob as a “whingebag” while Smith himself has countered, “Morrissey’s so depressing. If he doesn’t kill himself soon, I probably will!”’. Ouch.

Kathleen Hanna V Courtney Love: Hanna was “just standing there” when Courtney Love assaulted her in 1995. “I was unpleasantly surprised we weren’t able to be comrades. People always told me she was super-difficult, and I didn’t believe them because that’s what people say about all women.” Love said Hanna had stalked Cobain when he was alive and 10 years later said, “I still don’t like her.”

Action Bronson V Ghostface Killah: Former chef Bronson knows how to serve beef. In July, he responded to a question about his similarity to the Wu Tang rapper with, “He’s not rapping like this no more.” Ghostface went into meltdown in a six-minute video, threatening to set his beard on fire. Bronson apologised, but Ghostface refused to accept. Diss tracks are on their way, presumably.