From rock legends to punk icons, some bands just can't stand each other. Join us as we explore the most notorious feuds in music history, where artists publicly criticize their peers. Discover which bands have been on the receiving end of harsh words from fellow musicians and why. Which of these feuds surprises you most? Let us know in the comments.
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00:00And when you have to write a song, like, when I look at the world, it says,
00:03hello, I have nothing left to say.
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at bands whose work has been
00:09publicly criticized by members of other bands.
00:13I've always hated their band.
00:18Number 10.
00:19Muse.
00:20Tom York, Radiohead.
00:22Modern British alternative owes a lot to Radiohead.
00:30It's certainly no surprise that they were named an early influence by electronically
00:36infused prog rockers Muse.
00:38But that connection has gradually been downplayed, likely because of an unlikely band feud.
00:52Radiohead frontman Tom York aggressively charged Muse with ripping him off back in 2001.
00:58In a 2019 interview for Sunday Times, he slammed the reliability of music streaming
01:03algorithms by lamenting that he was recommended Muse.
01:14Apparently, York isn't mannerly about his disdain.
01:17In a 2010 Panorama interview, Muse drummer Dominic Howard described an encounter with
01:22York that nearly came to blows.
01:24He also insisted that he still respects Radiohead's music.
01:28But York suggests that it's knives out on his end.
01:38Number 9.
01:39Duran Duran.
01:40Robert Smith.
01:41The Cure.
01:48With funky anthems and a suave image, Duran Duran exemplified pop rock in the 80s.
01:54With The Cure exemplifying its cynical antithesis, Robert Smith was naturally not a fan.
02:07Sure, the goth rock pioneer has been an outspoken critic of the likes of Def Leppard, Morrissey
02:12and Queen.
02:13But in a 2018 NME interview, he called Duran Duran a particularly egregious example of
02:19music industry consumerism at the time.
02:24He also revealed that Simon Lebon and company were big fans of The Cure.
02:32Smith seemed upset about putting down his fellow 80s icons.
02:36But such candor goes to show how honestly anti-pop he is.
02:48Number 8.
02:49Led Zeppelin.
02:50Pete Townshend.
02:51The Who.
02:5470s rock doesn't get much louder or more loved than Led Zeppelin and The Who.
03:03Still, the latter's guitarist believes that his contemporaries weren't as innovative as
03:08fans thought.
03:15Granted, Pete Townshend is hardly the only musician to accuse Jimmy Page of stealing.
03:20He just stands out for claiming that a whole genre was stolen.
03:24Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven.
03:30Yes, indeed.
03:32Townshend has charged Zeppelin with being poor imitators in interviews for years.
03:36Finally, in 2019, he told the Toronto Sun that The Who sort of invented heavy metal.
03:43Whether that claim is valid, he just plain doesn't like Zeppelin's music.
03:54Both bands are respected as titans of one genre or another.
03:57But Townshend is quick to dismiss any comparisons.
04:01Number 7.
04:02Green Day.
04:03John Lydon.
04:04The Sex Pistols slash Public Image Limited.
04:14Since his days as Johnny Rotten, this legendary punk frontman has
04:18even been outspoken against fellow musicians.
04:22The rants against more commercial rockers suit John Lydon's public image.
04:25Yet his feud with Green Day is especially nasty.
04:28Oh, I heard it all before.
04:33One of the most prominent punk bands since Lydon's day surely has its roots in his work.
04:38In fact, he's publicly knocked them as poor imitators as far back as the 90s.
04:43He also expressed dismay over Green Day's hypocritical commercialization of blasting
04:48the system.
04:48Billy Joe Armstrong has in turn blasted Lydon for his openness about being in it for the money.
04:54Whether these artists represent some decline in punk's ideas, fans seem to favor solidarity
05:02more than Lydon and Armstrong.
05:04I am John, and I was born in London.
05:06I am no vulture, this is my culture.
05:10Number 6.
05:11Aerosmith.
05:12Mick Jagger.
05:13The Rolling Stones.
05:15Perhaps most rockstar singers are in some way influenced by the Rolling Stones frontman.
05:24Me too, hope you guessed my name.
05:29Still, Mick Jagger has gotten pretty candid about his dislike of progenies like the New
05:34York Dolls, The Stranglers, and Oasis.
05:37The most notable of these so-called rubbish groups is Aerosmith.
05:48Despite their innovative hard rock, Jagger accuses them of ripping off the stones.
05:52Especially with regard to Steven Tyler's stage presence.
05:56This is a sore spot for the legendary vocalist who told the magazine Rolling Stone that he
06:00resented early comparisons to Jagger.
06:05Jagger is clearly no less frustrated by this.
06:08Though he once described Tyler as almost too bloody sweet during an encounter, his emotions
06:13for Aerosmith's music are pretty bitter.
06:16I thought that was awesome.
06:18I have three things to say about it.
06:20Ow, wow, and bop bop bop bop bop!
06:25Number 5.
06:26The Monkees.
06:27Jimi Hendrix.
06:28The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
06:30To promote their band in the US, Jimi Hendrix's UK-based band opened for The Monkees in 1967.
06:43The pop superstars were glad to help the guitar wizard break out back home.
06:47But it was a rough gig for Hendrix, who later told journalist Steve Barker that he hated
06:52The Monkees' music.
06:58He actually considered them a national embarrassment.
07:01And as much as the band appreciated the blues rocker's different style, concertgoers did
07:06not.
07:06The tension eventually prompted the Experience to depart in the middle of the tour.
07:11Hendrix ultimately didn't need The Monkees to become a permanent global phenomenon.
07:15Considering his embarrassing experience with them, that must have been a relief.
07:26Number 4.
07:27Bikini Kill.
07:28Courtney Love.
07:30Hole.
07:30Bikini Kill and Hole were two of the leading female-led punk and alternative rock bands
07:36of the 90s.
07:38But solidarity was a tall order for Hole singer Courtney Love.
07:42She and Bikini Kill's Kathleen Hannah famously got in a fight backstage at Lollapalooza in
07:471995.
07:48That's the whole thing that pissed me off is that later people were like, they fought.
07:52There was this rivalry and they fought.
07:53It's like, dude, I was standing there watching a band and Courtney walked up and attacked
07:58me.
07:59Twenty-four years later, Love took to social media to dub Bikini Kill and Hole as her
08:02favorite band.
08:04Twenty-four years later, Love took to social media to dub Bikini Kill the biggest hoax
08:09in the history of rock and roll.
08:11She then elaborated that she found them amateurish and superficial.
08:22Hannah never learned where the violent hostility came from, having never met Love before their
08:26brawl.
08:27She was said to be in a bad place after the deaths of husband Kurt Cobain and bassist
08:32Kristen Pfaff.
08:33Whatever is behind her feud, Love's musical taste is one certain factor.
08:56Both exemplifying California's groovy psychedelia scene in the 60s, The Grateful Dead and The
09:01Doors were known for their devoted followings.
09:10It sounds like the bands would be each other's biggest fans.
09:13Well, as nice as Jerry Garcia was, he didn't have kind words for The Doors.
09:25It went deeper than his objection to singer Jim Morrison's grim and vulgar brand.
09:30In Blair Jackson's book Conversations with the Dead, Garcia extensively criticized Morrison's
09:35eccentric style and the band's altogether brittle sound.
09:46That may not be a fair assessment when The Doors had three instrumentalists to The Dead's
09:50huge ensemble.
09:52Still, while history supports Morrison's pretenses of cult stardom, he never lit Garcia's
09:56fire.
10:002.
10:04Pearl Jam – Kurt Cobain, Nirvana Nirvana's Kurt Cobain made some rather
10:08disparaging remarks about Pearl Jam's music, which he thought was too commercial to be
10:12truly alternative.
10:14Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was never shy about scolding commercialism or the bands
10:18he felt represented it.
10:20Pearl Jam were far from fluff like Lamb Metal, but not far enough for their fellow Seattle
10:25grunge leader.
10:31He lambasted Pearl Jam's corporate-friendly classic rock influences in multiple interviews.
10:36He went so far as to call them posers who exploited the grunge movement.
10:47While they really did come from the same underground as Nirvana, Pearl Jam indeed buried its punk
10:53roots under a sound Cobain despised.
10:55This one-sided feud has played a key role in debates about the best and most successful
11:00grunge acts.
11:01For Cobain, the real debate was whether Pearl Jam were grunge at all.
11:051.
11:26The Beatles – Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground It's almost a prerequisite for rock stars
11:31to love The Beatles or at least appear to.
11:35The Velvet Underground leader-turned-legendary solo artist Lou Reed once praised the Fab
11:46Four's prolific experimental pop.
11:48He's quoted as saying, they just have to be the most incredible songwriters ever.
11:52In later interviews, however, he claimed he never liked them.
11:56Reed directly dismissed previous praise and lamented the band's legacy.
12:05He even maintained that he was the far better art rocker, calling The Beatles' pretentious
12:10later work worse than stupid rock and roll.
12:20While Reed was always frank about his musical tastes, his hot take on The Beatles is
12:25complicated.
12:26Drummer Ringo Starr accepted the criticism but was glad that most people liked his band.
12:31What's your favorite unfavorable comments from one musician to another?
12:34Dish in the comments!
12:55Here's what's next!