Battle Of The Bands - Clashes between some of music's biggest artists

Music’s stars shine bright thanks to their radiant stage presence and their illuminating lyrics. But when these artists use their mastery of words to portray resentment or gratuitously attack other wordsmith artists, wounds can run deep.

Here are five times when battle lines have been drawn in the music sand. Welcome to the music world!

Paul Weller vs. David Bowie

In 2006, Paul Weller began the hostilities by stating that David Bowie only ever released three good albums. Quite expectedly, anger from Bowie fans ensued. Fast forward two years and Paul Weller retracted his statements by revealing to the magazine Mojo that he had since become a new-found convert to Bowie’s music and that during the recording of his album 22 Dreams, he constantly listened to Low and Ziggy Stardust. When Bowie discovered this newfound kindness from Weller, he sent an email to his fr-enemy to thank him for his warm words. But he couldn’t resist the last word: he added the postscript "Nice one Paul, can I have my haircut back?" along with a picture of himself from the 60s. Not one to carry a grudge, in 2012, Paul baptized his son in Bowie's name.

The Smashing Pumpkins vs. Pavement

In 1994, Stephen Malkmus' group, Pavement, started the fire by lashing out at his contemporaries The Smashing Pumpkins through the song "Range Life" on the album "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain." The singer skilfully dissed the head of the Chicago band via his lyrics "I dontt understand what they [The Smashing Pumpkins] mean and I really couldn't give a f---." Billy Corgan, the opposing vocalist, angered by the lyrics, set out to dethrown the rock group at Lollapalooza' by adding his own group to the festival lineup. Prolonging the conflict in the press, Corgan stated "I'm sure it's jealousy" and "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."

Paul Simon vs. Art Garfunkel

Their names are inseparable and form one of the most successful duets in the history of modern music. Even if they managed to exist musically separate from one another - especially Paul Simon - they never knew the same excellence nor success as a solo act. Yet their relationship was tainted by memorable mudslinging, even up until as recently as 2015. Art Garfunkel called his former partner a "tyrant with a complex of Napoleon" in a shock interview granted to the Telegraph. Apparently, he still hadn’t digested the break up imposed by his friend 45 years earlier saying "How can you walk away from this lucky place on top of the world, Paul? What’s going on with you, you idiot? How could you let that go, jerk."

Joni Mitchell vs. Bob Dylan

Joni Mitchell ended her exemplary career in 2002. But, the "hippie folk goddess" didn't take a vow of silence ... Still looking to be heard, she had some very hard words in 2010 for another cantor of folk, Bob Dylan. "He's a plagiarist and his name and voice are fake. Everything about Bob is a deception.” These are acerbic remarks that originated in a New York Times article that divulged Dylan’s "borrowing" from a poet in the Civil War for some of his more recent lyrics. Joni Mitchell adds that, like "many artists, he lost his inspiration." She later denied these remarks by accusing the journalist of having distorted and "involuntarily" exaggerating: "I love his songs, even if musically, he is not very talented."

Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) vs. Chris Cornell (Soundgarden)

Between 2007 and 2009, the Soundgarden leader, Chris Cornell, found himself without a fixed band. With Audioslave's lukewarm adventure dying out in general indifference, Cornell took the time to record a new solo album, Scream. But the contestable artistic choices of the latter, provoked mockery of the master of industrial rock. With undisguised pride, Chris Cornell, who admitted to more and more inclination towards RnB, officially announced in 2008 to having recruited Timbaland for his solo effort. Trent Reznor, the leader of Nine Inch Nails, surprised at hearing the list of producers, including Justin Timberlake, echoed the barrage of negative reviews that accompanied Cornell's solo album release. Reznor took to silence and posted on Twitter: "You know that feeling you get when somebody embarrasses themselves so badly YOU feel uncomfortable? Heard Chris Cornell's record? Jesus." Cornell, responded, bouncing off the biblical reference: "What do you think Jesus would have tweeted? What do you think Jesus would twitter? Let he who is without sin cast the first stone' or 'Has anyone seen Judas? He was here a minute ago." And the outcome? In 2014, Soundgarden and NIN decided on the inevitable: they teamed up for tour together.

Published on: 1 April 2018