10 nasty songs artists wrote about each other
In the world of rock and roll, there’s no specific well that everyone goes to for inspiration. There are always going to be people who want to spread themselves out whenever they play, and that normally means taking inspiration from wherever they can to find the best line for a song. Then again, it doesn’t take long for songs to turn hostile, and artists like John Lennon held nothing back when they started using their songs as insults.
But it’s not exactly unheard of for someone to use their composition in a malicious way. The entire premise of writing songs is trying to let out excessive emotions, and even if someone can’t stand their peers, it’s much better that they let out all of their anger in song rather than try to turn violent if they see them in the street.
On the other hand, not every musician needs to be as savage as artists were here. Although the music itself might be catchy, it’s sometimes uncomfortable seeing these musicians being so uninhibited, either turning in a performance that is incredibly unhinged or trying their best to make sure that their musical opponent doesn’t walk out of the exchange without a few bruises to their ego.
Although the art of the diss track has reached a fever pitch in recent years in hip-hop, the songs here are proof that this kind of aggression has been going on for a long time. There might be some pieces that are hard to listen to, but you can’t help but get into the voyeuristic side of it all, either.
10 vicious songs bands wrote about each other:
10. ‘Teenage Wildlife’ – David Bowie
By the 1980s, David Bowie had become more of a living legend than a proper musician. Even though the MTV generation had adopted visuals as their next medium, it’s hard to think of the channel succeeding had Ziggy Stardust not fallen down to Earth first. But with that broad an appeal comes a legion of copycats, and Bowie seemed to have a few targets in mind when making ‘Teenage Wildlife’.
Although Scary Monsters and Super Creeps may as well have been another voyage into a new genre for him, his first foray into the next decade saw him have an axe to grind with artists like Gary Numan. Since he burst onto the scene with songs like ‘Cars’, ‘Teenage Wildlife’ has been seen as Bowie’s answer to many of his adopted musical children, especially when he says lines regarding the new wave stars that are coming in on his heels.
While Bowie never said anything publicly about how he didn’t like Numan or any of his successors, he didn’t really need to either. Because no matter how much people could sing along with the synth-driven tunes, nothing was going to stand in the way of ‘The Starman’ doing the same thing a thousand times better.
9. ‘New Test Leper’ – REM
Looking at them, REM seems like the last band in the world willing to pick a fight with someone. Every member of the group felt like the kind of mild-mannered kids you went to high school with, and the most that they would ever get angry with someone is if you happened to scratch one of their vinyl records by accident. When bands started coming out that were the polar opposite of their demeanour, Michael Stipe couldn’t help throwing his hat into the ring.
While REM had evolved into making radio-rock on Monster, New Adventures in Hi-Fi emerged at the height of the Britpop movement, with ‘New Test Leper’ being the first jab at Cool Britannia. Although Stipe was initially pretty cool with artists like Oasis, some pieces of the song seem deliberately coated in innuendo towards the Gallagher brothers, especially when he talks about playing up his rock star looks and namechecking T Rex, which Oasis famously ripped off for ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’.
Noel and Liam were more likely to take out their anger in interviews rather than on record, but Stipe was hardly looking to tear down their legacy as a rock and roll band. He was simply reminding everyone that those who talk themselves up as the biggest and best in the world don’t automatically gain the respect as the leaders of the genre overnight.
8. ‘I’ll Stick Around’ – Foo Fighters
The whole road to Dave Grohl making music at all after Nirvana had to have been tough. He had spent what must have felt like an eternity mourning the loss of Kurt Cobain, but in those few months following his passing, Foo Fighters became his main outlet to vent his feelings. And despite him saying most of the first album is gibberish, ‘I’ll Stick Around’ did have some unsavoury words for Courtney Love laced throughout it.
While many grunge fans unfairly cast Love as the villain of the Nirvana story and even tasteless enough to say that she tried to kill Kurt Cobain, that doesn’t mean she was an angel, either. Grohl hadn’t got on well with her throughout the Nirvana years, and looking at her interviews trying to be the ultimate rock and roll badass, the lines in this tune about rehearsed insanity tend to make a lot more sense.
And Grohl wasn’t even done talking about her, either, with many fans speculating that ‘Stacked Actors’ off There Is Nothing Left to Lose has to do with her flashiness after becoming one of the biggest rockstars in the world. She has carved out her own legacy in rock and roll, but all that Grohl saw was the person who would much rather people focus on her than the actual music she was playing.
7. ‘Led Clones’ – Gary Moore
The whole premise behind the blues is about trying to let out any negative emotion. Whether it’s someone talking about heartache or their frustrations with the world, Gary Moore knows the lay of the land when it comes to being down on his luck and singing about his internal struggles. But he also isn’t afraid to help out his friends, and when he saw someone riding off of Led Zeppelin’s coattails, Moore was absolutely merciless when going in on ‘Led Clones’.
Although Moore was typically the kind to play the guitar and ask questions later, the rise of bands like Whitesnake in the early 1980s made him look a bit sideways at David Coverdale. The frontman had carved out a legacy of his own in the latter half of Deep Purple, but listening to his bluesy baritone crank out hits with Whitesnake, Moore had had enough of seeing MTV try to promote the more glamorous version of what Jimmy Page and Robert Plant did so effortlessly.
It’s not like he didn’t have good reason, either, considering that ‘Still of the Night’ is pretty much the exact same riff as ‘Immigrant Song’ with a few more notes thrown in and stretched out for nearly six minutes. Coverdale may have eventually worked with Jimmy Page for an entire album, but it didn’t bode for him if one of the giants of blues rock only considered him a discount version of ‘Percy’.
6. ‘Wah-Wah’ – George Harrison
Most people wouldn’t have the patience to be as level-headed as George Harrison was during the end of The Beatles. Most people would be parading around tunes like ‘Here Comes the Sun’ as one of the greatest things they had ever written, but since he was next to John Lennon and Paul McCartney, ‘The Quiet Beatle’ tended to remain quiet since none of his songs were given the time of day. Once he had a lot of wiggle room on a triple album, ‘Wah-Wah’ became the kind of track where Harrison could get a clear target on Paul McCartney.
After all, McCartney had always treated Harrison like a little brother in some respects, and this electrifying riff was practically Harrison’s way of lashing out in anger over not being taken seriously. Complete with that Phil Spector Wall of Sound, Harrison is still trying to take the dignified approach, talking about how McCartney doesn’t see that he’s crying and how he would much rather have been on his own than have to put up with him for one more day.
It also had to have hurt McCartney once The Beatles officially broke up, considering Harrison had a major hit with it and opened up The Concert for Bangladesh setlist by performing the tune live for the first time. The tune itself may have been fantastic, but the real tragedy had already been done. This was Harrison making peace with him and McCartney going in separate directions, and that relationship never fully recovered.
5. ‘Go Your Own Way’ – Fleetwood Mac
There are hardly any songs on Rumours that don’t have to do with members of Fleetwood Mac in some capacity. The entire recording process had been marred by verbal sparring sessions, and since Lindsey Buckingham nearly choked out an engineer, it’s safe to say that not everyone was having the best time cutting their tracks. Knowing how bad it had become, though, Buckingham may have taken the smart route and not shown the band the lyrics to ‘Go Your Own Way’ at first.
Since ‘Dreams’ featured Stevie Nicks making peace with her relationship with Buckingham fizzling out, the guitarist isn’t willing to forgive and forget. Compared to the calm and collected former track, Buckingham paints himself as the victim in the tune, saying that he would give the world to her, but she refused him because she’d rather shack up with everyone else that she could find.
It would have been a juicy story if it were true, but Nicks swore that Buckingham was talking out of his ass, saying that he was more likely to be cheating on her with his guitar and never bothering to leave the studio. Love can make someone do crazy things, though, and if it means crying out in pain on record, that’s what needed to happen. Godspeed to the engineers who had to watch them sing the tune back at each other.
4. ‘Miserablism’ – Pet Shop Boys
There aren’t too many people who are off the table to complain about when it comes to Morrissey. As evidenced by the countless depressing Smiths songs, the frontman is more than happy to drag anyone through the mud or complain about how humanity itself is the scum of the Earth that must be eradicated. But there comes a point where anyone is going to stop sounding cynical for at least five seconds, and Pet Shop Boys gave all those people a mouthpiece on ‘Miserablism’.
Although there aren’t any overt jabs, this came from Neil Tennant looking at what Morrissey had to say as a solo artist and not being particularly impressed. He did save some pieces for the song ‘Getting Away With It’, but this tune does a better job getting into the mind of someone like Morrissey, thinking that it makes him look cooler to act like a loner and trying to come to grips with the fact that humanity is done in.
Despite ‘The Moz’ being willing to argue his ass off, Tennant is saying that no matter how much he decides to run his mouth, it’s not going to get him in the good graces with people who have actually bothered to smile a few times in their lives and actually enjoyed it. Most people might have bouts with depressive tendencies, but ‘Miserablism’ is both an attack on Morrissey and a good reminder of why being a cynic isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
3. ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ – Lynyrd Skynyrd
Part of the appeal of certain rockstars is their inability to not speak their mind. Most people followed artists like John Lennon for their political views, and even if someone didn’t agree with him, no one could deny that he was speaking from the heart. When Neil Young tried the same thing during his savage indictment of the American South, Lynyrd Skynyrd wouldn’t let their home be torn through the mud.
While Ronnie Van Zant was an outspoken Young fan for most of his life, ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ was his retort to songs like ‘Southern Man’ and ‘Alabama’, which went after the South’s history of racism and prejudice. This may have been the perfect time for Van Zant to offer some counter-arguments, but most of the tune is about celebrating how great Alabama is, even if he has some unsavoury words about the governor.
But Young was never resentful to hear him namechecked in Skynyrd’s song, even going so far as to perform the tune on a handful of occasions. Because rock and roll was about speaking one’s mind, and even if ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ isn’t high on points, it hardly matters as long as it brings that good-time atmosphere to the table.
2. ‘Starfuckers Inc’ – Nine Inch Nails
Most of Trent Reznor’s early work in Nine Inch Nails used anger as a tool. Even though Reznor was well-versed in every instrument he played, there’s no way to get through something like Pretty Hate Machine or The Downward Spiral and not think that there’s some genuine rage behind the frontman, whether it was directed towards big business or back in on himself. After tearing his character through the mud on his third record, a lot more angry kids came up, and Reznor scorched a bridge he had with Marilyn Manson when making The Fragile.
Compared to the vulgarity of something like ‘Big Man With a Gun’, Reznor didn’t need to be as cut-throat towards the shock rocker on ‘Starfuckers, Inc’. Originating from an argument they had, Reznor paints the picture of someone who lives for being on the covers of magazines and trying their best to be the most talked-about person in the room while being as tasteless as possible. But this began the ugly streak that became too much for Reznor.
The Fragile may have continued the path The Downward Spiral started, but this is the moment where Reznor almost got too nasty for his own good, making a song that feels like his own version of a Manson tune and neutering a lot of the parts that made Nine Inch Nails so special. Reznor would gladly leave that anger behind, but you know that there was some genuine rage when the song itself started to suffer due to his emotional state.
1. ‘How Do You Sleep’ – John Lennon
None of The Beatles were really prepared to be on their own. They had grown up together in the spotlight, and once they decided to break up, it was clear that none of them could carry on together and would have to spend their time making solo records. While George Harrison had an axe to grind with Paul McCartney, none were more vicious than what John Lennon did when he released ‘How Do You Sleep’.
Even though Macca cast the first stone with the song ‘Too Many People’, Lennon made this entire song one long diss track towards his partner, saying that everything that he created was nothing but glorified muzak. Lennon would say later that a lot of the song was self-directed, but when he namechecks the McCartney song ‘Yesterday’, it’s clear that he’s more angry at how his old mate started dictating things whenever he came into the studio.
It’s pretty ironic that this came from the same album that had such peaceful anthems as ‘Jealous Guy’ and ‘Imagine’, but Lennon needed that duality in all of his art. He was always a man of many faces, and sometimes he needed to lash out in anger for people to understand why he was such a strong advocate for peace.
