Tortured souls: 10 unlikeable singers with amazing voices
We’ve all been asked that notorious question: ‘If you could have a dinner party with four people, dead or alive, who would you pick?’ Often, instinct reverts us to our musical icons, simply because of how deeply their records have affected us, so it’s something of a given that their company will do the same.
But sometimes, personality comes at the cost of that greatness. Everything from their acute societal observations to growing god complexes makes these icons troublesome figures and, as such, pretty crap company to share a bowl of olives with.
However, to my mind, there lies the intrigue of their artistry. All humans are deeply flawed, and so artists are no different, just that their flaws are opened up and exposed to the world for examination. Although it compounds the strength of whatever message it is their music sends: whether it’s Lou Reed cutting cross examinations or John Lennon’s longing for human connection, the troubles of their own intimate personalities make the troubles of the music far more visceral.
Then there are artists who are outright controversial, and rather sadly, it colours their music and reputation, not least damaging a community of people who once had their trust in them. The downfall of Morrissey is fitting proof that not all shortcomings can be bundled into the charm of a musician’s discography.
Either way, it seems pretty common for musicians to be deeply unlikeable, but here is a list of ten, whose convergence of annoyance and talent seems to top any others in the music world.
Liam Gallagher
Gallagher treads a fine line with regards to unlikability. There are a handful, including myself, who find his mischievous antics quite charming. Like the class clown at the back of the class, there is an endearing quality to his rock and roll ego that most definitely benefits the music and his vocal delivery. But he makes the list for the sheer number of people who would undoubtedly think otherwise, clenching their fists at the thought of him getting away with yet another disrespectful quip about his rival musicians.
Nobody knows him better than his brother, who once said, “He’s the angriest man you’ll ever meet. He’s like a man with a fork in a world of soup”. I guess it’s up to us where we fit somewhere on that metric. While most people slip through the cracks of the fork, grumpily returning to the bowl, a select few of us stay on the metal, basking in the obscurity of Gallagher’s world.
John Lennon
John Lennon certainly wasn’t unlikeable. In fact, he is probably the most beloved musician in history, and so you’re probably wondering exactly what he is doing on this list. Because underneath Lennon’s globetrotting profile was an artist who simply didn’t want anything to do with it and at times, made his bandmates’ lives living hell to prove the point.
He was a deeply tortured genius at times in The Beatles, hemmed in by the pop sensibilities of his songwriting brother Paul McCartney, and so, at times, acted out with petulance to prove a point. Lennon was a genius, a musician like no other and a deep visionary who changed the course of the world, but he was also an absolute knobhead, and I would expect he would admit that too.
Lou Reed
Lou Reed didn’t care about being liked because he didn’t like anyone back. His famously large ego, unimpressed personality, and inclination to adopt the prima donna lifestyle made him one of the true symbols of rock and roll. Even if it didn’t garner him a friendly reputation.
But it didn’t really help how swiftly he wanted to turn his back on the band that the world so deeply loved. His grappling for control over The Velvet Underground meant he was the one willing to rip it to shreds when the direction didn’t suit him, alienating his fellow and much-loved musician John Cale. But Reed is the true example of how a spiky personality can make one of the great voices in history, for it was brimming with the swagger that also made him so unbearable.
Rod Stewart
Stewart could have been so damned loved if didn’t try so desperately to be so. When he burst onto the scene as an innocent orator of youthful romance, he was charming and lovable, wrapped up in his little mop top bow that made him a sunny alternative to the messy disposition of, say, The Rolling Stones. He bridged the gap between their danger and The Beatles’ boy-next-door charm.
Clearly, it got to his head, and the charm quickly became sleaze. A string of toe-curling bedroom hits followed, along with an unwillingness to let the past go, which meant that pesky hair-do and those skinny jeans remained right up to today, where he rolls out legacy shows that might involve him complimenting his dastardly mate, Nigel Farage.
Mike Love
Love’s simple dislike of his band’s seminal album Pet Sounds tells you all you need to know about this guy. He called his bandmate, Brian Wilson’s masterpiece a work of “ego music” and instead urged him to “stick to the surfing songs”. But not so much because he believes in the direction, but more because it puts him at the heart of the attention.
He was the antihero of the band in reality, pushing back against all of Wilson’s creative wishes and thus robbing the public of some of the best music possible. Adding to that, Love sued his cousin in the 1990s over a dispute of songwriting credits, which further cemented his position as the bureaucratic evil amongst the group
David Crosby
Despite being one of the godfathers of the hippie movement and one third of music’s most delightful vocal harmony, Crosby, Stills & Nash, the inner makings of David Crosby seem to entirely contradict that free and easy disposition. Crosby had no filter, criticising musicians regularly as he grumbled at them not following his own egotistical lead.
He even frustrated those who were there for him, like Graham Nash, who claimed that despite his friendship during Crosby’s worst time, “he treated me like shit,” adding, “When it goes on longer, and I keep getting nasty emails from him, I’m done. Fuck you. David has ripped the heart out of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.”
Neil Young
It’s odd to think that David Crosby and Neil Young briefly shared a band together, given how brutally uncompromising the pair were. Young was the same, if not worse than Crosby, with the latter actually calling the Canadian “probably the most self-centred, self-obsessed, selfish person I know”.
But Young’s likability is more of a question for the internal worlds of the music community. Crosby, like many others, has dealt with the brutal nature of his collaboration and subsequently deemed the Canadian as nothing more than a dickhead. But the same strong-mindedness that has deterred fellow musicians has ultimately galvanised pockets of the rebellious public, who have thanked Young for his brutal yet honest musical takes on societal corruption.
Bono
The everyday punter simply cannot stand smugness. Watching the cream of the entertainment crop patting each other on the back and then turning to us to deliver a philanthropic sermon about how we can live our lives, largely, that breeds resentment that is reserved for Hollywood actors, given how music feels inherently connected to the community roots. But somehow, Bono feels as though he is music’s very own A-lister, lost in the haze of his tinted glasses.
Maybe that messiah complex is rooted in the style of music that U2 began to perfect in the 1980s. That grand stadium rock sound was spearheaded by Bono’s rangey and transcendent voice that has somehow fuelled the soundtrack of his own delusion, where obnoxiousness and delusion await.
Axl Rose
When your own band members get fed up with you, that’s pretty concrete proof that you are insufferable company. Perhaps Rose’s unrivalled position as frontman kept him in the band that was his namesake for so long, because it certainly wasn’t his cooperation skills. He would derail shows by showing up hours late, abruptly stopping gigs, and getting into altercations, leaving the remaining members scratching their heads as to why they tolerated it
Fans and spectators grew tired of his antics, finding it less charming and more spoiled, but were buoyed by the news that the band themselves shared their opinions. In fact, when drummer Steven Adler was asked about his frontman, he said, “He’s insane, that’s it. The bottom line, the fucker’s insane. I said it. OK, fine, fuck me. I said it, he’s insane,” he said, “I try to be fucking so cool about him…I swear to God, he’s a nutball.”
Morrissey
There’s little to no nuance when it comes to Morrissey’s unlikability. Unlike his companions on the list, whose troublesome nature is tightly married with their genius, Morrissey has simply spiralled into uncomfortable and borderline heinous territory in recent years with his far-right political comments and anti-immigrant rhetoric. The tortured charm of The Smiths has swiftly evolved into a never-ending spoilt tantrum, from a brat with an unjustified victim complex.
Within that, you begin to wonder if his voice is even worth it. Before, it was painful and individual, harkening a broken tenor of his own soul, but now it’s just whiny. Like a musical Nigel Farage harking on about his own hardship, while sitting atop his multi-million-pound portfolio, he argues that Britain isn’t what it once was, simply because fascists like him are no longer celebrated.
