Creative Differences
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Pop music's history books are filled with bitter rivalries. Some were invented as publicity stunts. Others were born from genuine hatred. And a few resulted in fisticuffs and gunplay. Bill Crandall, editor of AOL's Spinner.com, explains why artistic feuds continue to fascinate music fans. Plus, Crandall unveils a rare Johnny Cash recording from 1954.
- Spinner.com's list of "20 Worst Band Feuds"
- Rare Johnny Cash letter and song from 1954 on Spinner.com
Comments [11]
A good rivalry that doesn't get much coverage is that of 99 records/Liquid Liquid vs. Sugar Hill Records and its associates. After Liquid Liquid sued Grandmaster Flash for lifting their song "Cavern" in "White Lines," a series of criminal intimidations drove 99 records out of business!
George jones opened for buck Owens in Bakersfield back in the day and played all bucks songs.
what about Morrissey and Johnny Marr? This has to be the most upsetting breakup considering The Smiths had a very short run. Marr's rythmic influences encouraged the wonderful poeticism of Morrissey's lyrics. It was a marriage that ended abruptly.
sad
My favorite rivalry is Eminem and ICP. Both picked on each other for not really being from Detroit. The winner is clearly ICP, since they were close to unknown outside of Michigan before Eminem became famous!
Instead of the Britney / Christina rivalry -- why not discuss the TRUE Justin TImberlake / Britney Spears rivalry. Timberlake's song "Cry me a river" has been thought to be directed at Britney -- with lyrics like
"You don't have to say what you did/I already know, I found out from him/Now there's just no chance, for you and me, there'll never be/And don't it make you sad about it."
The Eagles vs. Steely Dan
Steely Dan "Turn up The Eagles; the neighbors are listening..."
and the Eagles
"They stab it with their steely knives but they just can't kill the beast..."
Maybe this is homage, maybe not...
SOUNDCHECK SAYS: This particular feud was lampooned by the excellent (and very goofy) rock-parody series, "Yacht Rock," in an episode called FM. Watch it here:
http://www.channel101.com/shows/view.php?media_id=1766
Don't forget classical music rivalries, like the fan-generated ones between Wagner and Brahms, or Wagner and Verdi or Stravinsky and Schoenberg or Furtwangler and Toscanini. And there are the diva rivalries between Tebaldi and Callas as well as between the Baroque castrati Senesino and Farinelli.
what about jerry lee lewis showing up drunk at the gates of graceland with a gun?
claiming to be greatest.
jerry lee later said that he didn't say he was the greatest he said he was the best.
Ron,
The Beatles' "Back in the USSR" is a friendly tribute and acknowledgment to Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys.
re: Neil Young & Lynyrd Skynyrd
There's a third chapter in this story. Young's fellow Canadian Warren Zevon released a song in 1980 called "Play it All Night Long." The refrain contains the lines, "Sweet Home Alabama, play that dead band's song / Turn those speakers up full blast, play it all night long."
What about the rivalry between the Beatles and the Beach Boys? Brian Wilson suffered quite a bit of mental turmoil from the competitiveness of writing a number one song against the giant British invasion! I don't beleive it was a bitter rivalry, but a friendly rivalry, except for Brian's stress from record executives insistence on writing "pop" and not art.
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