In honor of Slipknot and MGK, 8 other silliest musical oxen
Just in case anyone missed the long-running and seemingly never-ending feud between Drake and Kanye West, Machine Gun Kelly decided to shake things up this week with a fight with Slipknot.
The pop-punk weasel tried to poke fun at metal icons for wearing masks in his 50s – this guy who recently dyed his tongue black, okay – and Slipknot responded by posting screenshots that were really appealing. MGK’s bluff.
In honor of the latest in a long, long line of ridiculous feuds, we’ve decided to take a closer look at 8 other silly musical oxen,
Battle of Britpop
Music historians will have you believe that there was a distinct divide between Blur and Oasis and their respective fans in the 90s. On the one hand, intellectuals in art schools, sporting knitted sweaters and glasses round; on the other, the thugs and arrogant guys in parkas, just outside to have a good time.
The truth is, there really wasn’t much between them, with the rivalry definitely being exaggerated by the ever-reliable British media. Noel Gallagher may have once said that he hoped the band’s Damon Albarn and Alex James would “get AIDS and die,” but in 2013 the trio would perform on stage together.
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The stupidest, biggest beef in Oasis has been, wonderfully, with themselves. Everyone now knows that brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher despise each other; “Despising” may not even be strong enough.
Siblings are always used to fighting, but some of the couple’s public tirades towards each other have been laughable. Surprisingly, it was Liam who recently reached out with more olive branches, but Noel did not receive them kindly.
I will let you finish
It’s even hard to write about this one, it’s so silly. One of the most unexpected musical oxen emerged in 2009 between the hip hop mogul with the divine complex and the country pop lover of the time. Yeezy stepped onto the stage at the MTV Video Music Awards just as Swift was receiving an award, shouting that Beyoncé should have won instead. Beyoncé gritted her teeth in the audience; everyone cringed at home.
Despite his apologies, Kanye decided to revive the beef in 2016 with some pretty graphic lyrics in his song ‘Famous’. We just need Swift to take the stage by storm when the rapper receives an award and it comes full circle.
Eminem v literally everyone
Slim Shady can be a little angry, right? Over the past decades, Eminem has come up against a large number of enemies. For every Machine Gun Kelly he belittles, there’s a feud with Christina Aguilera or Mariah Carey.
He has found himself at odds with artists as diverse as Will Smith and Insane Clown Posse. Truly the musical beef gift that keeps on giving.
Miley Cyrus vs. Sinead O’Connor
A musical ox blinking and you would have missed it. The outspoken Irish singer wrote an open letter to the pop star in 2013, right after the release of THIS ‘Wrecking Ball’ video. O’Connor warned Cyrus that she was “prostituted” by the music industry, which likely came from a position of sincerity.
Young Cyrus didn’t appreciate the advice, taking to social media to poke fun at O’Connor’s mental health issues. They later seemed to ignore it, Cyrus calling O’Connor an “incredible artist.” And with Cyrus certainly finding her style as a mule-athletic rocker recently, O’Connor would no doubt appreciate the control she has taken over her craft.
Garage Rock Blues
Jack White and The Black Keys really should have been overripe for this beef. The latter’s Dan Auerbach said in an interview that White had prevented him from entering his Nashville studio. Then, in documents that emerged during White’s custody battle with his ex-wife Karen Elson, he allegedly accused Auerbach of “snatching” his music.
Although he apologized to the Black Keys in 2014, drummer Patrick Carney claimed the following year that the White Stripes frontman tried to fight him at a New York bar.
Mark Kozelek being a generally bad guy
Mark Kozelek, the once-renowned austere singer of Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters, turned out to be a really bad guy. Even before all the allegations of sexual misconduct, Kozelek acted strangely in a feud with indie rock band The War on Drugs.
In 2014, enraged that the noise of their set had drowned out his own performance on an adjacent stage, Kozelek recorded the song “War on Drugs: Suck My C * ck”. Adam Granduciel of the group had the right answer, calling Kozelek “such an asshole”.