The music industry is full of rivalries, beefs, feuds, and other very public and very negative relationships. When egos and art are involved, some musicians just can’t help but get a bit testy with one another. Let’s look at just a few classic rock rivalries that were pretty big deals back in the day, and whether or not those beefs have been squashed.
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1. Ray Davies vs. Dave Davies
Sometimes, siblings just can’t work with each other. That was the case for Ray and Dave Davies of The Kinks, at least. These two brothers couldn’t have been more different, and their toxic and sometimes violent relationship was far from healthy.
They made incredible music together, but one can’t deny that their rivalry would be what caused The Kinks to crumble. The Davies put their differences aside in the 2010s to perform together in London, but it doesn’t look like this beef was ever really squashed.
2. John Lennon vs. Paul McCartney
Well, we just couldn’t leave this famous beef out. The feud between John Lennon and Paul McCartney is probably the most famous of all classic rock rivalries. The two were the core songwriters of The Beatles for years, and when the band came to a tumultuous end, the pair seemed to be less than happy about one another.
Lennon thought McCartney was too controlling. McCartney (and the rest of the band) wasn’t happy about Lennon’s relationship with Yoko Ono, nor his intensive drug use. McCartney wrote “Too Many People” as a diss track aimed at Lennon. Lennon wrote “How Do You Sleep?” as a response diss track. This back-and-forth happened for a while. Allegedly, the pair were starting to reconcile shortly before Lennon’s tragic death in 1980.
3. David Lee Roth vs. Eddie Van Halen
The tension between these two rock gods was palpable for a while. The rivalry between David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen likely began early on, but it definitely got serious while they were recording 1984. Roth wasn’t happy about recording at Van Halen’s home studio, and he also wasn’t happy about all the creative control Van Halen had.
They reconnected in the mid-1990s for a Van Halen greatest hits album. It seemed like things were cool. However, the beef reignited when Roth decided to go off-script with Van Halen in tow at the MTV Video Music Awards. In 2015, Van Halen said that Roth “does not want to be my friend” and it doesn’t look like their rivalry was ever resolved before Van Halen’s death in 2020.
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