What’s the saying? Familiarity breeds contempt. Indeed, while we often think of big-name musicians as larger than life—yes, as stars—the world that they live in is not necessarily as expansive as the universe. Rather, it is often small. Just like any industry. Most of the artists we look up to and adore all know each other. They grew up with each other or see each other at shows and awards celebrations. That’s why some of them throughout history have just not gotten along. And that’s what we’d like to explore here. Here are three pairs of artists who just couldn’t stand each other.
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Madonna & Elton John
The British-born Elton John and the Michigan-born Madonna made headlines recently after burying the hatchet that had been wedged between them for decades. In 2025, the two took a photo backstage at Saturday Night Live in New York City, seemingly reconciling. Madonna explained that she went to the sketch TV show to talk to Elton about past indiscretions and things they’ve said about one another.
“When I met him, the first thing out of his mouth was ‘forgive me’ and the wall between us fell down,” Madonna said.
Well, that’s terrific! Previously, the two had been sparring publicly, with Elton criticizing her music and live performances.
Tupac & Biggie
Perhaps the most famous musical beef in history, and one that led to the death of two of the brightest rap stars of the 90s, the anger between Tupac and Biggie made global headlines and caused entire coasts in the United States to feel tension. The two released diss tracks about each other. Tupac even alleged he slept with Biggie’s wife. It got messy. And then it got violent, with gunshots and criminal allegations.
Sadly, unlike the beef above, this one was not resolved, and the world lost two compelling lyricists in the process. It got so bad that more recent beefs like those between Jay-Z and Nas or Drake and Kendrick Lamar have seen intervention so that we don’t lose more talented musicians.
Eminem & Moby
Perhaps the strangest beef in music, this one came about in the early 2000s when Eminem publicly dissed the electronic music producer Moby on the hit single “Without Me”. The call-out came after Moby said of Em in 2001 at the Grammy Awards, “He’s very good at what he does, and he’s very clever, but he’s also a homophobe, a racist, and a misogynist, and I find that objectionable.”
Moby later called the “Without Me” diss “free publicity.” In a more recent interview with personality Steve-O, he seemed to lament the beef and felt as if Em was punching down. Nearly 20 years after the feud, though, Eminem changed his tune, saying that “in hindsight, I should have handled it differently.”
Elton John photo—Photo credit: Ed Caraeff / Iconic Images Madonna—YT screenshot
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