4 Diss Tracks From Rock Music That Are Still Unforgettable

Rap and hip-hop are the main genres that mastered the art of the diss track. However, plenty of other genres through the years have featured a diss track or two, including rock music. Let’s take a look at four diss tracks from rock history’s past! You might be familiar with two of these unforgettable diss tracks, but a couple of them might just be new to you.

1. “Call Me When You’re Sober” by Evanescence

This Evanescence song is a fan favorite. However, few might know that “Call Me When You’re Sober” is a diss track of sorts. Specifically, this dramatic piece of work features very specific lyrics targeted at none other than Amy Lee’s ex, Shaun Morgan of Seether. The track, more or less eloquently, is all about Morgan’s struggles with sobriety and the tumultuous breakup of the two rock icons. Seether would later release the song “Fake It” as a response to Lee’s breakup song.

2. “Starsuckers, Inc.” by Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails had a hand in making industrial goth mainstream-level popular in the 1990s. In that same vein, controversial artist Marilyn Manson also had a hand in popularizing a darker, more sinister type of alternative rock in the 1990s and 2000s.

This track from Trent Reznor is a diss track about Manson that satirizes his particular brand of rock star lifestyle. Some fans believe the song is also about Courtney Love. Reznor later confirmed that Manson was “definitely one of the people” he had in mind when writing the song.

3. “Too Many People” by Paul McCartney

This Paul McCartney classic has to be one of the most unforgettable diss tracks in rock music history. McCartney and John Lennon were no strangers to writing songs about each other. However, “Too Many People” was particularly pointed. McCartney makes jabs at everything form Lennon’s romantic entanglements to his “preaching practices”.

4. “How Do You Sleep?” by John Lennon

“How Do You Sleep?” by John Lennon is a response of sorts to McCartney’s “Too Many People”. But on this track, Lennon is a bit more venomous in his lyricism than McCartney was. This Imagine track takes jabs at McCartney’s musical ability, among other things. Fortunately, the two were able to at least begin to reconcile their differences before Lennon’s untimely death in 1980.

Photo by Paul Popper/Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.