4 of the Biggest Rock Rivalries and Feuds of All Time (And What Really Happened)

Rock stars, though cool as all heck, can be pretty petty drama queens when the occasion calls for it. Quite a few megastars, including whole rock bands, have gotten into fights with their contemporaries on more than one occasion. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest rock feuds in music history… and what actually happened.

1. Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth

This beef is made even more interesting considering both parties are well-trained in boxing and martial arts. However, a physical fight never took place between one of Van Halen’s founding members and his replacement.

Rather, these two beefed throughout the 1980s through words alone. Roth constantly dug into Hagar, and even said that he’s “never had to sing” one of Hagar’s songs during concerts. Hagar responded by challenging Roth to an on-stage duel, which Roth never really responded to. When Roth returned to the band and Hagar left, the latter continued to blast Roth in interviews.

2. Nirvana and Axl Rose

One of the biggest rock feuds in music history came down to some rude words Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses had to say to Courtney Love, who was famously married to Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain at the time. 

Allegedly, while both parties were backstage at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards, Love asked Rose to be her newly-born daughter’s godfather. Rose took it as an insult and reportedly told Cobain to “shut your b**** up”, to which Cobain jokingly obliged. Allegedly, Krist Novoselic and Duff McKagan also got into a bit of a verbal altercation. When Nirvana performed that night, Dave Grohl gleefully said “Hi, Axl!” into the microphone. McKagan later patched things up with Nirvana, and Grohl later lent a broken-footed Rose a throne Grohl had built following a broken leg he sustained at a Foo Fighters show.

3. Tommy Lee and Kid Rock

What’s with the MTV VMAs being a point of contention for so many rock stars? In 2007, the famed music award show was the setting for Tommy Lee and Kid Rock’s famous beef. Though, this particular feud started years earlier when Rock divorced Pamela Anderson, who had previously (and famously) been married to Lee.

According to Lee, he saw Rock approach him in the audience and stood up to give him a hug, when Rock decided to punch him square in the face. Security got involved, and it’s not clear if the beef was ever resolved. 

“This was unavoidable,” Rock explained. “I had to do what I had to do because this was a long time coming. You know, I came back from the bathroom and he was sitting right there. It was even more disrespectful after everything he’s said, I was like that’s enough, that’s it.”

4. Lynyrd Skynyrd and Neil Young

One of the biggest rock feuds in music history still doesn’t have much of an explanation decades later. Lynyrd Skynyrd exchanged quite a few heated lyrical words in their music. However, it’s hard to say this was a beef, persay. In a way, it seemed like both parties were involved in a very public, very musical debate with one another.

Listen to the songs “Alabama” and “Southern Man” by Neil Young and “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd to come to your own conclusion.

Photo by Scott Gries/ImageDirect

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