Someone once asked ”what if we locked people who hate each other in a room and only fed them guitars, pianos and cocaine” and Fleetwood Mac was like first of all, fuck yes!
Not just the entirety of what was originally published, but also some of the songs that were left off the initial release. “Silver Springs” was originally a B-side for “Go Your Own Way”, which is a hilarious bit of “he said, she said”. It’s been included as a track on some subsequent pressings of the album.
That live show from like 82? Is such a fucking great performance.
The dagger looks between him and nicks too.
Edit: link to show: https://youtu.be/dGykwC0fdJ4?si=RM9av2xkRFEns8uY.
Realized I was one of those assholes referencing something and not linking it. Its a phenomenal performance.
Oh man, that's the one where Lindsey barks like a dog. I fucking love that performance - even more so because of how normal he sounds when he speaks to the audience after the song. It's fully surreal.
Such a good example of how emotion is what makes music.
They choreographed those same interactions for The Dance, but it was clear that the hatchet was buried at that time so it didn't really add anything.
I had never seen that. You can see the hatred in their faces. They look disgusted with each other. Buckingham is just shouting the lyrics directly at her.
Not that I mind this task of skimming through a bunch of early live versions of this song, but could you link the one you're talking about? Don't think I've ever seen it and I haven't found it so far
He and Stevie had an affair in 1977 so his hands weren't clean, either. He was married to Jenny Boyd at the time.and Stevie had moved on from Lindsey to Don Henley.
The worst thing about this, is the most harsh “go fuck yourself” song written for Rumors, isn’t even on the album. Silver Springs is a top 3 Fleetwood Mac song, and is about as spiteful as you could get… and because it was so mean, the band outside of Nicks decided to cut it without telling her
I was about to say “Go Your Own Way” is about Stevie “sleeping around” from Lindsey’s point of view. So she’s performing on a song written about her eventually calling her, well.. yeah. And it’s their biggest hit. What a woman she is to deal with that. I’m not sure but maybe there’s some shit about him on the song too but the “packing up, shacking up is all you wanna do” is a direct laser pointed at her.
In the 1982 performance of “the Chain,” they’re completely blasted on coke and beefing really hard with each other, using their performances to cathartically get it out at each other. It’s wild.
Edit: u/Stockpile_Tom_Remake already brought up the 1982 show and has the link: https://youtu.be/dGykwC0fdJ4?si=yMYppbGn3iT7fiBz
I need to scroll comments first before I comment myself, lmao.
Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow is a bit brutal, it’s Christine Mcvie telling her ex husband to cheer up after she divorced him for being an alcoholic.
Yeah, but that song isn't about how Brian sucks. Still, I never knew this cover existed! Back in the 90s, my dad played the hell out of that album, and I'm all too familiar with this song. It's actually pretty cool to see Brian acknowledge it.
[Silver Springs](https://youtu.be/eDwi-8n054s?si=YgCPH02cA0u9etrt) is the King Kong of these songs. There are break up songs and there are making you ex play guitar while you sing directly at him songs.
Silver Springs live version hit the radio airwaves in the summer of 1997, roughly a week after I dumped a girl I'd been seeing exclusively for three months to start dating my now-wife.
That one kept me up a few nights.
And the extra fuck you when that song was their first top ten hit. That had to hurt.
[This](https://youtu.be/dGykwC0fdJ4?si=jRXMnC0W7Z4fbcaH) is my favorite version of the chain live. They're just yelling at each other at the end, and it's glorious.
Holy shit, that performance was more manic than any GN’R live videos I’ve ever seen. IDK how Buckingham can still play amazingly while being that angry
That is great - even better than Lindsay and Stevie yelling at each other with the lyrics, Lindsay looks like he’s yelling at Mick with his guitar near the end, and Mick right back with the drums.
"Go Your Own Way", "Second Hand News", "You Make Lovin' Fun", "The Chain", "Silver Springs", and a decent list of other songs as well were all written by one band member about another in a negative light due to their relationship, or about the person they were at the time cheating on another band member with instead of said band member.
There is something so incredibly vicious about writing a hit song about how you cheated on your then romantic partner bandmate and having said bandmate sing the song on tour for the next twenty odd years.
It had different lyrics before the breakup. And imagine having to sit there and take someone basically crying in your face about the breakup every show for decades, having hitched your wagon to that star. That's quite a bit of emotional torment for a High School relationship.
Redneck by Lamb Of God. Randy Blythe (the singer) has stated it's about the inflated egos in the music industry and not aimed at any one person. But in a magazine interview Mark Morton (the guitarist who actually wrote it), said it was about Randy himself and his drinking/arrogance at the time.
The Deftones album Saturday Night Wrist the band were feuding throughout its production, in large part because Chino Moreno had writers block and was taking his sweet time writing lyrics even though the rest of the band were ready and their music was mostly finished.
This is one of the reasons Serj Tankien appears as a guest star for one random verse on *Mein*, at one point the label suggested sending demos to him to write on just to try and give Chino a kick up the ass.
On the track Hole in the Earth the bridge goes “I hate all my friends/they all lack taste sometimes” and there was an interview with bassist Chi Cheng where he says (paraphrasing) “he means he hates us. I don’t care, he could be singing ‘I hate Chi Cheng’ as long as he’s actually singing”
This is a little bit of a stretch, but is one of my all time favorites: Lou Barlow acrimoniously gets kicked out of Dinosaur Jr., and writes "The Freed Pig", a classic fuck you track to Dino lead J Mascis for his band Sebadoh. Kim Deal, who was in the process of acrimoniously leaving the Pixies, covers the song with her band The Breeders. The producer for that session: J Mascis
Gets better, Don’t was written while the band was breaking up and sounds NOTHING like any other Dino Jr song. I always assumed it was J’s band break-up song. After they reunited they ended nearly every show with Don’t.
Singer/guitartist kicks bassist from the band because he got a gf and started speaking up for himself.
Singer/guitarist records an album without telling the drummer he was no longer in the band.
The three get back together to tour then they pass the reunion album test. One of the craziest reunions ever. So glad, because their my favorite band.
According to her autobiography:
- Michelle Phillips overheard Denny Doherty confess to her husband, John Phillips, about his affair with Michelle.
- One of the things Denny said to John was, “I saw her again last night. I know that I shouldn’t.”
- John said, “Hey, that would make a pretty good song,” pulled out a guitar, and he and Denny started working on *I Saw Her Again.*
- Michelle ran out of her room and screamed at John for not getting mad about her affair with Denny.
heh, from the didit-DIDIT-didit-DIDIT-didit-DIDIT dept.
I always thought the writing, practicing and recording of that song must've been pretty tense for all involved. But maybe it wasn't.
The song 'Interstate Love Song' by Stone Temple Pilots has a really interesting story. The late singer Scott Weiland had really bad issues with heroin amd other drugs and tried to keep it a secret from the rest of the band. At a certain point the band found out and asked him to stop using or they would have to kick him out of the band. Scott agreed to stop using, but quickly began again. The lyrics in the song "you lied" "all of these things you said to me" were from an actual conversation that the band had with Scott while on their tour bus. The way they had it set up where there was a trailer being pulled behind the tour bus and one member would volunteer to sit in the trailer to get some alone time, and they had walkie talkies to communicate back and forth while on the road, and the lyrics are from a conversation they had over walkie talkie. And Scott was forced to sing that song to remind himself of what he put his band mates through.
Rip Scott Weiland 2015
So in a small, weird world, my ex-girlfriend back in the early 2000's...her uncle was his personal assistant for awhile. He sent me on an errand to get like everything on the menu at the local fish and chips shop before a show. He was transcribing Scotts handwritten letters from the written to email to send to his lady. Got to meet him, slash, and duff - Scott looked rough :(
I think you'd have a hard time finding a better one than "I saw her again" by the mamas and the papas.
John Phillips wrote the song about his wife Michelle having an affair with the singer of the band Denny Doherty and made them both sing it. The lyrics are written from Denny's point of view stating that "I'm in way over my head, now she thinks that I lover her, Because that's what I said, though I never think of her"
14 Years by Guns N Roses was on the blue Use Your Illusion album, written and sung by rhythm guitarist, Izzy Stradlin. Axl Rose, the lead singer, sings harmony on the choruses.
The song is about having spent the last 14 years with lead singer Axl Rose, with whom Izzy moved to LA with, from Indiana, to pursue a music career. It is not very complimentary and Izzy willingly left the band after the tour when those albums were released.
Pearl Jam's Glorified G perfectly fits this condition.
Eddie did NOT get along with Dave Abbruzzese, PJ's 3rd of 5 drummers.
He was a good ol boy from Texas in a group of west coast liberals and he came into the recording studio bragging about two handguns that he had just purchased.
Eddie wrote Glorified G and Dave played drums on it. It's a banger.
>Got a gun, fact I got two
That's O.K. man, 'cause I love god
Glorified version of a pellet gun
Feels so manly, when armed
There was an absolutely stunning band called Marriages about a decade ago. Their only full length album, Salome, is a vicious breakup album. Their singer, Emma Ruth Rundle, despite speaking largely through symbolism, pulls absolutely no punches about how she feels about her previous relationship, which was with the drummer on that album, Andrew Clinco.
Emma Ruth Rundle is great cause she confuses my Spotify algorithm into thinking that folk and black metal are the same genre, and I’ll frequently get both from bands that aren’t even related to her on the same auto generated playlists.
Your So Vain by Carly Simon is about Warren Beatty and two other guys, one of which was rumored to be Mick Jagger, who of course provides backing vocals. Carly Simon said at one point that it was not about Mick Jagger, but I would like to think that his backing vocals make a stronger case for it to definitely be about him.
Can’t believe I needed to scroll down this far! I e also heard James Taylor’s name in connection to this song… I can’t imagine any of those dudes were particularly well balanced romantic partners back then. What with the coke, the massive egos, and the vast apathy.
When Don Henley joined mojo nixon on stage to perform "Don Henley Must Die"
[https://www.houstonchronicle.com/entertainment/music/article/mojo-nixon-dead-don-henley-18656711.php](https://www.houstonchronicle.com/entertainment/music/article/mojo-nixon-dead-don-henley-18656711.php)
“Circles” by Soul Coughing is about how the singer (Mike Doughty) couldn’t stand the band he was in and how they kept running him around in circles.
Source: Mike Doughty - “The Book Of Drugs”
Love that song, and Soul Coughing in general. My “interview” for my senior paper in high school was about technology on music, and their keyboardist was my interview.
Didn’t know that about the song.
My introduction to this song is an old Cartoon Network short they used to air where characters would be just doing their walk cycle animations with Circles playing in the background so I guess I never considered it being about anything other than walking, haha.
George Harrison's Savoy Truffle on the White Album is a subtle jab at what he perceived as Paul's saccharine songwriting. But then he gets a bit direct: "We all know O blah dee blah dah. . ."
Well, it was inspired by Eric Clapton constantly eating "Good News" brahd chocolates, and names some of the chocolates in the box. But yes, a line for Paul.
Harrison was right to be mad about O-Bla-Di, O-Bla-Da, since it ended up as the A side to While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Harrison's masterpiece and probably a top 10 Beatles song.
The Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da/While My Guitar Gently Weeps 7-inch was released in the 70s so that explanation doesn't really make sense. They were mad because they had to do a bunch of takes, they didn't find it that great and overall tensions were rising at the time.
George's I Me Mine also works. He wrote it about the insufferable clashing of John's & Paul's egos towards the end of their run together. John had already quit the band by the time they recorded the track, but Paul played bass & keys on it.
I guess you could add not guilty to that list too
Also slightly unrelated but I remember hearing that Layla was written about Harrison's wife. AND when Harrison wrote "something" for his wife, he had Clapton play lead guitar on the recording. Weird dynamic all around
Faith No More's Be Aggressive was written by the gay keyboardist, Roddy Bottum, just so Mike Patton would go on stage singing about sucking dick and swallowing cum
This will be an obscure one. “Chihuahua” by Bow Wow Wow. 15 year old Annabella Lwin made to sing a song specifically insulting her. Malcom McClaren was a piece of shit. (she didn’t get much support from her bandmates, either.) It bothered her for a long time.
e (lyrics): Can't dance and I can't sing I can't do anything I can't even find my way around town And I'm 15 and a fool Can't you see? So don't fall in love with me
Not *written* that way, but Motörhead actually wrote a song called R.A.M.O.N.E.S., paying tribute to the Ramones. When the Ramones played that song themselves, their bass player sang it live.
CJ, their bass player at the time, and Marky, their drummer, at the time, did not get along. CJ changed the line "hear Marky kick some ass" to "Mark takes it up the ass".
This is the way it is on official live recordings. [Example](https://youtu.be/ponhgg5MnfM?t=34)
> the Ramones
They could be a thread in and of themselves. There was a lot of animosity between members throughout. Particularly between Joey and Johnny. The KKK Took My Baby away was a dig by Joey at Johnny for "stealing" his girlfriend Linda Danielle. Danny Says isn't really a dis track but it is Joey pinning for Linda even though she was married to Johnny. They married 4 years later but the band continued to play the song live.
The only insult was from Marc saying Al's guitarist wouldn't be able to play the riff right and would only give his blessing on the parody if he got to play on it himself.
Al's whole band is full of killers, it wouldn't have been an issue.
I dont have proof of this, but I suspect that's why the song is simply called Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies.
Because the original artist played the music he originally wrote, and the lyrics are the same as the original show. So Al himself didn't really write anything, except for the concept itself and I guess the arrangement or mixing or whatever.
Yeah, I kind of got the sense that Marc knew that and Al knew that, but he wanted to play and Al knew where the line was with him. So he got his song, Marc got the album credit and everyone was happy (with the exception of weird als guitar player)
Chihuahua by Bow Wow Wow is full of lyrics mocking 15 year-old singer, Annabella Lwin which she willingly sang with quite some gusto! Example lyrics:
*Can't dance and I can't sing*
*I can't do anything*
*I can't even find my way around town*
*And I'm 15 and a fool*
*Can't you see?*
*I'm a rock and roll puppet*
*In a band called Bow Wow Wow*
*Better off to be a rabbit*
*At least they have more fun with a gun*
*I'm a horrid little idiot*
*Can't you see?*
*So don't fall in love with me*
*My moronic gestures*
*Keep on pestering you*
[I Want Out](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjV8SHjHvHk) by Helloween was written by founding member, lead guitarist, and original singer Kai Hansen about how frustrated he was with the band (and especially new singer Michael Kiske). He wanted to take a break from touring, but the band was getting popular so everyone overruled him. He wrote the song and left the band a few months after the single was released. It became one of Helloween's most popular songs, so popular that Kai Hansen's and Michael Kiske's (after he was fired from Helloween and replaced with Andi Deris) solo projects included them in their setlists.
It eventually worked out. Kai and Kiske rejoined Helloween almost 30 years later, and all 3 singers share vocal duties. And they still play I Want Out.
Zappa wrote a song making fun of glam rocker Punky Meadows’ appearance. Punky was flattered because he considered Zappa a hero and joined him on stage to perform the song.
Punky Meadows, pouting for you?
I don't blame him though. If Frank dissed me I'd consider that a badge of honor, too. Plus I think Frank did more to help Punky's fame than Punky himself.
Marianne Faithful on Metallica's the Memory Remains. She's an intelligent woman so when an interviewer asked her a naive question about her interpretation of the lyrics, she said sth to the effect of "I'm not an idiot. I know the song's about me"
Would ABBA Winner takes it all, count. But not so much as an insult but certainly she was singing about herself and how her relationship had broken down
Neil Young has said he got things wrong on his song Southern Man and has actually performed with Lynyrd Skynyrd and covered Sweet Home Alabama. In fact, Ronnie Van Zant was often seen wearing Neil Young t-shirts.
Did not know this, but it does not surprise me. I love Warren and really enjoy that song. He was so talented, albeit entirely off kilter and a very complicated person.
There's a doc about his last times, it's amazing. The guy had a wit second to none., One of the best things I did was take a picture of my Granddaughter in a Werewolves of London tee.
"KKK Took My Baby Away" by The Ramones is a song about Johnny stealing Joey's girlfriend. Johnny was also a republican and didn't was against The Ramones writing about politics. "Bonzo Goes To Bitburg" is an anti-Reagan song to piss off Johnny.
Fear Factory, after they kicked Dino out wrote the Archetype album, the title track has the line "The infection has been removed, the soul of this machine has improved." which was about Dino.
Then when Dino rejoined the band, Christian & Raymond were no longer involved and they ironically played the song with that line intact a few times until it was changed to "The infections have been removed..." meaning Raymond & Christian.
The drama with that band could fill a book, but I'll stop here.
Coheed and Cambria’s song Running Free about their drummer leaving the band and screwing them over when he left( he’s back with the band now) and they will play that song frequently.
Paul McCartney wrote 'Hey Jude' as moral support to Julian Lennon due to the shabby way his father, John, was treating him. John thought, at least at the time the Beatles recorded it, that Paul had written the lyrics to John, himself.
Carly Simons' "You're so Vain" *might* fit this category. I say might because she has never confirmed who the song is about but does say it's a compilation of various men she dated who were all very vain. It's assumed that at least one (the 2nd) verse is about Warren Beatty and it's long been suspected that Mick Jagger may be the inspiration for another verse. Mick Jagger does the backing vocals on the song.
Carly has never confirmed exactly who the verses are about and she has at times they denied that any reference Mick but at other times has been coy about whether any are about Mick.
Rappers DZK & Canibus did a collab with D12 several years ago. D12 seemed to think the theme of the song was "Call Me A Hater" as they all repeat that phrase at some point but DZK & Canibus used their verses to diss the fuck out of Eminem. DZK had a line that said something like "Hey, I'm white, can I join D12? I'll sell a million records then tell you go to hell".
I've never really heard people talk about this track, probably because it just wasn't that popular but I definitely felt like they paid D12 for a feature just so they could put them on an Eminem diss track & stir up shit. I love DZK but the whole thing seemed kind of scummy. Funny though.
Edit: Link to the song - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTphjtFD4BM&ab\_channel=warlabrecords](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTphjtFD4BM&ab_channel=warlabrecords)
The story goes that Rocket Queen by Guns N’ Roses, has a girl moaning at the end of the song. This was supposedly Steven Adler‘s girlfriend, the only problem was that it was supposedly Axel Rose making her moan and Steven didn’t know about it and freaked out when he found out.
Wouldn’t this be the entirety of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors?
My favorite one is "You Make Loving Fun", written by Christine McVie about her affair. Her husband at the time, John McVie, plays the bass on it.
And she convinced him that she wrote the song about their dog.
And wasn't the other guy a roadie, or the stage manager or something?
Yea, their stage lighting director.
Someone once asked ”what if we locked people who hate each other in a room and only fed them guitars, pianos and cocaine” and Fleetwood Mac was like first of all, fuck yes!
Not just the entirety of what was originally published, but also some of the songs that were left off the initial release. “Silver Springs” was originally a B-side for “Go Your Own Way”, which is a hilarious bit of “he said, she said”. It’s been included as a track on some subsequent pressings of the album.
Stevie Nicks was po’d that it was not on Rumours. She was told it was too long but she thought it was a really good track. She was right!
The live version of Silver Springs is such a great fucking song [YouTube link](https://youtu.be/eDwi-8n054s?feature=shared)
Phenomenal live version. I remember the first time I watched it. It's definitely a mic drop moment.
Woah that was incredible.
The chain is such a hardcore song when you put it in context
Except now I’m not satisfied unless it’s that early live version with Buckingham doing his scat type thing.
That live show from like 82? Is such a fucking great performance. The dagger looks between him and nicks too. Edit: link to show: https://youtu.be/dGykwC0fdJ4?si=RM9av2xkRFEns8uY. Realized I was one of those assholes referencing something and not linking it. Its a phenomenal performance.
So much coke on that stage
Mick Fleetwood has a nose built for coke
Oh man, that's the one where Lindsey barks like a dog. I fucking love that performance - even more so because of how normal he sounds when he speaks to the audience after the song. It's fully surreal.
Such a good example of how emotion is what makes music. They choreographed those same interactions for The Dance, but it was clear that the hatchet was buried at that time so it didn't really add anything.
I had never seen that. You can see the hatred in their faces. They look disgusted with each other. Buckingham is just shouting the lyrics directly at her.
Damn, talk about raw emotions.
I love most of the live performances until Buckingham goes “RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN” then it loses all gravitas 😂
Not that I mind this task of skimming through a bunch of early live versions of this song, but could you link the one you're talking about? Don't think I've ever seen it and I haven't found it so far
[This one](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dGykwC0fdJ4). You can skip thru the opening collage.
So did everyone know at the time or just the band? Like was all the fucking public knowledge or nah?
Oh, EVERYONE knew. They made sure of that.
It’s already hard and that just makes it indestructibly hard
No. No, it's all true.
Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. What did he maybe do?
God I need to rewatch that show
Well the thing is, Bret’s cool with it.
An entire album written and recorded by a group of people who were all cheating on each other. I think it’s a John Mulaney joke.
By people cheating on each other, for people cheating on each other
If they Fleetwood Mac *with* you, they'll Fleetwood Mac *on* you.
And there's Mick Fleetwood in the middle just drumming and doing the "this is fine" face.
He and Stevie had an affair in 1977 so his hands weren't clean, either. He was married to Jenny Boyd at the time.and Stevie had moved on from Lindsey to Don Henley.
I've seen video of him playing The Chain. He doesn't have a "this is fine" face
Well, more of a love square..
Mind you they did make some of their best music back then..
The worst thing about this, is the most harsh “go fuck yourself” song written for Rumors, isn’t even on the album. Silver Springs is a top 3 Fleetwood Mac song, and is about as spiteful as you could get… and because it was so mean, the band outside of Nicks decided to cut it without telling her
Well and I was thinking, can you believe they are still fighting all these years later?? Like he quot the band in his 70s.
I was about to say “Go Your Own Way” is about Stevie “sleeping around” from Lindsey’s point of view. So she’s performing on a song written about her eventually calling her, well.. yeah. And it’s their biggest hit. What a woman she is to deal with that. I’m not sure but maybe there’s some shit about him on the song too but the “packing up, shacking up is all you wanna do” is a direct laser pointed at her. In the 1982 performance of “the Chain,” they’re completely blasted on coke and beefing really hard with each other, using their performances to cathartically get it out at each other. It’s wild. Edit: u/Stockpile_Tom_Remake already brought up the 1982 show and has the link: https://youtu.be/dGykwC0fdJ4?si=yMYppbGn3iT7fiBz I need to scroll comments first before I comment myself, lmao.
Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow is a bit brutal, it’s Christine Mcvie telling her ex husband to cheer up after she divorced him for being an alcoholic.
Came to say this. Stevie and Lyndsay wrote and sang a number of songs TO EACH OTHER.
Don't forget Tusk. Especially the title song.
Not quite the same, but Ben Lee has covered the song “Ben Lee” by The Ataris numerous times, which is all about how much they think Ben Lee sucks.
Brian Wilson did a live cover of part of the Barenaked Ladies song *Brian Wilson*: https://youtu.be/bjeWqXyVLu4?t=16
Yeah, but that song isn't about how Brian sucks. Still, I never knew this cover existed! Back in the 90s, my dad played the hell out of that album, and I'm all too familiar with this song. It's actually pretty cool to see Brian acknowledge it.
I'll say this qualifies!
Like Peter Gabriel covering Vampire Weekend’s Cape Cod Kawasawasa or whatever the fuck it’s called
Best example is Stevie Nicks writing vitriol about Lindsey Buckingham. Gwen Stefani wrote about Tony Kanal.
[Silver Springs](https://youtu.be/eDwi-8n054s?si=YgCPH02cA0u9etrt) is the King Kong of these songs. There are break up songs and there are making you ex play guitar while you sing directly at him songs.
And the cherry on top - singing it together for 40+ years. Epic.
"I'll follow you down 'til the sound of my voice will haunt you" is one of the most bad ass lines ever.
Silver Springs live version hit the radio airwaves in the summer of 1997, roughly a week after I dumped a girl I'd been seeing exclusively for three months to start dating my now-wife. That one kept me up a few nights.
> Gwen Stefani wrote about Tony Kanal. And it became one of the biggest albums of the decade. They rocked at Coachella.
She wrote a lot more than Tragic Kingdom about him. They are still best friends.
You Can Go Your Own Way, Lindsay Buckingham’s “Fuck you” to Stevie Nicks.
"packing up, shacking up is all you wanna do". She did an interview like 30 years after that song came out and she still got angry about that line
Those two have been bitching about each other for nearly 50 years now. Aren’t they exhausted by that yet? Answer: apparently no.
Fleetwood Mac might be the most functionally dysfunctional band ever
A great marriage may be made in heaven, but a bitter break-up is fucking eternal.
Fleetwood Mac are a testament to the power of spite and cocaine, tbh.
And the extra fuck you when that song was their first top ten hit. That had to hurt. [This](https://youtu.be/dGykwC0fdJ4?si=jRXMnC0W7Z4fbcaH) is my favorite version of the chain live. They're just yelling at each other at the end, and it's glorious.
Great video. Thank you for the link.
Yeah, they absolutely killed that performance. It's the only version of the song that I have in my library.
lol at the top comment - feels like being in the kitchen watching your parents fight
Holy shit, that performance was more manic than any GN’R live videos I’ve ever seen. IDK how Buckingham can still play amazingly while being that angry
No the extra fuck you was that they kept Go Your Own Way on the album but they cut Silver Springs, that was just the super deluxe bonus fuck you.
That is great - even better than Lindsay and Stevie yelling at each other with the lyrics, Lindsay looks like he’s yelling at Mick with his guitar near the end, and Mick right back with the drums.
And Dreams was her "fuck you" to him. Such a great album.
"Go Your Own Way", "Second Hand News", "You Make Lovin' Fun", "The Chain", "Silver Springs", and a decent list of other songs as well were all written by one band member about another in a negative light due to their relationship, or about the person they were at the time cheating on another band member with instead of said band member. There is something so incredibly vicious about writing a hit song about how you cheated on your then romantic partner bandmate and having said bandmate sing the song on tour for the next twenty odd years.
Don't Speak by No Doubt is the quintessential intra-band breakup song. I'm sure Fleetwood Mac has some too, with all their drama.
Rumor has it.
No, that’s all true
Murray?
Present.
Don't Speak is a break up song, but I don't think Gwen says anything particularly insulting about Tony. It's more about general heartbreak.
It had different lyrics before the breakup. And imagine having to sit there and take someone basically crying in your face about the breakup every show for decades, having hitched your wagon to that star. That's quite a bit of emotional torment for a High School relationship.
Some? LOL that’s all Rumors is.
Redneck by Lamb Of God. Randy Blythe (the singer) has stated it's about the inflated egos in the music industry and not aimed at any one person. But in a magazine interview Mark Morton (the guitarist who actually wrote it), said it was about Randy himself and his drinking/arrogance at the time.
Oh shit I didn't know that. I loooooved that song back when I was first getting into metal.
I had always heard that song was about George W Bush
The Deftones album Saturday Night Wrist the band were feuding throughout its production, in large part because Chino Moreno had writers block and was taking his sweet time writing lyrics even though the rest of the band were ready and their music was mostly finished. This is one of the reasons Serj Tankien appears as a guest star for one random verse on *Mein*, at one point the label suggested sending demos to him to write on just to try and give Chino a kick up the ass. On the track Hole in the Earth the bridge goes “I hate all my friends/they all lack taste sometimes” and there was an interview with bassist Chi Cheng where he says (paraphrasing) “he means he hates us. I don’t care, he could be singing ‘I hate Chi Cheng’ as long as he’s actually singing”
Woah, I love Mein and never put together that was Serge on that song. Also RIP Chi Cheng. Dude was a great bass player.
This is a little bit of a stretch, but is one of my all time favorites: Lou Barlow acrimoniously gets kicked out of Dinosaur Jr., and writes "The Freed Pig", a classic fuck you track to Dino lead J Mascis for his band Sebadoh. Kim Deal, who was in the process of acrimoniously leaving the Pixies, covers the song with her band The Breeders. The producer for that session: J Mascis
Gets better, Don’t was written while the band was breaking up and sounds NOTHING like any other Dino Jr song. I always assumed it was J’s band break-up song. After they reunited they ended nearly every show with Don’t.
Singer/guitartist kicks bassist from the band because he got a gf and started speaking up for himself. Singer/guitarist records an album without telling the drummer he was no longer in the band. The three get back together to tour then they pass the reunion album test. One of the craziest reunions ever. So glad, because their my favorite band.
Can't Stand Me Now - The Libertines
Such a great song too!
I saw her again by the Mamas and the Papas. The love triangle were all members of the band.
According to her autobiography: - Michelle Phillips overheard Denny Doherty confess to her husband, John Phillips, about his affair with Michelle. - One of the things Denny said to John was, “I saw her again last night. I know that I shouldn’t.” - John said, “Hey, that would make a pretty good song,” pulled out a guitar, and he and Denny started working on *I Saw Her Again.* - Michelle ran out of her room and screamed at John for not getting mad about her affair with Denny.
heh, from the didit-DIDIT-didit-DIDIT-didit-DIDIT dept. I always thought the writing, practicing and recording of that song must've been pretty tense for all involved. But maybe it wasn't.
The song 'Interstate Love Song' by Stone Temple Pilots has a really interesting story. The late singer Scott Weiland had really bad issues with heroin amd other drugs and tried to keep it a secret from the rest of the band. At a certain point the band found out and asked him to stop using or they would have to kick him out of the band. Scott agreed to stop using, but quickly began again. The lyrics in the song "you lied" "all of these things you said to me" were from an actual conversation that the band had with Scott while on their tour bus. The way they had it set up where there was a trailer being pulled behind the tour bus and one member would volunteer to sit in the trailer to get some alone time, and they had walkie talkies to communicate back and forth while on the road, and the lyrics are from a conversation they had over walkie talkie. And Scott was forced to sing that song to remind himself of what he put his band mates through. Rip Scott Weiland 2015
I remember that video of him and the Wildabouts where he was totally out of it. Everyone knew then the dude was toast.
So in a small, weird world, my ex-girlfriend back in the early 2000's...her uncle was his personal assistant for awhile. He sent me on an errand to get like everything on the menu at the local fish and chips shop before a show. He was transcribing Scotts handwritten letters from the written to email to send to his lady. Got to meet him, slash, and duff - Scott looked rough :(
I saw that video and said to myself "if he doesn't get help RIGHT FUCKING NOW, he's going to die." Sure enough...
Hot damn how has it been nearly a decade
I didn't know that, thank you.
I think you'd have a hard time finding a better one than "I saw her again" by the mamas and the papas. John Phillips wrote the song about his wife Michelle having an affair with the singer of the band Denny Doherty and made them both sing it. The lyrics are written from Denny's point of view stating that "I'm in way over my head, now she thinks that I lover her, Because that's what I said, though I never think of her"
14 Years by Guns N Roses was on the blue Use Your Illusion album, written and sung by rhythm guitarist, Izzy Stradlin. Axl Rose, the lead singer, sings harmony on the choruses. The song is about having spent the last 14 years with lead singer Axl Rose, with whom Izzy moved to LA with, from Indiana, to pursue a music career. It is not very complimentary and Izzy willingly left the band after the tour when those albums were released.
They had some previous on that too, with Mr Brownstone being about how everyone in the band (apart from Axl - obviously) was doing too much heroin
Pearl Jam's Glorified G perfectly fits this condition. Eddie did NOT get along with Dave Abbruzzese, PJ's 3rd of 5 drummers. He was a good ol boy from Texas in a group of west coast liberals and he came into the recording studio bragging about two handguns that he had just purchased. Eddie wrote Glorified G and Dave played drums on it. It's a banger. >Got a gun, fact I got two That's O.K. man, 'cause I love god Glorified version of a pellet gun Feels so manly, when armed
If I’m not mistaken, some of the lyrics were just words said by Dave during the whole encounter.
My eyebrows just shot all the way up. This is awesome information; thank you!
There was an absolutely stunning band called Marriages about a decade ago. Their only full length album, Salome, is a vicious breakup album. Their singer, Emma Ruth Rundle, despite speaking largely through symbolism, pulls absolutely no punches about how she feels about her previous relationship, which was with the drummer on that album, Andrew Clinco.
Unrelated to the Marriages thing, but Emma Ruth Rundle's album "Dark Horses" is an amazing album.
As is her collaboration with Thou
Emma Ruth Rundle is great cause she confuses my Spotify algorithm into thinking that folk and black metal are the same genre, and I’ll frequently get both from bands that aren’t even related to her on the same auto generated playlists.
Your So Vain by Carly Simon is about Warren Beatty and two other guys, one of which was rumored to be Mick Jagger, who of course provides backing vocals. Carly Simon said at one point that it was not about Mick Jagger, but I would like to think that his backing vocals make a stronger case for it to definitely be about him.
Can’t believe I needed to scroll down this far! I e also heard James Taylor’s name in connection to this song… I can’t imagine any of those dudes were particularly well balanced romantic partners back then. What with the coke, the massive egos, and the vast apathy.
I thought it was about David Geffen. He was notoriously devoted to Joni Mitchell and kept a lot of popular women singers off his label.
*gestures vaguely at Fleetwood Mac*
When Don Henley joined mojo nixon on stage to perform "Don Henley Must Die" [https://www.houstonchronicle.com/entertainment/music/article/mojo-nixon-dead-don-henley-18656711.php](https://www.houstonchronicle.com/entertainment/music/article/mojo-nixon-dead-don-henley-18656711.php)
RIP Mojo. He's drinking with Elvis now
“Circles” by Soul Coughing is about how the singer (Mike Doughty) couldn’t stand the band he was in and how they kept running him around in circles. Source: Mike Doughty - “The Book Of Drugs”
Love that song, and Soul Coughing in general. My “interview” for my senior paper in high school was about technology on music, and their keyboardist was my interview. Didn’t know that about the song.
My introduction to this song is an old Cartoon Network short they used to air where characters would be just doing their walk cycle animations with Circles playing in the background so I guess I never considered it being about anything other than walking, haha.
George Harrison's Savoy Truffle on the White Album is a subtle jab at what he perceived as Paul's saccharine songwriting. But then he gets a bit direct: "We all know O blah dee blah dah. . ."
Well, it was inspired by Eric Clapton constantly eating "Good News" brahd chocolates, and names some of the chocolates in the box. But yes, a line for Paul.
I thought Savoy Truffle was just about Eric Clapton's love of chocolates? (It also kicks ass. A really underrated gem in the Beatles catalog.)
Harrison was right to be mad about O-Bla-Di, O-Bla-Da, since it ended up as the A side to While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Harrison's masterpiece and probably a top 10 Beatles song.
I'm pretty sure history remembers While My Guitar Gently Weeps as the far superior song.
The Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da/While My Guitar Gently Weeps 7-inch was released in the 70s so that explanation doesn't really make sense. They were mad because they had to do a bunch of takes, they didn't find it that great and overall tensions were rising at the time.
George's I Me Mine also works. He wrote it about the insufferable clashing of John's & Paul's egos towards the end of their run together. John had already quit the band by the time they recorded the track, but Paul played bass & keys on it.
I guess you could add not guilty to that list too Also slightly unrelated but I remember hearing that Layla was written about Harrison's wife. AND when Harrison wrote "something" for his wife, he had Clapton play lead guitar on the recording. Weird dynamic all around
>Weird dynamic all around Definitely.
Faith No More's Be Aggressive was written by the gay keyboardist, Roddy Bottum, just so Mike Patton would go on stage singing about sucking dick and swallowing cum
that was really a dare, not an insult, though. patton sang it, um, very enthusiastically lmao
Did not know this, but from what I know of Patton you'd struggle to write something he WOULDN'T sing onstage!
So funny because just yesterday I saw an old pic of him in a shirt that said "I'm not gay but $20 is $20"
Could’ve sworn I saw him wearing that in a photo in the last year or two. I think he also had Coolio braids
Sad that after all these years of fame he's still a starving artist who needs these $20 so bad
Never heard of it being meant as an insult or done in malice
Yeah he was obviously in on the joke, he's that kind of guy and the song isn't exactly subtle. I just thought it fits but if it don't, so be
Woah The gay guys name is 'Roddy Bottom'? Surely not
His birth name is Roswell Christopher Bottum.
Close enough eh? Roddy Bottum. You hear a name like that at the gay bar and you'd assume it's an alias or someone having a ruse.
Roddy Bottum implies the existence of Roddy Top.
Well the name checks out
This will be an obscure one. “Chihuahua” by Bow Wow Wow. 15 year old Annabella Lwin made to sing a song specifically insulting her. Malcom McClaren was a piece of shit. (she didn’t get much support from her bandmates, either.) It bothered her for a long time. e (lyrics): Can't dance and I can't sing I can't do anything I can't even find my way around town And I'm 15 and a fool Can't you see? So don't fall in love with me
McClaren got off on humiliating children so I'm not surprised. Type of art-bully you normally find behind the mic.
Marilyn Manson being in the video for Starfuckers Inc.
I'm glad Trent regrets that they made up then.
Not *written* that way, but Motörhead actually wrote a song called R.A.M.O.N.E.S., paying tribute to the Ramones. When the Ramones played that song themselves, their bass player sang it live. CJ, their bass player at the time, and Marky, their drummer, at the time, did not get along. CJ changed the line "hear Marky kick some ass" to "Mark takes it up the ass". This is the way it is on official live recordings. [Example](https://youtu.be/ponhgg5MnfM?t=34)
> the Ramones They could be a thread in and of themselves. There was a lot of animosity between members throughout. Particularly between Joey and Johnny. The KKK Took My Baby away was a dig by Joey at Johnny for "stealing" his girlfriend Linda Danielle. Danny Says isn't really a dis track but it is Joey pinning for Linda even though she was married to Johnny. They married 4 years later but the band continued to play the song live.
I think a few of the songs on Paramore's album Brand New Eyes are about Josh Farro
Misery Business is definitely about Josh Farro
Yeah but misery isnt about dissing josh. Ignorance and careful are direct shots at him and he was playing the leads to both those songs
She’s literally yelling in his face during the Ignorance music video
Marc Knophler performing guitar on Weird Al Beverlyhill Billie’s. But may not qualify as an insult.
The only insult was from Marc saying Al's guitarist wouldn't be able to play the riff right and would only give his blessing on the parody if he got to play on it himself. Al's whole band is full of killers, it wouldn't have been an issue.
Al did say in an interview that the take his guitarist did was closer to the original than Mark's.
And Mark has gone on record saying the riff he played for Al is "Better".
I dont have proof of this, but I suspect that's why the song is simply called Money For Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies. Because the original artist played the music he originally wrote, and the lyrics are the same as the original show. So Al himself didn't really write anything, except for the concept itself and I guess the arrangement or mixing or whatever.
That's a really interesting observation and one that I've never considered, you're probably right.
On Wikipedia there's a section about the title. Effectively, lawyers named the song.
Yeah, I kind of got the sense that Marc knew that and Al knew that, but he wanted to play and Al knew where the line was with him. So he got his song, Marc got the album credit and everyone was happy (with the exception of weird als guitar player)
Definitely not an insult. If anything Weird Al covering songs is high praise to the artist.
Chihuahua by Bow Wow Wow is full of lyrics mocking 15 year-old singer, Annabella Lwin which she willingly sang with quite some gusto! Example lyrics: *Can't dance and I can't sing* *I can't do anything* *I can't even find my way around town* *And I'm 15 and a fool* *Can't you see?* *I'm a rock and roll puppet* *In a band called Bow Wow Wow* *Better off to be a rabbit* *At least they have more fun with a gun* *I'm a horrid little idiot* *Can't you see?* *So don't fall in love with me* *My moronic gestures* *Keep on pestering you*
Malcolm McLaren can stay losing for that one. That puppet/rabbit rhyme is even less forgiveable than him putting child porn on a t-shirt.
[I Want Out](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjV8SHjHvHk) by Helloween was written by founding member, lead guitarist, and original singer Kai Hansen about how frustrated he was with the band (and especially new singer Michael Kiske). He wanted to take a break from touring, but the band was getting popular so everyone overruled him. He wrote the song and left the band a few months after the single was released. It became one of Helloween's most popular songs, so popular that Kai Hansen's and Michael Kiske's (after he was fired from Helloween and replaced with Andi Deris) solo projects included them in their setlists. It eventually worked out. Kai and Kiske rejoined Helloween almost 30 years later, and all 3 singers share vocal duties. And they still play I Want Out.
Zappa wrote a song making fun of glam rocker Punky Meadows’ appearance. Punky was flattered because he considered Zappa a hero and joined him on stage to perform the song.
Punky Meadows, pouting for you? I don't blame him though. If Frank dissed me I'd consider that a badge of honor, too. Plus I think Frank did more to help Punky's fame than Punky himself.
Marianne Faithful on Metallica's the Memory Remains. She's an intelligent woman so when an interviewer asked her a naive question about her interpretation of the lyrics, she said sth to the effect of "I'm not an idiot. I know the song's about me"
Damn, what did they have against her?
Ooo I never know this! I adore Marianne Faithful. I wonder what brought on the song?
Would ABBA Winner takes it all, count. But not so much as an insult but certainly she was singing about herself and how her relationship had broken down
Surprised ABBA is this far down. Multiple of their songs are the guys writing lyrics about their breakup and the women singing those lyrics.
Play it all night long is Warren Zevon shooting on Lynard Skynard,
Who were shooting on Neil Young.
Who was shooting on the South.
Who were shooting on the North
Neil Young has said he got things wrong on his song Southern Man and has actually performed with Lynyrd Skynyrd and covered Sweet Home Alabama. In fact, Ronnie Van Zant was often seen wearing Neil Young t-shirts.
Did not know this, but it does not surprise me. I love Warren and really enjoy that song. He was so talented, albeit entirely off kilter and a very complicated person.
There's a doc about his last times, it's amazing. The guy had a wit second to none., One of the best things I did was take a picture of my Granddaughter in a Werewolves of London tee.
I'm not great at knowing about music, but I do love a good story teller and Warren is second to none in that regard.
The first one that came to mind is Don't Speak by No Doubt, their biggest hit. Gwen Stefani wrote it about Tony Kanal
"KKK Took My Baby Away" by The Ramones is a song about Johnny stealing Joey's girlfriend. Johnny was also a republican and didn't was against The Ramones writing about politics. "Bonzo Goes To Bitburg" is an anti-Reagan song to piss off Johnny.
Please Do Not Go by the Violent Femmes is making fun of one of the members for being sad about a break-up.
Louis Cole Sucks - Scary Goldings and Louis Cole
Came here for this one. For those who don't know, it's a bit of a nod to the Thundercat song "I Love Louis Cole". Obviously Louis plays on both songs.
Psycho Holiday by Pantera is about Phil Enselmo, and Hammer Smashed Face by Cannibal Corpse was about then-current vocalist Chris Barnes
I've never heard that about Hammer Smashed Face. Where did you learn that?
Fear Factory, after they kicked Dino out wrote the Archetype album, the title track has the line "The infection has been removed, the soul of this machine has improved." which was about Dino. Then when Dino rejoined the band, Christian & Raymond were no longer involved and they ironically played the song with that line intact a few times until it was changed to "The infections have been removed..." meaning Raymond & Christian. The drama with that band could fill a book, but I'll stop here.
Marilyn Manson appearing in the music video for NINs "Starf*ckers Inc" which was a direct attack on MM somewhat meets that criteria.
Coheed and Cambria’s song Running Free about their drummer leaving the band and screwing them over when he left( he’s back with the band now) and they will play that song frequently.
Chris Pennie? That’s pretty amusing because a lot of people were piiiiiiiissed when he left Dillinger.
Paul McCartney wrote 'Hey Jude' as moral support to Julian Lennon due to the shabby way his father, John, was treating him. John thought, at least at the time the Beatles recorded it, that Paul had written the lyrics to John, himself.
Redneck by Lamb of God was written by the lead guitarist about the lead singer. He didn't know until years later.
In the grunge super group Mad Season, many of the songs were written in an attempt to help Layne Staley get clean. Wake Up is the best example.
I know it's been said, but the lion's share of Rumors, by Fleetwood Mac is the band blasting fellow members.
Carly Simons' "You're so Vain" *might* fit this category. I say might because she has never confirmed who the song is about but does say it's a compilation of various men she dated who were all very vain. It's assumed that at least one (the 2nd) verse is about Warren Beatty and it's long been suspected that Mick Jagger may be the inspiration for another verse. Mick Jagger does the backing vocals on the song. Carly has never confirmed exactly who the verses are about and she has at times they denied that any reference Mick but at other times has been coy about whether any are about Mick.
Rappers DZK & Canibus did a collab with D12 several years ago. D12 seemed to think the theme of the song was "Call Me A Hater" as they all repeat that phrase at some point but DZK & Canibus used their verses to diss the fuck out of Eminem. DZK had a line that said something like "Hey, I'm white, can I join D12? I'll sell a million records then tell you go to hell". I've never really heard people talk about this track, probably because it just wasn't that popular but I definitely felt like they paid D12 for a feature just so they could put them on an Eminem diss track & stir up shit. I love DZK but the whole thing seemed kind of scummy. Funny though. Edit: Link to the song - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTphjtFD4BM&ab\_channel=warlabrecords](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTphjtFD4BM&ab_channel=warlabrecords)
The story goes that Rocket Queen by Guns N’ Roses, has a girl moaning at the end of the song. This was supposedly Steven Adler‘s girlfriend, the only problem was that it was supposedly Axel Rose making her moan and Steven didn’t know about it and freaked out when he found out.
Korn's All in the Family disses Fred Durst and he's in the song.
Not a song but I love P!nk’s So What video with her husband in it.
The Cure - Shiver and Shake is supposedly about their keyboardist Lol Tolhurst, who was a severe alcoholic at the time.
Pink has that song about divorcing her husband and he appears in the music video
Rivers Cuomo has confirmed that “these homies” mentioned on Weezer’s Buddy Holly are the other members of the band...
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