There’s by no means a scarcity of feuds within the rock and roll world, and 2023 featured some actual doozies. From early January till late December a few of music’s greatest stars had been buying and selling barbs with present and former bandmates, different friends, ticketing firms and one of many world’s largest beer manufacturers.
To seek out out who squared up towards who, what they had been combating about and what number of swear phrases either side used, take a look at our checklist of the ten Nastiest Rock and Roll Feuds of 2023:
Journey: Neal Schon Vs. Jonathan Cain
After a chaotic 2022 stuffed with inner feuds, lawsuits and lineup adjustments, quarreling Journey members Jonathan Cain and Neal Schon picked up proper the place they left off in January 2023, with Cain suing Schon for allegedly utilizing the band’s bank card for $1,000,000 in private costs. In the meantime, Schon accused Cain’s spouse of improperly accessing the band’s financial institution accounts. There have been additionally some public squabbling about the potential of former keyboardist Gregg Rolie rejoining the band on tour. Regardless of all this friction, Cain and Schon had been capable of efficiently full the 2023 leg of Journey’s fiftieth anniversary tour.
Mick Mars vs. Motley Crue
Six months after retiring from reside performances resulting from his ongoing battle with ankylosing spondylitis, Mick Mars filed swimsuit towards his Motley Crue bandmates in April 2023, alleging that they had been making an attempt to totally take away him from the group towards his will. The 2 sides started buying and selling accusations, with Mars saying the band used backing tracks on their most up-to-date tour, and the remainder of the group countering by saying they solely did so to masks Mars’ poor efficiency. Mars is ready to launch his debut solo album The Different Aspect of Mars in 2024. His former bandmates, with new guitarist John 5, have additionally promised to launch new music sooner or later within the new yr.
Kiss’ Paul Stanley vs. Ace Frehley
The intermittent feuding between Ace Frehley and his former Kiss bandmates reached a weird new peak in 2023. After Paul Stanley joked that the band must be re-named “Piss” in the event that they allowed Frehley again on stage, an offended Spaceman demanded a public apology and promised to air “some filth that no person is aware of about” Stanley and Gene Simmons if he did not get one. Frehley additionally revealed that he had written notes detailing quite a few such accusations locked in a secure, and that he had instructed his attorneys to launch it to the press ought to something ever occur to him. In response to Frehley, Stanley as a substitute referred to as him to say “Fuck you, Ace. I am not going to apologize,” earlier than hanging up. Frehley thought higher of the menace and saved his data non-public, however promised that his upcoming 10,000 Volts album would make Stanley “seem like an imbecile” for questioning his sobriety and work ethic. He ended the yr by having a superb giggle on the digital avatars his former bandmates unveiled throughout their farewell live performance.
Corridor vs. Oates
Simply earlier than Thanksgiving, Corridor and Oates followers had been stunned to be taught that Daryl Corridor had gotten a restraining order towards his longtime musical accomplice John Oates. Briefly order it was revealed that Corridor was making an attempt to cease Oates from promoting his share within the duo’s track catalog to Major Wave music. Along with the enterprise disagreement there has clearly been emotional harm carried out, with Corridor declaring himself “blindsided” by Oates’ actions, and Oates responding by saying he was “deeply damage” by Corridor’s response.
Black Sabbath: Ozzy Osbourne vs. Geezer Butler
In November of 2023, Ozzy Osbourne accused his former Black Sabbath bandmate Geezer Butler of not reaching out through the singer’s latest prolonged sequence of well being woes. “You do discover out who’s a real buddy while you’ve been via what I’ve had,” Osbourne instructed Rolling Stone UK. “Tony Iommi has been so supportive of me since my sickness. Geezer Butler hasn’t given me one fucking telephone name. Not one fucking name.” Butler promptly replied, insisting that he had left two unanswered messages for Osbourne and declaring that he did not wish to “interact in a tit for tat.”
Soundgarden vs. Chris Cornell Property
In April 2023, Soundgarden followers acquired phrase that the band had settled their 4 year-long authorized battle with the property of late singer Chris Cornell, seemingly clearing the way in which for the band’s closing recordings to see the sunshine of day. Nevertheless in November drummer Matt Cameron defined that these plans had been again on maintain. “We’re nonetheless in the course of a dispute with the property,” he instructed the Vinyl Information Podcast. He declined to supply additional particulars however warned followers “as of proper now, it would not seem like it should occur subsequent yr.”
Nuno Bettencourt vs. Weapons N’ Roses’ Richard Fortus Ends Peacefully
Excessive’s Nuno Bettencourt, who additionally served as Rihanna’s touring guitarist for a number of years, began some bother after suggesting Slash did not have the vary to carry out with the pop star. This prompted Richard Fortus – who coincidentally carried out with Rihanna previous to Bettencourt- to defend his present Weapons N’ Roses bandmate. “There may be little or no Slash could not do on guitar (if he wished to),” Fortus noticed. “This gig would not be a wrestle for him.”
Fortus’ 52-word publish initially drew a scathing and voluminous reply from Bettencourt, however a couple of days later Nuno apologized, calling his preliminary assertion about Slash “completely ridiculous” and declaring, “backside line is that is on me. I have to preserve my fucking mouth shut.” The 2 rapidly made peace and agreed to share a beer and fun collectively as quickly as potential.
The Treatment’s Robert Smith vs. Ticketmaster
After listening to that his followers had been being charged sudden further charges for tickets to the Treatment’s summer time tour by Ticketmaster, Robert Smith sprung into motion. “I am as sickened as you all are by as we speak’s Ticketmaster ‘charges’ debacle,” he tweeted, promising to resolve the case. The very subsequent day he made good, revealing that Ticketmaster had agreed to partial refunds for each ticket purchaser.
Child Rock vs. Bud Mild
In April of 2023 Child Rock launched a video of himself capturing circumstances of Bud Mild with a machine gun. He was offended that the corporate partnered with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney for a web-based advertising marketing campaign, and that they despatched Mulvaney a customized beer can along with her face on it. “By sending that may to the trans child, you form of signaled to us that you just help that way of life, and extra importantly, males being in girls’s sports activities or in my granddaughter’s locker room,” Rock later instructed Fox Information. “Most of us draw a tough line proper there.” Regardless of his protest, it was later revealed that Rock nonetheless bought Bud Mild at his bar, and in August he was captured on video ingesting the identical model. In December he declared his struggle with the corporate over. “Do I wish to maintain their head beneath water and drown them as a result of they made a mistake? No, I feel they bought the message,” he instructed Tucker Carlson.
Pamela Anderson vs. ‘Pam and Tommy’ Producers
In January, actress Pamela Anderson demanded a public apology from the producers of the miniseries Pam & Tommy, which explored her marriage to Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee and the chaos the couple endured when their non-public intercourse tape was stolen and bought to the general public. “I simply felt kinda run over with that one,” she instructed Howard Stern in regards to the present. “I believed, ‘what the hell is that this?’ Nobody referred to as me. Nobody requested me. ….I do not assume they portrayed Tommy or I positively.” Chatting with Leisure Weekly, the present’s producers insisted they did attempt to contact Anderson, and that they sought to inform her aspect of the story. “This portrayal was very a lot a constructive factor,” mentioned showrunner D.V. DeVincetis. “We cared an important deal about her and wished her to know that the present loves her.”
Nastiest Rock Feuds
A few of them have been resolved however others stay uncooked.
Gallery Credit score: Matthew Wilkening