Iconic music feuds: Legendary beefs that shaped the industry

Sometimes, it’s hard to get along. These legendary music beefs are some of the industry’s most notorious – even if the affected parties have made up and moved on! 

Stevie Nicks vs.  Lindsay Buckingham 

Warner Bros. Records

Nicks and Buckingham were in a relationship when they joined Fleetwood Mac in 1975. They previously had played together in another band, as well as a duo project, Buckingham and Nicks. The couple broke up as the band wrote and recorded 1977’s Rumours. They continued to play music together – with tracks like “Dreams”, “Silver Springs”, and “Go Your Own Way” documenting the journey – although the pair report “shooting eye daggers” at each other during live performances. Both embarked on solo careers, although they eventually returned to the band. When Fleetwood Mac planned to go on tour in 2018, Buckingham asked for a delay in tour dates so he could promote his solo work, which created tension between him and Nicks. Buckingham was fired from the band and later sued them for millions, with the lawsuit settled by the end of 2018.

Don Felder vs. Don Henley and Glenn Frey

Krwessel2024, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The Eagles’ Felder, Henley, and Frey wrote one of the most iconic guitar songs ever while in the band – “Hotel California”. The rift between Felder and Henley and Frey started when the band erased Felder’s vocals on his song “Victim of Love” while he was out to dinner, and became worse during promotion for the band’s next album, The Long Run. During a political fundraiser show in 1980 that Felder didn’t want to take part in, the band trash talked each other on stage and threatened to beat each other up after the show. The band ended up breaking up from 1980 until 1994. 

They got back together in 1994. However, Felder was fired from the Eagles in 2001. Felder filed wrongful termination and breach of contract lawsuits against the band, Henley, Frey, and others, seeking $50 million in damages. Henley and Frey then counter-sued Felder for breach of contract and for writing a “tell-all” book, Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974–2001). The matter was settled out of court in 2007. 

Felder said he hadn’t ruled out patching things up with Frey before his death in 2016. “I had always hoped somewhere along the line, he and I would have dinner together, talking about old times and letting it go with a handshake and a hug,” he told the Associated Press. 

Roger Waters vs. David Gilmour

Roger Waters, Nick Mason, David Gilmour and Richard Wright. Trade ad and inside cover for Pink Floyd’s album Meddle. Capitol Records.

Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters and David Gilmour have been feuding on and off since the mid-1980s. The two clashed creatively for years until Waters quit the band in 1985. Waters started court proceedings in 1986 to dissolve the group, but Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason pushed back. Pink Floyd continued on, with Waters rejoining the band only once, in 2005 for a Live 8 charity concert. The rift shows no signs of being repaired, with the two feuding over Twitter and in the press. 

Oasis vs. Blur

Britpop bands Oasis and Blur clashed in summer of 1995, when Blur moved the release date of their single “Country House” to the very same day that Oasis issued their single “Roll With It”. Blur’s Damon Albarn said in a documentary that he felt that the other band consistently picked on them. “Oasis were like the bullies I had to put up with at school,” Albarn said. 

Tensions remained high after both bands released their albums later that year, but in the decades since, they seem to have warmed up to each other. Noel Gallagher joined Albarn and Graham Coxon onstage at a show for Teenage Cancer Trust in 2013, 

Noel Gallagher vs. Liam Gallagher

Will Fresch, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Oasis has had a beef of its own, between brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher. The band formed in 1991 and had success with their debut album, 1994’s Definitely, Maybe. Tensions rose on the tour promoting the album, including a less-than-stellar gig at Los Angeles’ Whisky-a-Go-Go which resulted in Liam hitting Noel with a tambourine and walking off stage before the show was over. In 1996, Noel led an MTV Unplugged performance while Liam sat out, heckling his brother. 

The fighting continued until 2009, when Noel quit the band shortly before the band was set to play the Rock en Seine festival in Paris. “People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer,” Noel said in his note to fans. 

Liam went on to form Beady Eye with the remaining Oasis members, and Noel formed his own project, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. The brothers continued to snipe at each other in the press, on talk shows and on social media for the next decade, but appear to have worked it out – Oasis’s reunion tour is scheduled in the U.K. in 2025 with more dates expected in other parts of the world.

David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen

Promotional image of rock band Van Halen taken in 1984. From (l-r); Alex Van Halen, David Lee Roth, Eddie Van Halen, and Michael Anthony. Warner Records.

Van Halen found huge success with their album 1984, but the album’s creation led to creative conflicts in the band which would culminate in Roth’s departure from the band. Roth didn’t like Van Halen’s use of synthesizers on “Jump”, and left to pursue a solo career after the 1984 tour. 

After Van Halen’s death in 2020, Roth reflected on their friendship and musical legacy, saying: “Playing with Ed, writing songs with Ed, and presenting those songs with Ed was better than any love affair I ever had. And some of those songs, I think, might last forever—or until the last syllable of time, like Shakespeare said. They became anthems. Where are they playing ‘Jump’ right now?”