There’s nothing like rock music to get the blood pumping and the testosterone soaring.
And with all those hormones flying around, it’s no wonder that things sometimes get sassy between rock’s biggest stars.
Indeed, no one does b*tchy better than a rock star, with Rod Stewart and fellow 70s icon Elton John the latest to sharpen their claws at dawn.
It all kicked off two years ago when Rody accused Elts of trying to cash in with one last tour before he retires.
“It’s dishonest. It’s not rock and roll,” Rod sniped.
“If I retire, I won’t make an announcement. I’ll just fade away,” he moaned on a US talk show about the singer’s three-year Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour.
“I don’t think this is a big deal, it stinks of selling tickets.”
Asked if he’d aired his views with his supposed mate, Rod continued, “Well I did email her [Sir Elton] and said ‘what, again dear?’ But I didn’t hear anything back.”
Meow.
And the feud escalated this week with both claiming they haven’t spoken since and that their efforts to hold out an olive branch have been snubbed.
Elton raged about the fall out in his autobiography Me – calling Christmas record regular Rod a hypocrit.
“I certainly didn’t feel like I needed a lecture on the feral spirit of rock and roll from someone who’d spent most of the last decade crooning his way through the Great American Songbook and Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” Elton said.
“What’s more, I thought he had a f***ing cheek, complaining about me promoting a tour while he was sat on a TV show promoting his own tour.”
But it wouldn’t be the first time the fur has flown between musos. Here’s some of the cattiest feuds that time forgot…
Elton John vs Keith Richards
These two have been verbally brawling for more than 20 years, after Elton reportedly outstayed his welcome by performing 10 songs during a guest slot at a 1975 Rolling Stones concert in Colorado.
Keith then slammed Elton’s tribute single for Princess Diana, claiming Candle in the Wind 1997 ‘did jar a bit’.
But Elton was nowhere near as controlled with his criticism, accusing the Rolling Stones rocker of looking like a ‘monkey with arthritis ‘.
“I’m glad I’ve given up drugs and alcohol,” he told the New York Daily News in 1997.
“It would be awful to be like Keith Richards. He’s pathetic, poor thing. It’s like a monkey with arthritis, trying to go onstage and look young. I have great respect for the Stones but they would have been better if they had thrown Keith out 15 years ago…I just think he’s an a–hole and I have for a long time.”
Needless to say, when Elton announced his retirement, Keith admitted he wouldn’t miss him ‘at all’.
Although he did concede, “He’s a lovable old dear. He’s softening with age.”
Elton John vs Madonna
And here he is again, causing trouble with his acerbic tongue.
This time Madge copped a slagging off with Elton spitting his dummy out at the 2004 Q Awards over her win for Best Live Act.
“Madonna, Best Live Act? F**k off,” he spat.
“Since when has lip-syncing been live? Sorry about that, but I think everyone who lip-syncs on stage in public when you pay like 75 quid to see them should be shot. Thank you very much. That’s me off her Christmas card list, but do I give a toss? No.”
He seemingly was slightly bothered though when the two Christmas cards he sent her were reportedly returned.
Nevertheless, he waded in for round two when she hit the road for her MDNA Tour, unleashing the c-bomb.
“Why is she such a nightmare?” he pondered on Australian TV show Sunday Night.
“Sorry, her career is over. Her tour has been a disaster and it couldn’t happen to a bigger c***. If Madonna had any common sense, she would have made a record like Ray of Light,’ stayed away from the dance stuff and just been a great pop singer and made great pop records, which she does brilliantly. But no…”
Clearly unable to help himself, he threw in, “And she looks like a f**king fairground stripper.”
He had no choice but to swallow his words in 2012 when Madge walked into the same restaurant and he apologised.
“I was in a restaurant in the south of France and she walked in so I sent her a note saying, ‘You’ll probably never speak to me again but I am really sorry and ashamed of myself and can I buy you dinner,'” he told Graham Norton.
“She was very gracious and accepted and we talked. We are fine – it was just me and my big mouth.”
Liam Gallagher vs Damon Albarn
Their bands Oasis and Blur were pitted together in the battle of Brit Pop, but Damon has originally tried to be mates, turning up to a party to celebrate Some Might Say going to number one.
But Liam laid down the gauntlet, lauding his success in Damon’s face.
“When Oasis got to Number One with ‘Some Might Say’, I went to their celebration party, y’know, just to say ‘Well done’. And Liam came over and, like he is, he goes, ‘Number fookin’ One!’, right in my face. So I thought, ‘OK we’ll see…’” he once said.
Manchester rockers Oasis reportedly loathed posh Blur boy Alex James the most, and called him a variety of rude names during a backstage confrontation at the 1995 NME Awards.
The bands ultimately went head-to-head with Roll With It for Oasis and Country House for Blur, with the Essex boys taking the crown.
Gracious in their win, Liam later revealed Alex tried to make nice, but he shut him straight down, Manchester style.
“I met that Alex in the pub, so I bombed over and said, ‘Congratulations on Number One – it’s about f***ing time, mate,’ and he goes, ‘Oh yeah. But both our songs were sh*t anyway,'” he told NME.
“And I went, ‘No, this is where you’re wrong. And this is why I f***in’ hate your band, and you. I thought our song was top.’”
In later life, Noel and Damon made mates, with the former singing on Gorrilaz’ We Got The Power – much to Liam’s disgust.
“Now that d*ck out of Blur and the creepy one out of Oasis need to hang their heads in shame as it’s no ‘Dancing In The Streets’ – as you were,” Liam tweeted, referencing David Bowie and Mick Jagger’s rather fabulous duet.
“That gobsh*te out of Blur might have turned Noel Gallagher into a massive girl but believe you me, next time I see him there’s gonna be war.”
Liam Gallagher vs Noel Gallagher
Of course, Liam didn’t just reserve his hatred for outsiders – he openly despise his own brother too.
The duo have had a love-hate relationship since they shared a bedroom as kids in Burnage, Manchester and shared many a booze-fuelled spat before a 2009 bust-up at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris signalled the end.
A furious Liam smashed his older brother’s guitar. Noel did one and the band’s manger was forced to go on stage to cancel the show saying Oasis “does not exist any more”.
And while Liam often goes on about wanting to get the band back together, Noel remains tellingly silent.
Noel’s wife Sara McDonald has views about her brother-in-law mind you, and she’s not afraid to share them, telling him to ‘drop dead’ after he claimed he ‘didn’t care’ if Sara, Noel, or his “f**king kid” – 18 year old Anais with ex-wife Meg Mathews – were abused on social media.
After catching wind of the comments, Sara – who shares two sons with 50 year old Noel – is said to have fired back on an Instagram fansite.
She wrote: “His f**king kid”? You mean your gorgeous niece, you deplorable w**ker.”
“Please god (you) have dropped dead by the time my kids are on social media,” she added.
The Kinks
Bands made up of siblings can be a recipe for disaster.
None more so than The Kinks. Brothers Ray and Dave Davies had fought most of their lives. But the relationship was finally broken by a cake.
In 1996 Ray reportedly ruined his younger brother’s 50th birthday party by jumping on a table to give a speech declaring his own genius and then stamping on the birthday cake. Dave has described his brother “an a**hole” and said their relationship is “toxic”.
They haven’t performed together since.
Rolling Stones
Rock legends or not, where men are concerned one thing always matters. Size.
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards have known each other since primary school and have had their fare share of rows during 50 years standing on stage together.
But the final straw came when in Richards’ autobiography he called Jagger’s manhood a “tiny todger”. The pair fell-out and furious Mick refused to tour with the band again until Richards apologised.
The Everly Brothers
The 1950s heartthrobs may have looked like butter wouldn’t melt when they stood side-by-side playing their guitars, but looks can be deceiving.
Don and Phil were famed for their perfect harmony on stage, but behind the scenes was a different story.
As Phil said in 1970: “We only ever had one argument. It’s been lasting 25 years.”
The row came to a head in 1973 when Don apparently turned up drunk to a gig. Soon he and Phil were arguing on stage and then Don threw down his guitar saying: “I’m through with being an Everly Brother.”
Phil carried on the rest of the show alone, until he too had had enough shouting: “The Everly Brothers died ten years ago.”