You don’t have to be friends with the people you make music with – but it helps not to be enemies.
The annals of music history are filled with instances of bandmates whose relationships turned sour, from Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel to Morrissey and Johnny Marr.
In one of modern music’s bitterest feuds, former Pink Floyd members Roger Waters and David Gilmour have spent years exchanging vitriolic words in the press. Earlier this year, Polly Samson, ex-Pink Floyd lyricist and wife of David Gilmour, made unsubstantiated allegations against Waters online.
Waters wrote on a social media account that he was “aware of the incendiary and wildly inaccurate comments made about him on Twitter by Polly Samson which he refutes entirely”, and said he is “currently taking advice as to his position”.
Of course, plenty of great music has been made by people who were at personal loggerheads – just ask Fleetwood Mac.
Sometimes, bandmates even manage to overcome their differences. The Libertines and Guns N’ Roses are just two of the outfits to have buried the hatchet and reformed in high spirits.
But they’re not who we’re interested in here. This is a list of the most ill-tempered feuds between bandmates in the history of modern music.
See below for the full list…
The Beach Boys
Cousins Mike Love and Brian Wilson, once bandmates in The Beach Boys, have feuded for decades. Wilson has publicly mocked Love’s singing, and described him as “egotistical”; Love, meanwhile, successfully sued the band for songwriting credits on many of the group’s hits.
American pop group The Beach Boys pictured in 1964. Love sits centrally, with Wilson second from the left
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The Everly Brothers
Known for their mellifluous two-part harmonies, Don and Phil Everly enjoyed an off-stage relationship that was anything but harmonious. The vehement sibling animosity spilled out onto stage during an infamous 1973 gig that resulted in Phil smashing his guitar and storming off.
Hall & Oates
In November 2023, it was revealed that Daryl Hall had obtained a temporary restraining order against Hall & Oates bandmate John Oates, having filed a lawsuit. The nature of their dispute is still a mystery at this time, with details of the litigation having been sealed. The duo had performed together as recently as 2022. Speaking to the Club Random with Bill Maher podcast a year before the litigation, Hall said: “You think John Oates is my partner? … He’s my business partner. He’s not my creative partner.”
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The Kinks
Brothers Ray and Dave Davies have enjoyed one of music’s most celebrated sibling collaborations – and one of its most vicious quarrels. Speaking of their feud, Dave once told an interviewer: “You’ve heard of vampires. Well, Ray sucks me dry of ideas, emotions and creativity. He’s a control freak.” The band split up in 1996, though the brothers have shown signs of reconciliation in the years since.
The Kinks, photographed in 1968
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Kiss
Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, two of the original members of Kiss, have long been at loggerheads with Gene Simmons’s rock group after first leaving the band in the early 1980s. Simmons and Paul Stanley have spoken negatively of their former bandmates, with Stanley alleging in his 2014 biography that they were antisemitic – claims Frehley subsequently denied.
Journey
Vocalist Steve Perry left the “Don’t Stop Believin’” rock outfit in 1998, claiming later that he had “never really felt part of the band”. The group replaced him with soundalike Steve Augeri. Disagreements have continued to surface within Journey, however, with reports suggesting that guitarist Neal Schon and keyboardist Jonathan Cain have quarreled over the musical direction of the band in recent years.
Oasis
The falling out of Liam and Noel Gallagher remains one of pop music’s highest-profile feuds. After the much-loved Britpop band split up in 2009, the Mancunian brothers became estranged, sharing semi-frequent barbs at each other in the press and on social media. Despite this, fans have never given up hope for an unlikely reunion – and it seems more likely now than ever.
Noel and Liam Gallagher were at the forefront of the 1990s Britpop phenomenon
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One Direction
Ever since Zayn Malik left One Direction in 2015, fans speculated about the exact nature of the singer’s relationship with his bandmates. Appearing on YouTuber Logan Paul’s podcast last year, Liam Payne appeared to pour oil on rumours of a feud, claiming that there were “many reasons why I dislike Zayn”. He later apologised but the shot was already fired.
Pink Floyd
The statement from Polly Samson is just the latest in a long string of disparaging remarks shared between Pink Floyd’s former collaborators. After Waters quit the group in 1985, he unsuccessfully vied to get the band to cease operating under the Pink Floyd name – beginning a cycle of animosity that would last for four decades, and that would endure despite a one-off 2005 reunion.
Roger Waters says David Gilmour ‘thinks he owns Pink Floyd’
Simon and Garfunkel
A double act for the ages, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel helped define the sound of the 1960s with a run of sweet-sounding folk-rock hits. After Simon separated in 1970 to pursue a (rather illustrious) solo career, the feuding pair did reform several times, including for a famous 1981 concert in Central Park. It wasn’t all bridges over troubled water, however – their most recent reunion, in 2010, was marred by animosity, as Simon accused Garfunkel of neglecting to inform him of vocal issues.
Simon and Garfukel perform in 1966
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The Smiths
Between Johnny Marr’s transcendent guitar playing and Morrissey’s maudlin crooning, The Smiths were always something of an eclectic mix. Since the band’s break-up in 1987, however, Morrissey and Marr have only grown further apart, and have continued to trade angry words in the press. Don’t bet on a BST reunion gig any time soon.
Yes
When Yes singer Jon Anderson suffered health issues in 2008, the prog rock band recruited tribute singer Benoit David to keep the tour going. In retaliation, Anderson started a new group with two other ex-Yes bandmates – Trevor Rabin and Rick Wakeman. At one point, two versions of the band were touring at once, with one being rather cumbersomely named Yes Featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman.
