It’s heartwarming when iconic musicians lift up the next generation of performers, like how Paul McCartney has shown his support for Beyoncé and Taylor Swift. Unfortunately, not every seasoned artist is so kind to the next generation of artists.
Here are 14 times iconic musicians insulted newer artists completely out of the blue:
1.
During a 2024 Foo Fighters concert, Dave Grohl seemingly insinuated Taylor Swift doesn’t play live. He said, “So we like to call our tour the ‘Errors Tour.’ We’ve had more than a few eras and more than a few fucking errors as well. Just a couple. That’s because we actually play live.”
The following day, Taylor appeared to respond subtly. Onstage in London, she said, “Every one of my band members, every single one of our crew, my band — who’s gonna be playing live for you for three and a half hours tonight — they deserve this so much.”
2.
During a 2023 appearance on The Joe Pags Show podcast, Ted Nugent said, “So I’m afraid to say in this world that’s gone down the toilet in all aspects, I’m afraid the success of Taylor Swift — and again, God bless her work ethic, God bless her musical dreams — but that’s cartoon music.”
In response, Taylor quote tweeted the LA Times’ post, tagged Damon, and said, “I was such a big fan of yours until I saw this. I write ALL of my own songs. Your hot take is completely false and SO damaging.”
4.
On a 2023 episode of her podcast Miss Me?, Lily Allen criticized Beyoncé’s foray into country music — specifically her cover of “Jolene” by Dolly Parton. Lily said, “It’s quite an interesting thing to do when you’re trying to tackle a new genre, and you just choose the biggest song in that genre to cover. I mean, you do you, Beyoncé. And she literally is doing her — or is she doing Dolly?”
5.
In 2017, Carlos Santana told the Australian Associated Press, “I think that Adele won [Album of the Year at the Grammys] because she can sing sing. With all respect to our sister Beyoncé, Beyoncé is very beautiful to look at, and it’s more like modeling kind of music — music to model a dress — she’s not a singer singer, with all respect to her.”
Following backlash, he apologized via Facebook, writing, “My intent was to congratulate Adele on her amazing night at the Grammies. My comment about Beyoncé was regretfully taken out of context. I have the utmost respect for her as an artist and a person.”
6.
On her BBC Radio 6 Music show Courtney Love’s Women in 2024, Courtney Love shaded several of her peers. Per the Standard, she said, “It’s great that there are so many successful women in the music industry, but lots of them are becoming a cliché. Now, every successful woman is cloned, so there is just too much music. They’re all the same.”
She specifically singled out Beyoncé. She said, “I mean, I like the idea of Beyoncé doing a country record because it’s about Black women going into spaces where previously only white women have been allowed. As a concept, I love it. I just don’t like her music.”
At a later point in the series, Courtney criticized Taylor Swift. She said, “Taylor is not important. She might be a safe space for girls, and she’s probably the Madonna of now, but she’s not interesting as an artist.”
And she shaded Lana Del Rey. She said, “I haven’t liked Lana since she covered a John Denver song, and I think she should really take seven years off. Up until ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads,’ I thought she was great. When I was recording my new album, I had to stop listening to her, as she was influencing me too much.”
7.
In a since-deleted 2021 Instagram post, Courtney Love accused Oliva Rodrigo of copying Hole’s Live Through This cover for her virtual concert SOUR Prom. Sharing Olivia’s promo image, Courtney added the caption, “Spot the difference! #twinning!”
Olivia commented, “love u and live through this sooooo much.”
8.
In 2010, Mark E. Smith of The Fall insulted Mumford & Sons. He told Braag magazine, “We were playing a festival in Dublin the other week. There was this other group, like, warming up in the next sort of chalet, and they were terrible. I said, ‘Shut them cunts up!’ And they were still warming up, so I threw a bottle at them. The bands said, ‘That’s the Sons of Mumford’ or something. ‘They’re number five in charts!'”
9.
In 1991, Cher told CBS’s Steve Kmetko, “There are lots of things that I respect about [Madonna]. I think that she knows how to work the business like nobody I’ve ever seen before…And there’s something about her that I don’t like. She’s mean. I don’t like that.”
10.
In 2012, Madonna criticized Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” insinuating it was too similar to her song “Express Yourself.” She told ABC News, “It feels reductive.”
11.
In 2008, Noel Gallagher told Time Out Chicago, “The worst thing about [the Kaiser Chiefs] is that they’re not very good. They play dress-up and sit on top an apex of meaninglessness. They don’t mean anything to anybody apart from their fucking ugly girlfriends.”
During a 2009 press stop, guitarist Andrew White reportedly said, “We have no time for him. Music is an art but he doesn’t appreciate music for what it is. He started it. It shows what a bitter old man he has become.”
12.
In 2015, Noel Gallagher negatively reacted to Ed Sheeran playing three shows at London’s Wembley Stadium. He told NME, “I don’t think I can live in a world where that’s even possible. When you hear that kind of polished pop, and then there’s a ginger guy with a fucking guitar, it seems subversive, but it’s fucking not.”
In a since-deleted tweet, Ed responded, “I can live in it, it’s really enjoyable.”
13.
During a 2020 appearance on The Matt Morgan Podcast, Noel Gallagher insulted Taylor Swift and her popularity. He said, “Music now is style over substance. I find that these young people in the music game – they fucking look great, they’ve all got tattoos and the image and all that fucking bollocks, but really they’re just shit, they’re not saying anything. The biggest-selling acts are shit, whereas when I was growing up, the biggest-selling acts were the best acts. The biggest band in the world was usually the best band in the world. Now the biggest thing in the world is fucking Taylor Swift. What?! Fuck off.”
Noel also insulted Ed Sheeran once again. He said, “There’ll never be another David Bowie, there’ll never be another Marc Bolan, there’ll never be another Freddie Mercury, proper rock stars. I don’t consider myself a rock star; I’m more of a songwriter/grafter; I mean proper flamboyant rock stars. There’ll never be people like that because musicians will never make that kind of money, and the ones that do, like Ed Sheeran, fucking whatever. There’ll be no more private jets or David Bowie rocking into King’s Cross Station dressed as a Nazi. They’ll be none of that anymore because people will be cowed by social media.”
14.
And finally, after Little Mix won Best Group at the 2021 BRIT Awards, Noel Gallagher reportedly told the Sun, “Little Mix, with the greatest respect, are not in the same league as Oasis. Not even in the same fucking sport.”
Responding on an episode of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Little Mix member Jade Thirlwall said, “[Noel said] something about that we were undeserving of the Brit Award because we’re women and don’t…well, we do write music, but he thinks we don’t write music. Yeah, shame, really. Because you know, we are definitely the most successful girl group in the country, but he’s not even the most successful performer in his family.”