Inside the world’s greatest music feuds

Taylor Swift shocked the world when she reignited an old feud in her new album, taking a savage swipe at Kim Kardashian. But it pales compared to other famous pop beefs.

Taylor Swift shocked the pop world when she reignited her feud with Kim Kardashian in the middle of all her post break-up emotional turmoil on The Tortured Poets Departments.

She made it abundantly clear thanK you aIMee was another shot at her nemesis with the song title’s capped letters.

The lyrics of another album track Cassandra also appear to reference their public spat over that video Kardashian claimed proved Swift gave Kanye West her blessing over namechecking her in his controversial track Famous.

Many fans were puzzled as to why Swift decided to have another shot at Kardashian among the tracks inspired by her beaus Joe Alwyn, Matty Healy and Travis Kelce but everyone else is loving the melodrama.

Here are some of the other great pop beefs which have kept us as entertained.

THE GALLAGHERS

Noel Gallagher (left) and Liam Gallagher (right) had an epic spat. Picture: Getty Images

The epic sledge war between Oasis brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher has been the most enduring and entertaining rock spat since the mid 1990s.

Their volatile relationship on stage moved into the media for the next 15 years after the band split in 2009.

The siblings have given us such gems as Noel on Liam: “He’s like a man with a fork, in a world of soup.”

And Liam’s critique of his brother’s album Who Built The Moon? on its release in 2017: “Psychedelic music by a beige drip is like a vegetarian trying to sell you a kebab.”

The sledgefest has simmered down in recent months, once again fuelling the fans’ fervour for an Oasis reunion, particularly in light of their debut record Definitely Maybe turning 30 this year.

SILVERCHAIR

Australian band Silverchair had a tumultuous ride. Picture: Eleven Music

Daniel Johns and his bandmates Ben Gillies and Chris Joannou spilled all of the tea about Silverchair’s tumultuous ride and bust-up with their explosive series of tell-alls over the past two and a half years.

Johns kicked off the brutal truthtelling of the band’s split, from his perspective, and his fractious relationship with drummer Gillies, via a podcast and web docuseries.

“I wouldn’t even get Silverchair back together for a million dollars with a gun to my head,” Johns said on a podcast episode.

Gillies and Joannou offered their side of the story with their joint book Love & Pain, also confirming a band reunion was impossible because of the three musicians’ fractured friendship.

In the book, they said they were deeply hurt by their former bandmate’s “vitriol”.

“No one’s holding a gun to anyone’s head,” they wrote.“

There’s a vitriol to Dan’s words. They sting. We’re hurt, but we can’t show it. We don’t want to fan the flames, don’t want to stir the pot, don’t want to tarnish the legacy of the band we all love,” the pair wrote.

ALL OF THE RAPPERS

Kendrick Lamar isn’t afraid to throw shade. Picture: Getty Images

Beef is at the heart of hip hop lore. From Tupac vs. Biggie to Nas vs. Jay-Z, rappers have spun the art of the sledge into cash with hit diss tracks.

The latest money-spinning song battle features three of the biggest hip hop stars of their generation – Drake, Kendrick Lamar and J Cole.

It erupted after a seemingly innocuous verse from Cole in the chart-topping First Person Shooter from Drake’s For All Of The Dogs released last October, which declared the trio the “big three” of the current era of hip hop.

Lamar took exception to being co-opted into a trio. When Future and Metro Boomin’ released their We Don’t Trust You in March, there was a hidden track Like That with an uncredited verse from the Humble rapper declaring there’s no “big three – it’s just big me”.

Both Drake and Cole have fired return shots via new tracks and the battle of egos continues.

OLIVIA RODRIGO’S ‘GRUDGE’

Olivia Rodrigo also has a bone to pick with Taylor Swift. Picture: Getty Images

This may be more fan fiction than fact. But fans have been lyrics-diving to point to a simmering feud between the Vampire star and her idol Taylor Swift.

They are convinced Rodrigo’s hero worship of Swift may have been tarnished when she was forced to give her idol retrospective writer credits and royalties on her song Deja Vu after she remarked she had been inspired by Cruel Summer in a Rolling Stone interview.

Her fans immediately suggested the single Vampire was about Swift. And when the Guts album dropped, they cited The Grudge, as “absolutely” being about Swift.

Their evidence included the lyric “You have everything and you still want more.”

In a twist of the master now perhaps “borrowing” from the apprentice, fans have noted the stylistic similarities between Swift’s new song imgonnagetyouback and Rodrigo’s Get Him Back!

HALL AND OATES

Daryl Hall and John Oates are embroiled in a legal battle. Picture: Supplied

The hit-making pop duo Hall & Oates have been embroiled in a legal battle which became public last year when Daryl Hall filed a lawsuit and restraining order in a Nashville court against John Oates.

In the dispute, Hall alleges Oates’ plan to sell his share of the pair’s songwriting publishing to Primary Wave was in breach of longstanding agreements between them and the “ultimate partnership betrayal.”

Oates responded that his former bandmate’s suit was “inflammatory, outlandish and inaccurate.”

“Over the years, Daryl has consistently and publicly been adamant about being perceived as an individual rather than as part of a duo or group,” he said in his filing.

Originally published as Inside the world’s greatest music feuds