Random Rules Playlist 027: 50 Great Rock/Pop Diss Tracks
For those of you who think "Beefs don't work in any other genre"
With the Kendrick / Drake beef completely taking over the internet over the past week, there have been some interesting side conversations happening. One line of thinking is that the whole rap battle has been bad for the culture. I happen to disagree with Vince Staples’ take, primarily because I am convinced that Drake definitely had it coming. The tweet above is the one I want to address with this playlist. First of all, the “diss track” actually pre-dates the invention of hip hop. Widely considered to be the first diss song, “You Keep Her” by Joe Tex was released in 1963 and aimed at James Brown, who apparently had stolen Joe’s woman. I have included that song on the top 50 playlist here, as well as some other 60s / 70s classic beefs as well as some classic punk and post-punk diss tracks and some more recent feuds like The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, who had an entire rock doc made about their ongoing beef.
I didn’t set out to make a definitive list here, btw - I always try to make these playlists as listenable as possible so just keep that in mind when you’re looking over the track list. That being said, I would like to hear from you if you think I’ve left out any essential tracks.
Random Rules Playlist 027: 50 Great Rock/Pop Diss Tracks
R.E.M. - “The Wake-Up Bomb”
TARGET: Oasis
Sebadoh - “The Freed Pig”
TARGET: J Mascis
The Breeders - “I Just Wanna Get Along”
TARGET: Frank Black
Blur - “Charmless Man”
TARGET: Brett Anderson of The London Suede
Spoon - “The Agony of Laffitte”
TARGET: Their former A&R man
David Bowie - “Teenage Wildlife”
TARGET: Gary Numan
The Dandy Warhols - “Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth”
TARGET: The Brian Jonestown Massacre
The Brian Jonestown Massacre - “Not If You Were The Last Dandy On Earth”
TARGET: The Dandy Warhols
The Records - “Starry Eyes”
TARGET: Their former manager who quit mid-tour and went on vacation
Pavement - “Range Life”
TARGETS: Smashing Pumpkins, Stone Temple Pilots
Paul & Linda McCartney - “Too Many People”
TARGET: John Lennon
John Lennon - “How Do You Sleep?”
TARGET: Paul McCartney
George Harrison - “Run Of The Mill”
TARGET: Paul McCartney
King Crimson - “Happy Family”
TARGET: The Beatles
Phoebe Bridgers - “Motion Sickness”
TARGET: Ryan Adams
Felt - “Ballad Of The Band”
TARGET: former Felt guitarist Maurice Deebank
Brian Eno - “Dead Finks Don’t Talk”
TARGET: Bryan Ferry
Le Tigre - “Deceptacon”
TARGET: NOFX
Nine Inch Nails - “Starfuckers, Inc.”
TARGETS: Marilyn Manson, Courtney Love
Sex Pistols - “New York”
TARGET: New York Dolls
The Clash - “(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais”
TARGETS: The Jam, among others (the entire punk scene?)
The Jam - “All Around The World”
TARGET: The Clash
Scritti Politti - “Skank Bloc Bologna”
TARGET: The Clash
Mekons - “Never Been In A Riot”
TARGET: The Clash
Queen - “Death On Two Legs”
TARGET: a former manager
XTC - “I Bought Myself A Liarbird”
TARGET: a former manager
Half Man Half Biscuit - “Shit Arm, Bad Tattoo”
TARGET: The Libertines
Joe Tex - “You Keep Her”
TARGET: James Brown
Nina Simone - “Revolution Pts 1 and 2”
TARGET: The Beatles
Fleetwood Mac - “Silver Springs”
TARGET: Lindsey Buckingham
Black Flag - “My War”
TARGET: Greg Ginn
Bob Dylan - “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”
TARGET: The Byrds (allegedly)
Foo Fighters - “Stacked Actors”
TARGET: Courtney Love
The Replacements - “Somethin to Dü”
TARGET: Hüsker Dü
Prefab Sprout - “Cars and Girls”
TARGET: Bruce Springsteen (allegedly!)
The Damned - “Idiot Box”
TARGET: Television (the band)
Sonic Youth - “Kool Thing”
TARGET: LL Cool J
Pet Shop Boys - “Miserablism”
TARGET: Morrissey (allegedly!)
Morrissey - “We Hate It When Our Friends Become Famous”
TARGET: James (the band)
Neil Young - “Walk On”
TARGET: Lynyrd Skynyrd
Black Flag - “You Bet We’ve Got Something Against You”
TARGET: Keith Morris / Circle Jerks
The Dead Milkmen - “Instant Club Hit (You’ll Dance To Anything)”
TARGET: Everyone at goth night at the dance club
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - “Our Time”
TARGET: Literally every other band mentioned in Meet Me In The Bathroom
Quasi - “The Poisoned Well”
TARGET: Elliott Smith
Elliott Smith - “Almost Over”
TARGET: Everyone else in Heatmiser (allegedly!)
Jenny Lewis - “On The Line”
TARGET: Jonathan Rice
PJ Harvey - “Rid of Me”
TARGET: Nick Cave
Lush - “Ladykillers”
TARGETS: Anthony Kiedis (RHCP) and Matt Sharp (Weezer)
Oasis - “I’m Outta Time”
TARGET: Noel Gallagher
Joan Baez - “Diamonds and Rust”
TARGET: Bob Dylan
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one of my personal favorite one-sided beefs: chicago thrash band oozing wound wrote this track after seeing julian casablancas and the voidz perform at the venue they work at:
https://oozingwound.bandcamp.com/track/tween-shitbag
Well, you did it. This is way more than I ever thought was out there, so I’m very impressed!