We all enjoy listening to music by our favorite musicians and artists and it doesn’t matter if we’re upset or joyful, music is always there to make us feel amazing and forget our hard day’s work and troubles. But, do we really know what the story behind the music is? So, before you search for concert tickets to your favorite band and artist, here are some of the juicier and memorable rivalries in the world of music that you will never forget, to make your music experience more interesting…

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5. Smashing Pumpkins vs. Pavement

Pavement is probably one of the most influential groups you’ve never heard of when it comes to post-punk. The feud with the Smashing Pumpkins began in the release of the 1994 single “Range Life” where Stephen Malkmus the vocalist sang “Out on tour with the Smashing Pumpkins/Nature Kids, but they don’t have no function/I don’t understand what they mean and I could really give a fuck”. Malkmus claimed over and over again that the song was from a fictional viewpoint but that did not calm things down as Smashing Pumpkins member Billy Corgan even threatened to pull out of the Lollapalooza festival in 1994 if they had to share the stage with Pavement. To this day Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan didn’t forgive about this incident and in an interview to Time Out New York he said that Range Life became an anthem for every guy with a fucking beard. I guess we won’t see kisses and hugs in the near future between these two.

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4. Guns N’ Roses vs. Nirvana

In the early 90s’ both Nirvana and Guns N’ Roses were huge and successful bands yet seemed on the opposite sides of rock music. It was a good time for both bands as Axl Rose hadn’t started to fight with everyone and Kurt Cobain was…well…still alive and in the prime of his music career. I guess someone had to fill the gap between Nirvana and Guns N’ Roses so Nirvana were invited to tour with the Guns. Things took a wrong turn when Nirvana refused to come and tour with Guns N’ Roses and if that’s not enough even added an insult to injury when Kurt Cobain said in an interview he gave that Guns N’ Roses writes crap music. Axl being a kind and loving person he is threatened to take Cobain to the pavement and even invited Duff McKagan to join this fight. Kurt Cobain laughed at this by saying he was never in such a situation since the 6th grade and this bad blood between the two remained up to Cobain’s death when he constantly handled the matter well and calmly while Axl was always angry and tried to start a fight. Huge surprise, ah?

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3. Blur vs. Oasis

When brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher didn’t fight each other, they were happy to start a fight with someone else and this was the case that started the rivalry and feud between Oasis and Blur. The two labels of both bands decided to release both Blur’s “Country House” single and Oasis’ “Roll With It” single at the same day as a marketing stunt and the media was all over it. What’s so wrong with it you may ask? Well, I guess Noel Gallagher’s statement that the hoped Blur’s member Albarn catch AIDS and die did not help much and the rivalry was on. In “The Battle of Britpop”, it was Oasis who represented Northern England and Blur represented Southern England. Oasis were considered more of a working class laborer while Blur were considered middle-class intellectual. Blur’s “Country House” sold more copies than Oasis’ “Roll With It” yet Oasis were more successful commercially. This feud as you can see goes on and on and critics claim that Blur had won the battle but lost the war. Nevertheless, these are both great bands that will ever hate each other, I’m just glad their music is superb.

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2. Red Hot Chili Peppers vs. Mr. Bungle

Mike Patton is known by several things among them his amazing vocal range, his efforts to blend genres and his feud and rivalry with the Red Hot Chili peppers and especially with Peppers’ Anthony Kiedis. This feud began when the video clip “Epic” by Faith No More was released when Patton is seen wearing dumb clothes, dancing like a crazy person and rapping to funk-metal music. Kiedis from Peppers was under the impression that his own band had invented this all act and thus accused FNM and Patton for plagiarism. Years later Mr. Bungle who was Patton’s project released an album called “California” which has a slight conflict with Peppers’ album “Californication” given they have almost the same album name, and the last straw in this feud was when Mr. Bungle was preparing to tour in Europe only to find out that the Red Hot Chili Peppers refused to play shows where Mr. Bungle would appear as well, thus by this decision and act blocking them to perform in a number of major venues. Patton and company did not sit quiet and took their revenge as at their next show, as they went on stage wearing white briefs and performed twisted covers of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ hits, all this while Mike Patton bounced on stage on lunged around it pretending to shoot heroin and acting like a goon. What do you say? Any chance someone will call the other and declare truce?

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1. 2Pac vs. Biggie Smalls

Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G were two great and talented rappers in the mid-90s’, both ending their lives in a tragic way. Maybe one of the biggest feuds and rivalries in the world of music is between the East Coast and West Coast and these two took part in this never ending rivalry until their deaths in mysterious circumstances. Bad Boys Records from New York City had a huge beef with Death Row Records from Los Angeles because they took most of the media’s attention at that time, which led 2Pac and Biggie to trash each other on and off their albums being the headliners of the 2 labels. So the rivalry goes on as 2Pac claimed that Biggie and Sean “not nearly as good of a rapper as his friend” Combs engineered an armed robbery in a recording studio in New York City where 2Pac was shot 5 times. This feud got worse when a friend of 2Pac’s was shot at a party that took place in Atlanta just before the release of Biggie’s single “Who Shot Ya”. Sources claimed that Biggie was working on the song before the incident but 2Pac did not believe this was any coincidence. Both rappers began trashing each other in their albums and it was even said that Biggie was preparing a full album to trash 2Pac when the other was shot to death in his car. Call it irony, faith or a big and never ending rivalry but only 6 months later, Biggie himself died in a similar way. Media claimed there was a criminal connection between the 2 labels and that the deaths of both Biggie and 2Pac were a result of targeted assassinations. We can only hope that this East Coast-West Coast rivalry will find its’ way to end soon.

As you can see, the music business has a lot of feuds and rivalries with some more intense than others but indeed this makes your next listening or experiencing your favorite musician live more interesting, knowing the story behind the scenes and what some of the song are about. Now it’s time to compare concert ticket prices, find the deal that suits you the best and enjoy a great concert as you’ve just learned about some of the biggest and famous rivalries you will never forget in the world of music.