THE music industry is known for making people who are already dickheads worse. But these artists were so egotistical or strange it’s a wonder they managed to make any music together…
The Police
A self-proclaimed ‘benign dictator’, Sting was a control freak who dismissed his bandmates’ ideas and jealously guarded his songwriting royalties. It’s no wonder Stewart Copeland stuck photos of the singer’s face on his drums. Was nine years of fighting really worth five decent tunes and the dubious achievement of rhyming ‘cough’ with ‘that book by Nabokov’?
The Who
Roger Daltrey is now an old man with dubious political views, raging at everything from Me Too to ‘mass immigration’. Which is a shame because back in the 60s he was a young man with dubious political views as well. Meanwhile, Pete Townshend is a miserable bastard who once got embroiled in a weird child porn controversy, which did actually appear to be him ‘collecting evidence’ in a mad way. Add in John Entwistle’s vast booze and coke intake and Keith Moon’s all-purpose lunacy, and it’s not really a recipe for harmony.
Cream
Ginger Baker’s supernatural sense of rhythm was equalled only by his colossal temper. Audiences didn’t know whether he was going to launch into a lengthy drum solo or a knife fight with equally fiery bassist Jack Bruce. Poor Eric Clapton, caught in the middle when he was just trying to play virtuoso licks and think racist thoughts.
Pink Floyd
In the red corner, Roger Waters, a misanthrope and Putin apologist who turned Pink Floyd’s eclectic musical career into a tedious dead-dad show. In the blue corner, David Gilmour, a guitar nerd more interested in modal scales than people. They both hated Nick Mason, who was too obsessed with classic cars to bother to learn to play the drums properly.
Oasis
Neither Gallagher brother had enough talent to make it on their own, so they needed each other, and that made them loathe each other. Sadly Noel didn’t have the charisma or the looks to make it as a frontman, and Liam wouldn’t have anything to sing if not for his brother’s uncanny ability to nick riffs and lyrics when nobody was looking. Let’s just be thankful he only ‘borrowed’ from Cliff Richard’s Devil Woman and not Congratulations.
The Beach Boys
Mainly associated with sunny anthems and beautiful love songs, the Beach Boys had their fair share of personal hatred. If members weren’t driven mad by the constant references to surfing and girls, they were concerned about Brian Wilson’s increasingly experimental musical direction. Mike Love was especially angry when cash cow Brian stopped writing the hits, on one occasion attacking him onstage with a piano stool. It’s sad it came to that when he could have made his point better with a surfboard.
