Diss tracks go beyond rap: Some of the most memorable battles date back more than 50 years

The dust appears to have settled on the great rap feud of 2024 as neither Kendrick Lamar nor Drake have released new tracks since the latter's apparent white flag, "The Heart Pt. 6," on Sunday.

The lyrical fight saw six songs in which Drake alleged Lamar committed domestic violence and Lamar alleged that Drake is a pedophile, on top of questioning the authenticity of his use of Black culture.

The fast pace and salacious nature of the feud lead to an explosion of chatter on social media (to say nothing of the clarion call of haters that is the "BBL Drizzy" beat by Metro Boomin) leading one commentor to wonder if musical beef would be as prominent in genres outside of rap.

While the direct nature of the genre - as well as real life impacts of some beefs, including the deaths of Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur during the East Coast/West Coast beef of the 1990’s - may lead some to think that rap is the best venue for lyrical hate, diss tracks have been dropped in all sections of the record store. 

Beef has long been on the menu for musicians as singers and songwriters have used their art to disrespect others since the rise of popular music.

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Here are some of the best beefs outside of rap.

Post-hardcore hate: Taking Back Sunday vs Brand New

If you're ever unsure why two men have a beef, an easy guess is that it's over a girl.

That was the case when mid-2000's rock bands Taking Back Sunday and Brand New.

Bassist Jesse Lacey left Taking Back Sunday in when he found out that front man John Nolan had hooked up with his girlfriend, according to Far Out magazine.

Lacey created Brand New and wrote a song, "Seventy Times 7," directly referencing the incident and wishing death upon Nolan in multiple ways. Taking Back Sunday responded in their debut album with the song "There’s No ‘I’ In Team" with the lyrics:

And I've got a twenty dollar billThat says you're up late night startingFist fights versus fences in your backyardWearing your black eye like a badge of honorSoaking in sympathy from friends who never loved youNearly half as much as me

While the two bands toured in 2002 there was still fire in the feud.

"I think Jesse Lacey is just a (expletive)," Lazzara told OC Weekly in 2015. "He just sucks. He's not a good person."

Britpop brio: Blur vs. Oasis

In 1995, British bands Blur and Oasis were both successful, but their amiability eroded when Blur moved the August release of single "Country House," to the same date as the new Oasis single "Roll With It."

Band members had traded words in the past. And apparently the band's respective frontmen Damon Albarn (Blur) and Liam Gallahger (Oasis) had eyes for the same woman.

Blur's single nabbed the No. 1 spot Oasis wanted, but the Oasis album "(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?" became the bigger hit in the U.K. and the U.S. As the bands toiled away over the ensuing months, the music media built the clash of the bands akin to the Beatles-Stones rivalry – if mainly as a way to sell more magazines.

While many still debate the best Britpop band – some others argue for Pulp and Suede – Albarn and Oasis co-founder/guitarist/lyricist Noel Gallager (Liam's brother) co-wrote a song "We Got the Power" on the 2017 album "Humanz" from the virtual band Gorillaz, co-created by Albarn.

'Southern' strife between Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd

First, Neil Young put out the song "Southern Man," on 1970's "After the Gold Rush," in which he declared: "Southern change gonna come at last. Now your crosses are burning fast."

Then he included another protest song, "Alabama," on his 1972 "Harvest" album, asking, "See all this ruin, what are you doing?"

But Southern band Lynyrd Skynyrd wasn't having it. Ronnie Van Zant, the band's founding member and lead singer – he would famously die in the 1977 plane crash that also claimed band members Steve Gaines and Cassie Gaines – name-checked Young in the lyrics for "Sweet Home Alabama," which went on to become the band's biggest hit.

Well, I heard Mister Young sing about herWell, I heard ol' Neil put her downWell, I hope Neil Young will rememberA Southern man don't need him around, anyhow

Years later, Young wrote in his 2012 autobiography "Waging Heavy Peace," that he "deserved the shot" about "Alabama" from Skynyrd and said, "I don't like my words when I listen to it today. They are accusatory and condescending."

A beef between Beatles: John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Lennon criticized McCartney's self-titled solo debut, released in April 1970 – the same month the Beatles broke up – calling it "rubbish," in a December 1970 interview with Rolling Stone. But he deemed George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass," triple-disc debut "pretty bloody good."

Lennon also sang "I don't believe in Beatles," in the song "God," from the Plastic Ono album (1970). But the next year, he tossed out "How Do You Sleep?" a song on his 1971 "Imagine" album, which declared: "The only thing you done was yesterday/ And since you’ve gone you’re just another day," suggesting the McCartney classic "Yesterday" was his sole high point and that "Another Day," a 1971 McCartney single, was drivel.

“It was the 1970s equivalent of what we might today call a ‘diss track.’ Songs like this, where you’re calling someone out on their behavior, are quite commonplace now, but back then it was a fairly new ‘genre'," McCartney wrote in his book, The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present.

McCartney had responded to the earlier diss with the 1971 song “Too Many People,” singing, "That was your first mistake/ You took your lucky break and broke it in two/ Now what can be done for you?"

But he didn't publicly fire back at Lennon's next recorded salvo, seeking to avoid escalation. Ironically, he already had a response of a different kind with the song "Dear Friend," found on the 1971 Wings' album "Ram."

"So after John had slagged me off in public I had to think of a response, and it was either going to be to slag him off in public – and some instinct stopped me, which I’m really glad about – or do something else," McCartney said in an interview. "So I worked on my attitude and wrote 'Dear Friend,' saying, in effect, let’s lay the guns down, let’s hang up our boxing gloves."

The two made up as they became fathers and before Lennon's death, notes American Songwriter magazine. McCartney described their last get-together as "very friendly. We talked about how to bake bread.”

A feud in the '40s: Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra

Sinatra, a dozen years younger than Crosby, was inspired by the crooner and as his star rose, the media attempted to create a tiff between the two in the 1940s.

During the "phony and entertaining rivalry" the two would trade some slams often on radio broadcasts, Jazziz magazine notes. "The two would trade some childish insults, with Crosby calling Sinatra a loser, and Sinatra reminding the audience about Crosby’s receding hairline."

But the two would often perform together including on this episode of The Frank Sinatra Timex Show in 1959.

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