Vs: 2011's Biggest Beefs

posted in: Features

All month long you’ve been bombarded with year-end lists ranking the best albums of the year, songs of the year and the like. Here at Vs., however, we decided to give you a more unique year-end list; the year’s biggest music beefs. Feuding musicians is nothing new to rock and roll, but the advent of the Internet and sites like Twitter give artists an easy platform to take shots at each other”and we get to watch it all happen in real time. So without further ado, the music world’s biggest beefs of 2011:

4. Bon Iver vs. The Avalanches

This one all started back in February, when The New York Times held an interview with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. There was an unpublished excerpt in the interview regarding the GRAMMYs, where Vernon called them “ridiculous” and “not important,” and also slammed any artist who was hoping to win a GRAMMY. But after Bon Iver was nominated for four GRAMMY awards, the unpublished excerpts leaked online. Electronic group The Avalanches took offense to these comments, especially since Vernon is appearing in ads for Bushmills whiskey. The band said via Twitter, “a musicians ˜art is compromised’ if he/she desires a grammy .but endor$ing a product with proven devastating health risks is ok? a product which kills 100k p/a in the US alone..man kids look up to you. #rememberwhenitwascoolNOTtosellout.” While the Avalanches do bring up some good points about the dangers of alcohol and how Vernon’s appearance in the ads might possibly affect the younger members of his fan base, their comments about selling out seem a bit over dramatic. With record sales dwindling it’s become common practice for indie artists to license their music for advertisements in order to make a living. Artists like The Black Keys, Vampire Weekend and countless others have done so in recent years while maintaining their artistic integrity. Our advice to the Avalanches? Quit trying to pick fights with other bands and finish your second album already! We’ve only been waiting eleven years….

3. Tyler, the Creator vs. Tegan and Sara

If you’ve been following music blogs this year then you’ve undoubtably heard of Tyler, the Creator and his group Odd Future. They began building an underground following late last year, but they burst into the mainstream consciousness when Tyler dropped the video for his song “Yonkers” in February. Thirty million YouTube hits later and the group has become one of 2011’s biggest success stories. However, the group’s controversial lyrics”which could be perceived as homophobic and misogynistic”have not gone over too well with some people, most notably indie pop group Tegan and Sara. The group posted “A Call For Change” on their Web site, calling out Tyler for his lyrical content and criticizing the media for their coverage of him. However, Tyler has repeatedly stated that he is not homophobic or misogynistic. In fact, one of Odd Future’s members, Syd that Kid, is actually a lesbian. And didn’t we go through this exact same song and dance with Eminem a decade ago? If Tyler’s looking for an image makeover, maybe he should see if Elton John is looking to do any more duets with rappers. It worked for Em.

2. Madonna vs. Hydrangeas

What does Madonna have against hydrangeas? Perhaps she was a lesser flower in a past life and is subconsciously jealous of them? Maybe she just doesn’t like old people? All we know is that since she is playing this year’s Superbowl halftime show, Lucas Oil Stadium should just ban hydrangeas at the door. You thought Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” was bad? There’s no telling what could happen on the nation’s most watched television event if Madonna comes within 100 yards of a hydrangea.

1. Noel vs. Liam Gallagher

Ah, the brothers Gallagher. These two have been feuding since their days in Oasis in the ’90s, but they took it to a whole new level in 2011. In August, Liam revealed that he was suing Noel over comments he made regarding the band pulling out of their headlining slot at the 2009 V Festival. In a press conference, Noel claimed that the band did not perform because Liam was hungover. However, Liam denied this and said that the reason the band pulled out of the festival was because he had laryngitis, diagnosed by a doctor. Liam stated that he was offended by these remarks because they questioned his professionalism, and that all he wanted was an apology and he would drop the lawsuit. Noel begrudgingly apologized, and Liam dropped the lawsuit. But not so fast. A few months later, court documents filed by Noel accused Liam of leaving abusive voicemails on his wife’s phone, as well as trying to attack him with a guitar. After hearing of this, Liam resumed the original lawsuit against his brother. And when the brothers weren’t feuding with each other, they were picking fights with anyone and everyone. Among many other things, Liam told Radiohead to “go f**k themselves,” while Noel called out an entire genre of music, saying “any f**ker can make dance music now.” While we probably won’t see the Oasis reunion that fans are clamoring for anytime soon, at least we’re still getting endlessly quotable rants and tirades from the Gallagher brothers. That (almost) makes up for it.

Know of any other musician beefs we missed? Let us know in the comments!