best/worst rock "diss tracks"

Rock music doesn't seem to do diss tracks real well, and they're not as common these days, but they exist,and are often awkwar and or funny.

Good: live version of Misfits "Teenagers from Mars" where Danzig replaces "I ain't no goddamn son of a bitch" to "Bobby Steele is an asshole fuckin' cunt".

Bad: Guns 'n Roses "Get in the Ring", and that Sevendust's "Enemy"...too jockish playground bullshit.

Compile a list of best and worst, this would make for a killer mix cd-r

Err sorry, that's "Where Eagles Dare", not "Teenagers from Mars"

Nope I was right the first time, "Teenagers from Mars", tho the lyrics I quoted are from When Eagles Dare...gah Mondays

This Note's For You by Neil Young is a winner if that.. counts?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPFeARSB4-I

"Those freaks was right when they said you was dead"

TEARS FOR FEARS BEEF:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQCA1xG30kQ

love How Do You Sleep...but I'm a huge Lennon stan

Neil Young's "Thrasher" could be interpreted as slagging on CS&N albeit in a poetic way.

"Positively 4th Street" is a pretty nasty set of disses sometimes figured towards certain elements of the NY Folk scene by Dylan.

"Southern Man" vs. "Sweet Home Alabama"
"Range Life"

Neil Young won the battle with Skynyrd imo

The Smiths 'Frankly Mr Shankly'

"A Punchup at a Wedding" is basically Thom Yorke going all nuts at a journalist who smashed one of RH's Oxford shows in his review

"I Killed Christgau With My Big Fucking Dick"

by Cocteau Twins

More Neil: "Cocaine Eyes" (Stills), "Hippie Dream" (Crosby)

On his blog, Tyler dreamed up the title "You Suck, Graham Nash!" to complete the trilogy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9CPr1D_4c4

Jerry Lee throws down

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obhxOsN4pLU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTUTAuO1N10

Charles Bronson- "Tony Victory Knows How to Party"

IF YOU TOLD ME YOU WERE DROWNING
I WOULD NOT LEND A HAND

for the win

0-o @ that Tears For Fears one. R.O. was a right tosser.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTDRd0Z0O4o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dtaBsZ3iKo

"I'll Stick Around" by the Foo Fighters. They took on the same target more directly years later, with "Stacked Actors".

Neil Young's "Thrasher" could be interpreted as slagging on CS&N albeit in a poetic way.

Could be?

Who is Reelin' in the Years a diss of?

IT(superfun)T I have learned I am woefully ignorant of rock beefs. I had no idea that most of these, besides the really obvious ones, were born of a diss.

Peter Hammill, "Famous Last Words":

"Famous last words,
to the last you'll self-serve,
what a waste of your breath. When you close your eyes will you pretend
that nothing bad has happened, that we are still close friends?
So many lies, after all the illusions are shattered
still at all costs you must hide
the emptiness where your true feelings used to reside."

Widely assumed to refer to his former VdGG colleague David Jackson, although Hammill's not saying.

Taylor Swift- Better Than Revenge, Dear John, etc.

Bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-Big Shot

2pac singles -- Every other city we go, every other vid-e-o, I see the same POLL

Has nobody mentioned "Idiot Wind" yet?

Idiot wind blowing through the flowers on your tomb
Blowing through the curtains in your room
Idiot wind blowing every time you move your teeth
You're an idiot babe
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um7kFyLmrQI

Lou Barlow having a dig at J. Mascis on 'The Freed Pig', opener of the (magnificent) 'III' album.

Are we talking about diss tracks aimed at other artists or famous people, or just tracks that are generally nasty towards an unnamed person? Because there are millions of the latter.

For instance, about half of the songs performed by female Country singers.

i think diss track generally means public attack on another musician or well known person

Thought so. I was just wondering who some of these songs were supposed to be about--"Idiot Wind" for instance.

Ditto.

How about the Go-Betweens "When She Sang About Angels" .... Robert Forster lays the smack down on Patti Smith.

Neil Young won the battle with Skynyrd imo

― aguirre, the wrath of frogbs (Neanderthal), Monday, June 20, 2011 11:08 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

Definitely not.

Skynyrd's response is "missing the point" defined, plus Sweet Home Alabama is the most annoying song ever

S'pose it's moot as Neil never reacted angrily to it and Van Zant and him remained friends after it

Neil vs. LS would have all taken place in one afternoon over Twitter today

Neil Young won, because all Skynyrd did was to go off and write and record a phenominally successful song.

Recount!

Anal Cunt to thread. Also, /thread

Who is Reelin' in the Years a diss of?
― kkvgz, Tuesday, June 21, 2011 8:20 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark

My fault, didn't quite understand the thread concept (i.e. fellow musicians, not just anonymous diss-ee's)

New Radicals - You Get What You Give

'Skynyrd's response is "missing the point" defined'

Pot calling kettle black here.

Oh really, Mr. Magoo, do enlighten me on the point I'm missing.

I was never looking at it from a sales, popularuty, or 'lasting legacy' perspective, in. Which Skynyrd obviously won...but rather whose message was stronger.

Young- the south is full of racists

LS- So what? FU Neil

Young: cool ditty examining racism in the South

Skynyrd: Really irritating and shitty song retorting "eyyyyy yewwwwwww don't talk bad bout the Souf yo!"

(C'mon I like Skynyrd but I hate that this annoying song is the one associated with them)

(Xpost, hahaha keyes how were we typing that at the same time)

Skynyrd: Really irritating and shitty song retorting "eyyyyy yewwwwwww don't talk bad bout the Souf yo!"

Eh, I think the point was more like, "hey, we're not all racists. you shouldn't lump everybody into groups like that. there is a party here, btw."

Pretty sure Neil Young wasn't suggesting everyone was a racist. He was just focusing on a negative 'culture' which existed, and couldn't be merely attributed to a handful of wayward individuals.

Skynyrd shoulda called it Sweet Butthurt Alabama

I guess you'd have to leave out politicians - something like California Uber Alles or You Haven't Done Nothin' is a bit stronger than a diss.

politicians should count IMO as long as the artist is explicit

add Eminem's "Mosh" to worst list

From Glide magazine:

However, the band had serious reservations about the label they were tagged with. Particularly troubling was the Confederate flag that often hung behind the stage. In 1975, Van Zant mused, “That was strictly an MCA gimmick to start us off with some label. It was useful at first, but by now it’s embarrassing except in Europe, where they really like all that stuff because they think it’s macho American.”
...
When Skynyrd criticized Neil Young’s “Southern Man,” it was for the sweeping generalization of all southerners as rednecks. Don’t condemn southerners now for what their ancestors did. “We thought Neil was shooting all the ducks in order to kill one or two,” Van Zant said. “We’re southern rebels, but more than that, we know the difference between right and wrong.” In fact, the band was quite outspoken about their disdain for Wallace’s policies.

"ancestors"

Everything was just peachy for blacks in Alabama in 1974, of course.

If politicians, then James McMurtry's "Cheney's Toy."

You're the man
Show'em what your made of
You're no longer daddy's boy
You're the man
That they're all afraid of
But you're only Cheney's toy

I was never looking at it from a sales, popularuty, or 'lasting legacy' perspective, in. Which Skynyrd obviously won...but rather whose message was stronger.

― aguirre, the wrath of frogbs (Neanderthal), Wednesday, June 22, 2011 9:38 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

No, man. It looks like you lose. I love Neil Young, but Skynyrd blew him out of the water here. If we're going on strength of message, yours is pretty lame.

don't blame us for what our racist ancestors did--you know, the ancestors we honor by putting their fucking flag onstage with us.

I guess I'm wrong. After all, Bill said so!

take the brawl in here, fellas: "Southern Man" vs. "Sweet Home Alabama"

Randy Macho Man Savage, "Be A Man"
aimed at Hulk Hogan, Hollywood Hulkster

CHORUS
Be a man Hulk Come on don't be scared
Your runnin' from Macho that's what I heard

Be a man Hogan Come on don't be a chump

I never thought Hulk would go out like a punk

Be a man Hulk Come on don't be scared
You're runnin' from Macho that's what I heard

Be a man Hogan Boy you's a chump
Cuz Hulk Hogan is a real big punk

Spoon's "Lafitte Don't Fail Me Now" / "The Agony of Lafitte" single was about their major label A&R dude, Ron Lafitte.

oops, Laffitte

Did anyone mention "Zantz cant danz" John Sebastian?

uh Zaentz Can't Dance is Fogerty

Oh yeah, sorry..

The Soft Boys - The Lonesome Death of Ian Penman

not much of a song as I recall, but a great title

Oh, and Crass with "Hurry up Gary"

a bit ambivalent? Not really...

i guess "clouds in my coffee" isn't really a rock track? also, even though i like the song that one lyric always leaves me a bit befuddled - "you're so vain, i bet you think this song is about you..." ...well now it is, isn't it? you just brought sweet baby james up, didn't you!

i guess i can parse the irony, but then if i do, it succeeds as an interesting lyric, but fails as a diss. am i missing something? probably.

An effective diss since it doesn't ID its target, making a bunch of dudes think it is about them. But it's really Warren Beatty, right?

What you are missing is that the song is not about the vain person, it's about the girl singing it, and how her life was affected by being in the vain person's orbit.

(It's apparently about David Geffen, back in the day)

I guess it's a composite of 3 people

two of whom are probably Beatty and Geffen

Last lines of the last verse are killer.

i thought it was supposed to be about james taylor?

markg you have successfully encapsulated the point of the lyrics into digestible sound-byte format, thank you for that. but now it's not a diss track anymore and we can't talk about it here. i coulda sworn it was a diss track! no wait, it IS a diss track, about vain people and how getting sucked into their orbit sucks, and therefore they suck.

wow, that carly chick is deep

Shortly before the writing of the song, Simon was married to James Taylor; she has said that he was "definitely not" the subject of the song.

yeah i just wikied her and realized i was mistaken.

mick jagger screwed around with keith richard's wife so maybe it's him then

love mick's backing vocals on this track. not about taylor, don't think it's around geffen (isn't an affair implied in the lyrics? that would rule him out). i read somewhere it was about nick nolte, which sounds right. this song is a true guilty pleasure

Carly whispering the subject's name in the ear of a high-paying dude is surely what inspired that Curb Your Enthusiasm episode with Alanis Morrisette and the "You Outta Know" subject.

I love Curb, so psyched for season two premiere of Louie 2nite (off topic!)