Battling Bandmembers : Fact or Fiction

by Jeff Suwak

Spot the real stories behind the battling bandmembers in The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles, and other groups where tensions ran high.

Who doesn't love a good rock-star brawl?

In his book You Started It: Rock 'n' Roll's Most Notorious and Bitter Feuds, veteran journalist Ken McNab goes deep into some of rock's nastiest feuds, which inspired this Fact or Fiction. These battles sometimes played out on the world stage and other times occurred in well-orchestrated secrecy while the band put on happy faces at the height of their fame. See if you can spot the true stories.

February 17, 2023

Also check out the Feuds And Beef category on the Music History Calendar, and our interviews with former Eagle Don Felder and Bobby Whitlock of Derek & the Dominos

Get You Started It at Amazon.

More Fact or Fiction

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Susanna Hoffs - "Eternal Flame"They're Playing My Song

The Prince-penned "Manic Monday" was the first song The Bangles heard coming from a car radio, but "Eternal Flame" is closest to Susanna's heart, perhaps because she sang it in "various states of undress."

Dean PitchfordSongwriter Interviews

Dean wrote the screenplay and lyrics to all the songs in Footloose. His other hits include "Fame" and "All The Man That I Need."

Philip CodySongwriter Interviews

A talented lyricist, Philip helped revive Neil Sedaka's career with the words to "Laughter In The Rain" and "Bad Blood."

Steven Tyler of AerosmithSongwriter Interviews

Tyler talks about his true love: songwriting. How he identifies the beauty in a melody and turns sorrow into art.

Michael W. SmithSongwriter Interviews

Smith breaks down some of his worship tracks as well as his mainstream hits, including "I Will Be Here For You" and "A Place In This World."

Millie JacksonSongwriter Interviews

Outrageously gifted and just plain outrageous, Millie is an R&B and Rap innovator.

More Songfacts:

Uncle John's BandGrateful Dead

There's a lot of Americana in "Uncle John's Band" by the Grateful Dead, including references to "Buckdancer's Choice" (an Appalachian folk song) and "Fire And Ice," a Robert Frost poem.

Yellow LedbetterPearl Jam

Eddie Vedder often changes the words when he sings "Yellow Ledbetter." The basic story is about a guy whose brother dies in the first Gulf War. Apparently, bad news in the army is delivered in yellow envelopes.

WomanKesha

Kesha's 2017 track "Woman" was the first song titled "Woman" sung by a woman to reach the Hot 100. The prior "Woman" singles to reach the chart were all recorded by male acts.

Detroit Rock CityKiss

Kiss sing about "movin' fast on 95" in "Detroit Rock City," but I-95 doesn't go through Detroit (I-75 does) so they published the lyric as "Movin' fast, doin' 95."

Rock of AgesDef Leppard

The "Gunter Glieben Glauten Globen" intro in Def Leppard's "Rock Of Ages" is something their producer Mutt Lange came up with when he got tired of counting them "1, 2, 3, 4..."

CruiseFlorida Georgia Line

Florida Georgia Line's "Cruise" spent 24 weeks on top of the Country chart - the most ever until Sam Hunt's "Body Like a Back Road" was #1 for 34 weeks. The record was previously held by Eddy Arnold's "I'll Hold You in My Heart (1947-48), Hank Snow's "I'm Moving On" (1950-51) and Webb Pierce's "In the Jailhouse Now" (1955), which each led for 21 weeks.