10 Most Heated Music Industry Feuds Of All Time

Few rivalries have divided the rock scene quite like Nirvana and Guns N’ Roses, two of the biggest guitar bands to emanate from the 1980s. Kurt Cobain fired the first shot in this turf war, when he declared Guns N’ Roses to be a band with “absolutely nothing to say.” Axl Rose would retort by labelling Kurt and his girlfriend Courtney Love ‘junkies’, making comments about their baby winding up ‘deformed’ as a result of their drug use.

Both bands would exchange stern words and insults backstage at the 1992 VMAs, and even supposed ‘Nicest Man in Rock’ Dave Grohl would get involved with the verbal jousting. Courtney Love allegedly mocked Axl, asking him to be her child’s godfather, prompting Rose to respond with a threat of violence towards Cobain. Things would continue to heat up, with Cobain slamming Axl Rose as a ‘sexist’ and a ‘homophobe’, right up until Kurt’s tragic suicide in 1994.

In the wake of Kurt’s death, Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum would offer his condolences, thus brokering peace, and patching up wounds that would continue to heal over the coming years.