Historically, rock bands are known to have public spats on occasion. And in worse situations, those spats turn into full-blown fights that tear rock bands apart. Let's have a lesson on what not to do in a band and look at a few famous examples of rock bands getting torn apart by internal conflict and fights. Unless you're a diehard fan, you may have never heard of some of these infamous situations.
Steven Tyler and Joe Perry have been making musical magic together for years, but they also happen to have one of the most complicated friendships out there. There's no doubt that the two have a lot of love for one another, but they've historically had a few spats that bordered on toxic.
One such situation involved Tyler's dislike of Perry's wife, Elyssa. This led to a blow-up fight backstage during the Draw The Line Tour, which led to Perry outright quitting to start his own band. Fortunately, he eventually returned to the band, but the two rock stars don't always get along.
This is probably the oldest and most well-known example of big fights in rock music that tore bands apart. The Beatles had a rough go of it toward the end of their tenure together, with members ready to go solo and lots of inner-band conflict. Even after the band ended, there was still conflict abound.
Paul McCartney dissed John Lennon in the song "Too Many People" the year following The Beatles' breakup. Lennon returned with "How Do You Sleep". They beefed for a while, eventually healing their relationship shortly before Lennon's death. But the damage was done, and I can't imagine a Beatles reunion would have ever actually happened.
Tom Petty historically wrote the majority of his band's music through the years, with help from guitarist Mike Campbell. Unfortunately, Stan Lynch wasn't totally happy about not having much creative input in the group by the 1990s. He was allegedly angry that Petty made a record with Jeff Lynne and put Lynne on the bill to produce The Heartbreakers' then-upcoming record.
Later, Lynch stopped showing up to sessions and started auditioning for other bands while still technically part of The Heartbreakers. Petty had to give him the boot, and the whole thing was, for lack of a better word, kind of petty.
James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich might be the two most famous members of Metallica. They also had their not-so-harmonious moments in the 1990s. While making The Black Album, the two had a lot of tension going on. By the time St. Anger came around, the fights were getting so bad that the band called a therapist to get involved. Later, Hetfield got into a particularly bad argument with Ulrich and walked right out. Though, he would rejoin a year later.
Oh, and there's also the time Hetfield punched Ulrich in the gut. That's worth noting, even though the two rock stars laugh about that story nowadays.