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| Top five rock'n'roll fights | Top five rock'n'roll fights |
| (about 2 months later) | |
| For anyone who thinks futile Twitter spats were stripping musicians of their rock’n’roll reputations, think again: the spirit of old-fashioned recklessness was recently resurrected, when the elusive producer Zomby and Hudson Mohawke were allegedly involved in a brawl outside the club XOYO, in London. | For anyone who thinks futile Twitter spats were stripping musicians of their rock’n’roll reputations, think again: the spirit of old-fashioned recklessness was recently resurrected, when the elusive producer Zomby and Hudson Mohawke were allegedly involved in a brawl outside the club XOYO, in London. |
| Punches were reportedly thrown (although later denied), and once both parties had retreated from the scene, the exchange ended in a series of Twitter insults (“Poor @ZombyMusic thought i should apologise in his face after wearing socks worth more than his entire outfit” – hit him where it hurts, HudMo). But what of the other fights in music’s history? What of the headbutts and on-stage scuffles? The Jaggers v Watts? The Newcombes v the world? The Little Man Tates v the Troubadours backstage at Aston University in 2008? | |
| Here’s some of rock music’s most famous fights: | Here’s some of rock music’s most famous fights: |
| Anton Newcombe v everyone | Anton Newcombe v everyone |
| Anton Newcombe could start a fight in a nunnery. A nunnery run by kittens. But this particular scrap usurps the many vitriolic words the Brian Jonestown Massacre frontman has hurled at journalists and bandmates throughout his career: featured in the climactic scene of rockumentary Dig!, what starts out as Newcombe against the fans slowly unfurls into a all-out inter-band brawl, kicking off with the gurny-faced Joel Gion and ending with a sprawling mess on the floor. It’s an act made all the more ludicrous by the wonderfully ironic statement that precedes the fight: “This next song’s about love.” | Anton Newcombe could start a fight in a nunnery. A nunnery run by kittens. But this particular scrap usurps the many vitriolic words the Brian Jonestown Massacre frontman has hurled at journalists and bandmates throughout his career: featured in the climactic scene of rockumentary Dig!, what starts out as Newcombe against the fans slowly unfurls into a all-out inter-band brawl, kicking off with the gurny-faced Joel Gion and ending with a sprawling mess on the floor. It’s an act made all the more ludicrous by the wonderfully ironic statement that precedes the fight: “This next song’s about love.” |
| Jack White v the Von Bondies’ Jason Stollsteimer | Jack White v the Von Bondies’ Jason Stollsteimer |
| Jack White, skin so pale, hair so brittle. Back in the early noughties, it was easy to dismiss the White Stripes founder as just another skinny jeans-wearing indie trailblazer. But his fight with Jason Stollsteimer forced us to reassess the tight T-shirt-clad bulk of the man. During an album-release party for local band Blanche at Detroit’s Magic Stick, an altercation is claimed to have ignited between the two men, with White later pleading guilty to assault and battery. | Jack White, skin so pale, hair so brittle. Back in the early noughties, it was easy to dismiss the White Stripes founder as just another skinny jeans-wearing indie trailblazer. But his fight with Jason Stollsteimer forced us to reassess the tight T-shirt-clad bulk of the man. During an album-release party for local band Blanche at Detroit’s Magic Stick, an altercation is claimed to have ignited between the two men, with White later pleading guilty to assault and battery. |
| Charlie Watts v Mick Jagger | Charlie Watts v Mick Jagger |
| Bill German, founder of the Beggars Banquet fanzine, famously described a meeting in Amsterdam to discuss whether the Stones should call it a day. At one point, he reported, Jagger foolishly called Watts “my drummer”. According to German, Jagger said something to Watts along the lines of: “None of this should matter to you because you’re only my drummer.” | Bill German, founder of the Beggars Banquet fanzine, famously described a meeting in Amsterdam to discuss whether the Stones should call it a day. At one point, he reported, Jagger foolishly called Watts “my drummer”. According to German, Jagger said something to Watts along the lines of: “None of this should matter to you because you’re only my drummer.” |
| “[Watts] kept it bottled inside until he got back to his hotel room,” German later wrote. “He then clicked off his TV, put on his shoes, walked down the hall and knocked on Mick’s door. When the lead singer of the Rolling Stones opened it, his drummer clocked him on the jaw. Charlie then turned round and calmly walked away.” Well, at least he knocked. | “[Watts] kept it bottled inside until he got back to his hotel room,” German later wrote. “He then clicked off his TV, put on his shoes, walked down the hall and knocked on Mick’s door. When the lead singer of the Rolling Stones opened it, his drummer clocked him on the jaw. Charlie then turned round and calmly walked away.” Well, at least he knocked. |
| Kid Rock v Tommy Lee | Kid Rock v Tommy Lee |
| It’s a tale as old as time: boy meets girl; girl marries boy; girl and boy divorce. Then, girl marries similarly oily haired rocker before filing for subsequent divorce. Not long after, girl sits on initial boy’s lap during the 2007 MTV awards and gets slapped by onlooking former-husband. Alicia Keys’ interpretation of George Michael’s Freedom plays throughout. Yes, Kid Rock and Tommy Lee’s MTV Award brawl in 2007 may have been every bit the drunken punch up at a wedding, but when you’re both vying for the attention of Pamela Anderson, Queen Bee of country-rock-rap, it was always going to end in a publicly damning bitch fight. | It’s a tale as old as time: boy meets girl; girl marries boy; girl and boy divorce. Then, girl marries similarly oily haired rocker before filing for subsequent divorce. Not long after, girl sits on initial boy’s lap during the 2007 MTV awards and gets slapped by onlooking former-husband. Alicia Keys’ interpretation of George Michael’s Freedom plays throughout. Yes, Kid Rock and Tommy Lee’s MTV Award brawl in 2007 may have been every bit the drunken punch up at a wedding, but when you’re both vying for the attention of Pamela Anderson, Queen Bee of country-rock-rap, it was always going to end in a publicly damning bitch fight. |
| Reading on mobile? Click here to view Tommy Lee and Kid Rock video | Reading on mobile? Click here to view Tommy Lee and Kid Rock video |
| Pete Doherty v Johnny Borrell | Pete Doherty v Johnny Borrell |
| Across the pond, Pete Doherty and Johnny Borrell could be considered the British indie scene’s very own Lee and Rock. The pair were embroiled in what is now heralded by nobody as Leeds fest’s very own “headbuttgate”. At the 2005 festival, Doherty had reportedly visited Razorlight’s dressing room to talk with Borrell, but the former friends ended up embroiled in a bloody battle. “Lisa [Moorish] and Pete popped in to say hello to Johnny,” a source told the Sun at the time. “They sat around having a few drinks. But something triggered inside Pete. He got up and head-butted Johnny – it was a heavy hit.” | |
| • Do you have any more rock’n’roll brawls to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below. | • Do you have any more rock’n’roll brawls to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below. |