It’s tough going at the moment trying to avoid talk of the new T*ylor Sw*ft album, and I just mean in my house – my teenage daughter won’t shut up about it. Four days into this uninvited onslaught and the main interesting takeaway seems to be the diss track that Swift has written about Charli XCX, Actually Romantic.
Quite why I'm so drawn to the idea that one pop star has written a whole song having a crack at another pop star is probably down to the fact that I am an immature middle-aged man who simply enjoys seeing two famous figures duking it out in public, much in the same way that Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s artistically-fruitful spat – the feud produced 11 songs from the pair in less than six months last year - was such an entertaining feast.
But also, maybe it’s because I feel starved of these high-drama rows. I grew up worshipping at the twin altars of grunge and indie, two genres that are pretty much diss track vacuums, to the point that grunge lyricists pretty much made a career out of writing diss tracks about themselves. Most of the singers in bands I’ve always loved are self-flagellating types, more inclined to turn the other cheek so they can write another set of lyrics about how terrible their lives are.
Have a little dig, though, and there are a decent collection of indie diss tracks out there. Here are the indie artists who just couldn’t keep a lid on it and, for that, I commend them…
Sun Kil Moon – War On Drugs: Suck My Cock
No beating around the bush on this 2014 cut from Sun Kil Moon, aka cantankerous US singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek. Quite what it was that got Kozelek so wound up about Adam Granduciel’s panoramic psychedelic-rock crew The War On Drugs we don't know, but this plaintive folk numbers declares that they are “definitely the whitest band I’ve ever heard”. He also says in the lyrics that he’d recently met them and they were pretty nice. Quite a confusing way to start a fight really. Granduciel eventually responded in an interview, explaining they hadn't actually ever met and that he'd tried to talk to Kozelek over email about the song rather than respond on a social media platform. It hadn’t gone well. “He’s such a fucking child,” he decided. And anyway, Adam, this thing has to be played out in public – those are the diss track rules!
Pavement – Range Life
You wouldn’t have had awkward US indie-rockers Pavement down as the starting-a-raaahh types. Not only do they look like the sort of fellas who wouldn’t say boo to a goose, Stephen Malkmus & co. look more like they'd end up getting bullied by the goose. But they got all bolshy on their 1994 single Range Life, which took aim at Smashing Pumpkins and Stone Temple Pilots. “Out on tour with The Smashing Pumpkins/Nature kids, they don’t have no function/I don’t understand what they mean/And I really couldn’t give a fuck,” Malkmus sang. As you can imagine, the ever-chill Billy Corgan took it well, getting Pavement kicked off that year’s Lollapalooza tour – the Pumpkins were headlining and threatened to pull out if Pavement remained.
The Brian Jonestown Massacre – Not If You Were The Last Dandy On Earth
Now we’re talking, two bands finally respecting the “let’s act like we’re 12 , you make a song slagging me off and then I’ll make a song slagging you off” format that proper diss track sagas require. As documented in the riotous music doc Dig!, The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre were peers whose relationship was based on an ever more tumultuous rivalry. They were the best of frenemies. This was BJM’s response to the Dandy’s big breakthrough Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth, which BJM frontman Anton Newcombe took to be about himself and responded with a scathing pastiche that tries to maintain its veneer of piss-taking cool but basically is dying to go, “Oi you, outside now!”
The Art Goblins – Fuck The M.S.P.
A side-project from Art Brut frontman Eddie Argos, a sort of walking fringe of a man who only seemed to be able to view the world via a droll side-eye, The Art Goblins made their feelings known on the Manic Street Preachers with this ranty acoustic number. It does contain the lyric, “James Dean Bradfield looks like Cadfael,” though - which he doesn’t but it's good to hear the monk detective get a shout out.
R.E.M. – The Wake-Up Bomb
You wouldn’t have Michael Stipe down as the sort to start picking fights. His lyrics are usually too obtuse, anyway – have you read the words to What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?. But he seemingly plays it straight here, with some fans steadfast in their belief that this stomping New Adventures In Hi-Fi song from 1996 is directed at Oasis. It would make sense: they Britpop giants had just broken big and supported R.E.M. in 1995, only for Noel Gallagher to slag them off not long after. This – and the lines “Yeah, atomic, supersonic, what a joke” – seems to be the sound of Stipe biting back.
The Breeders – I Just Wanna Get Along
It’s not hard to imagine that Kim Deal had the words of her Pixies bandmate Black Francis, who claimed her creative input into the band was minimal, as she got down to work on the lyrics for this searing rocker from The Breeders’ second album Last Splash. “We were rich once before your head exploded,” it goes, Kim’s twin sister Kelley is on vocal duties in a transparent attempt to try and make the song’s meaning a little murky. You can’t fool us Kim!
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