Earlier this week, Machine Head vocalist Robb Flynn took to his Instagram account to embark upon an expletive-laden rant in response to what he called the "bitchass internet troll motherfuckers" who had pointed out that Machine Head's new single, Do Or Die, included lyrics which seemed to be lifted from Dope’s 2001 song Die MF Die.
“To all the bitchass internet troll motherfuckers who keep whining and menstruating about how Do Or Die has lyrics from the band Dope," began Flynn. “Here’s a little fucking reminder for your moronic nu-metal-brain’s, since 1993 in our song Fuck At All, I’ve been saying, ‘c’mon motherfucker, c’mon’ in the middle break down."
"It was a good seven years before Dopes 2001’s Die MF Die came out you fuckin’ sausage gobblers!"
The post continues in a similar vein, with an alarmingly large range of references to genitals, before ending with the parting shot: “P.S. Who the fuck listens to Dope?”
Unsurprisingly, the rant caught the eye of Dope vocalist Esdel Dope, who, armed with stats which have proven slightly embarrassing for Flynn, has written a riposte via the band's Facebook page.
"Yesterday, Robb Flynn took to Instagram to publicly asked the question “Who the fuck listens to Dope?'" the band posted.
"Then today, he fired another shot at our band by posting a photo of himself, posing with a fan who was wearing a Dope shirt, with an unflattering caption.
"As a grown-ass man, I feel slightly obligated to acknowledge these 2 separate shots. Truth is, I like Machine Head. Killer band, big fucking draw! If the two bands ever share the stage again, Dope would undoubtedly go on before Machine Head. Much respect!
"That’s not the question. The question was: 'Who the fuck listens to Dope'? Well Robb, with Spotify being the place where the majority of the listeners go these days, the answer to your question is actually quantifiable.
"Check it out... Dope Monthly listeners on Spotify: 1,238,355
Machine Head Monthly listeners on Spotify: 1,208,667
"Pretty fucking close brother. Only about 30,000 plays separate our two bands from month to month, so it’s quite fair to say that a lot of 'mother fuckers' are listening to both Machine Head and Dope on Spotify.
"Slightly more for Dope, but I digress…
"I guess it would also be fair to mention that the Dope song that everyone, including Robb is now talking about, Die Mother Fucker Die, has about 30 million more plays on Spotify than any song that Robb has actually written or released.
"I’m not talking shit! That’s not who I am. I really don’t have anything negative to say about Robb. These are just the facts."
The post continues, and you can read the full thing below.
Now, Flynn has responded, again via his Instagram account, and seems to have softened his stance somewhat, making reference to the good times – and cocaine-fuelled escapades – the bands shared back in the day.
"Spotify stats…?" Flynn wrote on his account. "Hey, I stand corrected. Apparently there’s a lot of motherfuckers still listening to Dope out there. Good for you man.
"Though disturbingly CrazyTown’s Butterfly has us both beat, but I digress.
"Got nothing against Dope at all. Not trying to sound like a douche here – our bands have not intersected in decades – but I literally didn’t know that you guys were a band anymore. So when your fans started spamming our Facebook / Insta feed about our new song ripping you guys off, I was like huh…?
"I actually have fond memories of you and I doing enormous amounts of cocaine on my bus in Oklahoma at some radio show back in 1999 and having a wildly coked-out conversation about doing a tour together that never materialized. In fact I just ran into your former – current? now in Misfits – guitar player Acey at the Slipknot show and he invited all of us into the Misfits.
"I have a pretty dark sense of humour, I was literally laughing hysterically when I wrote the first thing that I wrote. Trolling the trolls if you will. It wasn’t aimed at you or even Dope. The second photo of the girl I thought was just cute, and was my way of saying 'hey good one', or, 'ya got me!'.
"That your band is still on tour and doing well 20 years later is fucking awesome Edsel. As someone who knows the challenges of sticking it out this long in the music business, I’m happy for you.
"I’ll take this moment right now to extend the olive branch to you and your band, that any Machine Head show coming up anywhere in the world, that you guys want to come and hang at, you are welcome to. Have some beers, vodka, champagne, whatever – I’ll have to pass on the cocaine – just say the word, and I’ll make it happen. Maybe you could even come up and sing the Do Or Die with us.
"Totally understand if you want to pass in light of everything, but the offer stands."
And let's hope that's the end of that.
This isn't the first time Esdel Dope has made headlines this week. The singer has been embroiled in internet rumours suggesting he's Static-X's masked vocalist since a photo comparing the two's neck tattoos surfaced. Dope has denied the claims, stating that "it's easy to slap a little tribal neck tattoo on to someone in Photoshop".
Dope are currently on tour with Static-X and Devildriver as part of their co-headline Wisconsin Death Trip tour.
Machine Head are currently on the road across Europe on the Burn My Eyes 25th anniversary tour. After the current run of shows, Machine Head will return to the UK, Europe and Russia in 2020 for further dates.
