50 Great Rock/Pop Diss Tracks

With the Kendrick Lamar / Drake beef dominating headlines lately, there’s been a lot of talk about diss tracks. While rap ones get most of the attention these days, diss tracks exist in all genres, including lots in pop, rock, folk, country, punk, metal and the indie/alt world.

Random Rules, the substack from Daniel Gill, who founded indie publicity company Force Field PR, put together a playlist of “50 Great Rock/Pop Diss Tracks” which include songs by Pavement, PJ Harvey, King Crimson, Phoebe Bridgers, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Neil Young, Blur, The Breeders, Lush, Le Tigre, Nine Inch Nails, Felt, Bob Dylan, Elliott Smith, Morrissey, Nina Simone, The Dandy Warhols, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Joan Baez, and many more. The list includes who the diss tracks were aimed at.

Subscribe to the Random Rules substack here and listen to and check out the list below.

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50 Great Rock/Pop Diss Tracks

R.E.M. – “The Wake-Up Bomb”
TARGET: Oasis

Sebadoh – “The Freed Pig”
TARGET: J Mascis

The Breeders – “I Just Wanna Get Along”
TARGET: Frank Black

Blur – “Charmless Man”
TARGET: Brett Anderson of The London Suede

Spoon – “The Agony of Laffitte”
TARGET: Their former A&R man

David Bowie – “Teenage Wildlife”
TARGET: Gary Numan

The Dandy Warhols – “Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth”
TARGET: The Brian Jonestown Massacre

The Brian Jonestown Massacre – “Not If You Were The Last Dandy On Earth”
TARGET: The Dandy Warhols

The Records – “Starry Eyes”
TARGET: Their former manager who quit mid-tour and went on vacation

Pavement – “Range Life”
TARGETS: Smashing Pumpkins, Stone Temple Pilots

Paul & Linda McCartney – “Too Many People”
TARGET: John Lennon

John Lennon – “How Do You Sleep?”
TARGET: Paul McCartney

George Harrison – “Run Of The Mill”
TARGET: Paul McCartney

King Crimson – “Happy Family”
TARGET: The Beatles

Phoebe Bridgers – “Motion Sickness”
TARGET: Ryan Adams

Felt – “Ballad Of The Band”
TARGET: former Felt guitarist Maurice Deebank

Brian Eno – “Dead Finks Don’t Talk”
TARGET: Bryan Ferry

Le Tigre – “Deceptacon”
TARGET: NOFX

Nine Inch Nails – “Starfuckers, Inc.”
TARGETS: Marilyn Manson, Courtney Love

Sex Pistols – “New York”
TARGET: New York Dolls

The Clash – “(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais”
TARGETS: The Jam, among others (the entire punk scene?)

The Jam – “All Around The World”
TARGET: The Clash

Scritti Politti – “Skank Bloc Bologna”
TARGET: The Clash

Mekons – “Never Been In A Riot”
TARGET: The Clash

Queen – “Death On Two Legs”
TARGET: a former manager

XTC – “I Bought Myself A Liarbird”
TARGET: a former manager

Half Man Half Biscuit – “Shit Arm, Bad Tattoo”
TARGET: The Libertines

Joe Tex – “You Keep Her”
TARGET: James Brown

Nina Simone – “Revolution Pts 1 and 2”
TARGET: The Beatles

Fleetwood Mac – “Silver Springs”
TARGET: Lindsey Buckingham

Black Flag – “My War”
TARGET: Greg Ginn

Bob Dylan – “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”
TARGET: The Byrds (allegedly)

Foo Fighters – “Stacked Actors”
TARGET: Courtney Love

The Replacements – “Somethin to Dü”
TARGET: Hüsker Dü

Prefab Sprout – “Cars and Girls”
TARGET: Bruce Springsteen (allegedly!)

The Damned – “Idiot Box”
TARGET: Television (the band)

Sonic Youth – “Kool Thing”
TARGET: LL Cool J

Pet Shop Boys – “Miserablism”
TARGET: Morrissey (allegedly!)

Morrissey – “We Hate It When Our Friends Become Famous”
TARGET: James (the band)

Neil Young – “Walk On”
TARGET: Lynyrd Skynyrd

Black Flag – “You Bet We’ve Got Something Against You”
TARGET: Keith Morris / Circle Jerks

The Dead Milkmen – “Instant Club Hit (You’ll Dance To Anything)”
TARGET: Everyone at goth night at the dance club

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Our Time”
TARGET: Literally every other band mentioned in Meet Me In The Bathroom

Quasi – “The Poisoned Well”
TARGET: Elliott Smith

Elliott Smith – “Almost Over”
TARGET: Everyone else in Heatmiser (allegedly!)

Jenny Lewis – “On The Line”
TARGET: Jonathan Rice

PJ Harvey – “Rid of Me”
TARGET: Nick Cave

Lush – “Ladykillers”
TARGETS: Anthony Kiedis (RHCP) and Matt Sharp (Weezer)

Oasis – “I’m Outta Time”
TARGET: Noel Gallagher

Joan Baez – “Diamonds and Rust”
TARGET: Bob Dylan

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