4 musical duos who couldn’t stand one another
Working closely with a partner can create tension, especially when you’re working on a creative endeavour. Not all successful partnerships are built on mutual respect and admiration, and to prove it, here are four musical duos who couldn’t stand one another.
1. The Everly Brothers
Their music may still resonate through the years, but Don and Phil Everly couldn’t stand each other. “We only ever had one argument,” Phil famously said in 1970. “It’s been lasting for 25 years.” At a 1973 California concert, Don arrived drunk and messed up the lyrics to a song, causing an on-stage argument between the brothers. Those close to the Everlys suspect that Don resented Phil for his sweeter, higher voice, while others suggest that the pair’s father was a source of at least some of the tension.
2. Paul McCartney and John Lennon
According to various reports, McCartney and Lennon would go through periods of ice cold tension, only communicating through lawyers at some stages. But at other times, they were as close as brothers. Lennon revealed that he felt McCartney was subconsciously trying to “destroy my great songs”, saying that Paul would encourage an experimental sound during the recording and producing, while putting in hours of fine tuning on his own tracks. The two were reportedly on good terms before Lennon died, however.
3. Sam and Dave
This 1960s duo (made up of Sam Moore and Dave Prater) behind some of R&B’s most iconic hits, like “Soul Man” and “Hold On! I’m Comin’” could hardly stand one another. Though they did their best to hide the animosity on stage, their behind-the-scenes relationship was one of animosity, and they split in 1970. A good deal of the tension reportedly stemmed from the fact that Prater shot and wounded his own wife in 1968, while Moore himself suffered from drug addictions.
4. Simon and Garfunkel
One of music’s most iconic duos, Simon and Garfunkel met at junior school in New York, and began trying to secure a record deal in the early 1960s. Unfortunately, the tensions that simmered between the pair have lasted for decades, eventually breaking up over the release of their seminal album, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” in 1970. The pair staged a reunion tour in 2004, and were due to repeat the act in 2010 until Garfunkel suffered vocal chord damage. Garfunkel reported that Simon “wasn’t particularly” supportive during that time. But time seems to have cooled the quarrel. In a 2014 interview, Garfunkel stated that, “I’m used to the fact that we’re just different characters.”
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