Did Lynyrd Skynyrd invent the rap feud?

Fedorgasm said:
Obviously they're not a rap group, but as you know a big part of selling music in the rap world is to feud with another rapper, often writing lines, verses, or even entire songs dissing your rival.

Sweet Home Alabama just came on the radio and it got me wondering if Skynyrd was the first band to do that?

Here's the verse from the song where they call out Neil Young:

"Well I heard Mister Young sing about her
Well I heard ole Neil put her down
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
A southern man don't need him around anyhow"

Can you think of any instances of a musician actually talking crap about a rival musician in their songs, that occurred before 1973, which is the year "Sweet Home Alabama" came out?
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Carly Simon "You're so vain", released in 1972 about James Taylor if I'm not mistaken. The song was about scorned lovers though.
 
Khabibs Tiramisu said:
Can you explain the meaning behind the songs? Can't check it out at the moment. Enlighten me fellow Sherdogger.
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"Too Many People" was written as a dig at McCartney's former bandmate and songwriting partner John Lennon, as well as his wife Yoko Ono.

I was looking at my second solo album, Ram, the other day and I remember there was one tiny little reference to John in the whole thing. He'd been doing a lot of preaching, and it got up my nose a little bit. In one song, I wrote, "Too many people preaching practices", I think is the line. I mean, that was a little dig at John and Yoko. There wasn't anything else on it that was about them. Oh, there was "You took your lucky break and broke it in two."

— Paul McCartney, Playboy, 1984[1]
The song also begins with the line "piss off", later revealed to be a direct attack on Lennon.

Piss off, cake. Like, a piece of cake becomes piss off cake, And it's nothing, it's so harmless really, just little digs. But the first line is about "too many people preaching practices". I felt John and Yoko were telling everyone what to do. And I felt we didn't need to be told what to do. The whole tenor of the Beatles thing had been, like, to each his own. Freedom. Suddenly it was "You should do this". It was just a bit the wagging finger, and I was pissed off with it. So that one got to be a thing about them.

— Paul McCartney, Mojo, 2001[2]
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How Do You Sleep?" is a song by English rock musician John Lennon from his 1971 album Imagine. The song makes angry and scathing remarks aimed at his former Beatles bandmate and songwriting partner, Paul McCartney. Lennon wrote the song in response to what he perceived as personal slights by McCartney on the latter's Ram album.

John Lennon wrote "How Do You Sleep?" in the aftermath of Paul McCartney's successful suit in the London High Court to dissolve the Beatles as a legal partnership.[1] This ruling had followed the publication of Lennon's defamatory remarks about the Beatles in a December 1970 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, and McCartney and his wife, Linda, taking full-page advertisements in the music press, in which, as an act of mockery towards Lennon and Yoko Ono,[2] they were shown wearing clown costumes and wrapped up in a bag.[3] Following the release of McCartney's album Ram in May 1971, Lennon felt attacked by McCartney, who later admitted that lines in the song "Too Many People" were intended as digs at Lennon.[4] Lennon thought that other songs on the album, such as "3 Legs", contained similar attacks.[5]

The lyrics of "How Do You Sleep?" refer to the "Paul is dead" rumour ("Those freaks was right when they said you was dead").[6] The song begins with the line "So Sgt. Pepper took you by surprise", referring to the Beatles' landmark 1967 album.[7] Preceding this first line are ambient sounds evocative of those heard at the beginning of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.

The lyrics "The only thing you done was yesterday / And since you've gone you're just another day" are directed at McCartney, the first lyric being a reference to the Beatles' 1965 song "Yesterday". The second lyric is a reference to McCartney's hit single "Another Day", released in February 1971. Lennon initially penned the lyrics "You probably pinched that bitch anyway", as a reference to the many times McCartney had made claims that he was not sure if he "nicked" "Yesterday", having asked Lennon, Harrison, George Martin and others if they had heard that melody before.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Too_Many_People
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Do_You_Sleep?_(John_Lennon_song)
 
Jackie Blue said:
Paul McCartney and John Lennon have them beat. Paul dropped a John dis track called "Too Many People" in 1971. Lennon returned the favor later that year with a Paul dis track of his own called "How Do You Sleep?"



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McCartney also did some beat boxing in the 1960's.

 
Fedorgasm said:
Obviously they're not a rap group, but as you know a big part of selling music in the rap world is to feud with another rapper, often writing lines, verses, or even entire songs dissing your rival.

Sweet Home Alabama just came on the radio and it got me wondering if Skynyrd was the first band to do that?

Here's the verse from the song where they call out Neil Young:

"Well I heard Mister Young sing about her
Well I heard ole Neil put her down
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
A southern man don't need him around anyhow"

Can you think of any instances of a musician actually talking crap about a rival musician in their songs, that occurred before 1973, which is the year "Sweet Home Alabama" came out?
Click to expand...


I reckon so, Dawg
 
Fedorgasm said:
How the fuck is that lyric praising Neil Young? I don't see any way that someone could interpret it that way.

Sounds like maybe they were backpedaling a bit when people started asking them if they support racism in the South, because that's what Neil Young was criticizing.

I have no doubt that when they wrote that lyric, they were intending to "diss" Neil.
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Lol, that had to be a troll post...those lyrics are clearly dissing him over Southern Man...
 
squeezewax said:
Skynyrd and Young didn't have a problem with each other.


  • But the ultimate irony of "Sweet Home Alabama" is that for so many, the song's implied put down of Neil Young was NOT meant as criticism but as support of Young's anti-racism. Thus, for those who think it's so clever to put down Neil Young using the phrase "Hope Neil Young will remember, a southern man don't need him around anyhow" little do they realize that they have the meaning backwards. Every day, someone blogs or tweetsthe "Neil Young putdown" without comprehending that they've actually praised him. (Or even make implied death threats (note caption).) Similarly, with the State of Alabama using the phrase "Sweet Home Alabama" as an official slogan on license plates, one truly has to wonder what they were thinking the song was about.

    Somewhere, Ronnie is still having a good laugh at Alabama officials and Neil Young bashers. Such is the duality of the southern thing.
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Reading the article that this taken from right now.

Very informative.

They even show photo's of Ronnie wearing a Young shirt and Young wearing a Skynyrd T-shirt.

I misinterpreted the lyrics my entire life.
 
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