The debate about arrogant artists is one that’s sure to rage unsettled, possibly for ever. We all love to hate arrogant musicians, but we complain when they’re boring and never do or say anything controversial.
We don’t like it when musicians are rude and crass and stir controversy, but we keep seeing op-eds about how rock music has become complacent and boring and there are no longer any ‘exciting’ bands around.
THE JESUS TWINS REDEFINE ‘ARROGANCE’
Bono, Morrissey, Liam Gallagher – these are the benchmarks of musician arrogance for most people. Well, rest assured anybody who thinks that has never heard of The Jesus Twins.
SWAY DIDN’T HAVE THE ANSWERS FOR YEEZY
Truth be told, it was hard to nail down just one moment of supreme arrogance from Kanye West, but we went with the interview that launched a thousand memes and catchphrases.
ARIANA GRANDE VS THE HEALTH BOARD
If a pop star wants to say arrogant things and act without self-awareness, that’s one thing, but don’t go around putting your bodily fluids on other people’s food.
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ALEX TURNER’S BRITS SPEECH
If you’re trying to pinpoint the moment that the Arctic Monkeys frontman became everything he used to make fun of in his music, this would be a good place to start.
YOU’RE NOT SMART ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND BOB DYLAN
Sure, Bob Dylan is the genius voice of a generation (y’know, everything Kanye says he is), but watching him explain how a journalist doesn’t have the brain power to understand him is nauseating.
MARTIN SHKRELI IS LIKE A LAME JOKER
At first we thought Shrkeli was immoral and evil, then we thought he was arrogant and a troll, now it’s clear he’s just attention-hungry. Doesn’t mean he’s not also arrogant and immoral.
JOHNNY ROTTEN IS A D-BAG TO CARRIE BICKMORE
Johnny Rotten may be a punk icon, but he’s also kind of a douche with a history of saying wildly inappropriate and awkward things in interviews. Here he is being an a-hole to our own Carrie Bickmore.
LIAM GALLAGHER BEING LIAM GALLAGHER
Like Kanye West, we couldn’t really decide on just one moment of arrogance from the former Oasis frontman, so here’s a compilation of him committing assault against members of the press.
GREEN DAY FRONTMAN HAS A MAJOR FREAKOUT
Music awards shows are pompous affairs to begin with, but you know what you’re getting when you sign on to perform at them, so Billie Joe Armstrong should really have taken getting cut off for Usher in stride.
AZEALIA BANKS GOES ALL AZEALIA BANKS ON EVERYBODY
At this point Azealia Banks is more of a walking headline than a musician, a one-woman controversy machine. Here’s some footage of her yelling homophobic slurs at a flight attendant after not getting her way on a plane.
