Once you’ve enjoyed the luxuries of fame, it’s easy for it to go to your head.
You quickly learn that you can have what you want at the snap of your fingers. But with great power comes great responsibility — something that many musicians often have a hard time wielding.
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Whether they were rude to staff or their bandmates, here are 10+ musicians who are known for being difficult.
1. Justin Bieber
The Canadian pop superstar has been known to stir up controversy and even had a verbal altercation that almost became physical with photographers in 2013.
Thankfully, Bieber has recently reformed to having a friendlier demeanor in public.
2. Paula Abdul
If you ever wondered why Paula left American Idol , it was rumored to be because she was asking for a hefty raise on top of her already $3.5 million salary.
Then, when she was on X Factor , she refused to pay the 10 percent standard of most agencies for her commission on the show.
3. Jack White
Jack has been known to frequently have difficult moments while performing on stage.
This has led to many mid-performance walk-offs, like during a Detroit show where he left 55 minutes into a Radio City Music Hall performance. This left the audience in anger and confusion.
4. Grace Jones
The disco queen was known for acting like royalty with a very long list of backstage demands wherever she performed.
This included champagne, wine, and a dozen Findelclare or Colchester Oysters to accommodate her dressing room.
5. Iggy Pop
You might want to wear a full hazmat suit to watch Iggy Pop perform live.
The singer was notoriously known for gross behaviors , including vomiting on the audience. He would also cut himself with broken glass.
6. Frank Zappa
Since Zappa refused to conform to the music industry, this made it near impossible for others to collaborate with the artist.
In his documentary on the singer, director Alex Winters revealed how Zappa avoided making a “commerical hit.”
7. Axl Rose
The Guns & Roses lead singer once pulled a Katherine Heigl.
He publically withdrew the induction of his band, Guns N’ Roses, into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. This left his bandmates and fans puzzled over the decision.
His name was even booed by fans when Green Day lead singer, Billie Joe Armstrong, said his name at the event.
He has since apologized for the incident, saying,
“I still don’t exactly know or understand what the Hall is or how or why it makes money, where the money goes.”
8. Syd Barrett
The psychedelic lead guitarist and songwriter of Pink Floyd used LSD as his gateway to his musical creativity.
But it was this tactic to use that led him down a self-destructive path and no longer a band member of the famous rock band.
9. Roger Waters
Pink Floyd’s lead singer and songwriter was known to have too much control over the musical creativity of the band.
With too many cooks in the kitchen, this soon led to feuds between him and his bandmates, Richard Wright and David Gilmour.
The drummer and founder of the band, Nick Mason, once explained the feud.
He said that Roger felt “writing is everything, and that guitar playing and the singing are something that – I think the problem is Roger doesn’t really respect David.”
10. Ozzy Osbourne
The lead singer of Black Sabbath was kicked out of the band on multiple occasions for his spontaneous disappearances involving drugs and alcohol.
Ozzy had been fired as the lead singer after given so many chances by his bandmates.
11. Tony Iommi
As difficult as Osbourne was, guitarist Tony lommi didn’t exactly come off smelling like a rose.
Ozzy once shared with NME how he did not like working with Tony in Black Sabbath. “Do I like working with him? Not really. Do I like him as a person? Yeah, I love him as a person”.
12. Vinnie Vincent
The guitarist joined KISS in 1982 as Ankh Warrior. But he was quick to clash with Gene Simmons and Paul Stasney.
This soon led Vinnie to sue the two for royalties. The lawsuit was unsuccessful and the guitarist was kicked out of the band.
13. Madonna
Working with Madonna ended up being more of a nightmare than a dream for a group of dancers in 1994.
They sued the singer over allegedly lying over the purpose of the footage she had gathered of them during her “Blonde Ambition” tour.
14. Richie Sambora
2013 was quite a controversial year for Jon Bon Jovi.
Sambora, lead guitarist and one of the band’s main songwriters, was dismissed for missing too much work. In another interview, Bon Jovi said that Richie’s “choices have led him astray.”
15. Kanye West
The rapper has been the center of many odd antics and outlandish statements over the years.
His former bodyguard once shared with Hollywood Raw how he was a nightmare to work with, calling him “one of my least favorite people to work with over the course of time.”
16. Mariah Carey
She doesn’t have a diva reputation for nothing.
She once admitted that she’s “high-maintenance” and proved it when she joined The House . Her co-star, Rob Heubel, began by sharing with SiriusXM’s Entertainment Weekly Radio that Carey was once four hours late to set.
They also said that she requested specific items for her trailer, such as all white roses.
She then reportedly refused to sing a song she was hired for. “It did not go well,” he said. “It was bananas.”
17. John Frusciante
John Frusciante is best known as being the lead guitarist, as well as a co-founding member in the alt-funk rock band, The Red Hot Chili Peppers.
During the ’90s, John’s substance use became too much for his bandmates to bare and he was asked to leave the band.
18. Gene Simmons
Gene Simmons wears many hats: shock-rocker, pioneer, womanizer, narcissist; there’s a lot to unpack.
His own bandmember Ace Frehley once famously wrote on Facebook that Gene was “Nothing but an [expletive] and a sex addict .”
19. Dave Mustaine
Dave Mustaine is the founder of the thrash-metal band Megadeth and was also the original lead guitarist for Metallica .
He was kicked out of the latter band because of his overabundant drug use and his predilection for alcohol.
20. Mick Fleetwood
Mick became so addicted to substances that his bandmates found him impossible to work with. To this day, he claims to be unable to remember two whole years of his life.
Supposedly, if you lined up all the substances Mick has done, it would reach over 7 miles long.
21. Billie Joe Armstrong
Billie Joe Armstrong claims to be all about the punk rock lifestyle, yet more often than not he ends up acting like a total diva.
He threw a fit during the iHeart Radio Music Festival after Green Day’s performance was cut off early.
22. Courtney Love
Courtney Love first broke onto the scene as the lead singer of Hole. She spent the majority of her career strung out to the point of being incapacitated.
Her legacy is a cautionary tale for any up-and-coming artist.
23. Don Henley
If you were making a list of the biggest [expletives] in rock music, Don Henley would easily crack the top three.
The co-founding member of The Eagles is known for being a control freak , as well as verbally abusive and intimidating toward his bandmates.
24. Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious was a founding member of The Sex Pistols, one of the most influential and important bands in the history of punk music.
Plagued by his own inner demons and addictions, Sid killed his then-girlfriend Nancy Spungen in a fugue state. He died of an overdose shortly thereafter.
25. Eric Clapton
Many consider Eric Clapton to be one of, if not the greatest guitar player to ever live.
Clapton has made several racist utterances over the years, causing many musicians to steer clear of the legendary picker altogether.
26. David Crosby
Many believe the former frontman of The Byrds/Crosby, Stills & Nash to be one of the most difficult people in the industry.
In 2019, David took part in a documentary film called Remember My Name , which discusses his ornery lifestyle.
27. Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker was a legendary jazz musician and is still highly regarded as the greatest saxophone player of all time.
The sax machine was a hardcore drug user , and would often show up late or miss gigs entirely in order to score drugs.
28. Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga has an infamous reputation for treating her staff like indentured servants.
She was even taken to court by her ex-assistant, who claimed that Gaga forced her to work long hours with absolutely no overtime pay.
29. Young Thug
Young Thug seems to have a hard time showing up when/where he’s supposed to be — he’s bailed on concerts on more than one occasion.
The hip-hop star couldn’t even be bothered to show up for his own music video shoot.
30. Glenn Frye
I love The Eagles probably more than the next person, so it really stings me to learn that deep down — they weren’t always nice guys.
Lead singer/guitarist Glenn Frye once threatened to break a bottle over guitarist Don Felder’s head (while on stage). He’s also the reason that bassist Randy Meisner quit the band.
31. Liam and Noel Gallagher
All brothers fight every now and again, but the frontmen of the ’90s rock band Oasis took their family feud to the biggest stages in the world.
It didn’t take long for tensions to become too much to bear, and finally, Noel left the band for good.
32. MF DOOM
First and foremost — rest in peace to a legend. There will truly never be another artist quite like MF DOOM for as long as we live.
Since DOOM always performed with his signature mask, it was difficult to discern the face underneath. He’d often send stand-ins to perform at his live shows in his stead.
