Kendrick Lamar and Drake had a rather famous feud last year, though it appears to have slowed. A diss track from one was followed by a diss track from the other. (Most of us can probably agree that Lamar turned out to be the winner.)
But the fun was slightly taken away by the feeling that the two hip-hop icons truly do not like one another. Their songs were personal attacks, even if Lamar's were also more artistic. After all, Lamar kept implying that Drake had done something untoward with a minor.
Decades before the Drake and Lamar flare-up, other musicians would direct venom at other musicians through song. These weren't known as diss tracks, but the message was clear. One such situation involved Neil Young and Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd were fans of one another
Young, a Canadian-American who was apparently no fan of the American South, wrote a couple of songs disparaging the region, "Alabama" and "Southern Man." In reaction to these tracks, Lynyrd Skynyrd, a band from Florida, churned out "Sweet Home Alabama."
As part of the lyrics to that track, which reached number 8 on the Billboard charts in 1974, was the verse, "Well, I heard Mr. Young sing about her/Well, I heard old Neil put her down/I hope Neil Young will remember/A Southern man don’t need him around anyhow."
Lynyrd Skynyrd put into words what they thought of Neil Young disrespecting the South. The trick was that Young and the Florida band were fans of one another. While they each believed the words they sang, there was no personal attack. There was mutual respect.
Young, in fact, often stated how much he liked "Sweet Home Alabama." He played the song live at least twice, and did so with respect and not making fun of the band that created the track.
Young told Rolling Stone in 1979, "I’d rather play ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ than ‘Southern Man’ anytime. I first heard it and really liked the way they played their guitars. Then I heard my own name in it and thought, ‘Now this is pretty great.'"
The late Gary Rossington, a long-time guitarist for Lynyrd Skynyrd, said on Sirius XM, "We love Neil Young, always did, still do."
Original vocalist Ronnie Van Zant was referenced on the band's Box Set collection, saying, "We love Neil Young, we love his music."
In other words, while musical artists can trade gibes with one another and create great songs based on that, the feud doesn't mean the artists have to dislike what the other produces. In actuality, if an artist didn't care for what some other artist produces, they might not even go through the trouble of writing a song about them.