Xtina once required some weird food while on the road: Nesquik, vegan cheese, Oreos, and flintstone vitamins. However, it’s her over-the-top demands on The Voice that have caused taping delays and well-documented feuds with other female singers that make her a liability.
Whether it was trying to physically and verbally fight P!NK, Mariah Carey, or Britney, it was too much drama for Aguilera’s career in the early 2000s.
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Several of Dion’s demands can be traced back to her manager/husband Rene Angelil, who requested nothing but the best for his wife. All rooms must be 73 degrees Fahrenheit, and her enormous entourage must be completely catered to as well.
As a perfectionist, Dion requires absolute adherence to her guidelines and has taken over as her “own boss” following her husband’s death.
Van Halen’s legendary list was created to see if promoters were paying attention to their demands or else forfeit the profits of each show. So outside of the M&M’s (absolutely no brown ones), their rider seemed fairly sane…
The band requested nuts, pretzels, one large tube of KY jelly, three packs of Marlboro cigarettes, Herring in sour cream, two gallons of non-carbonated, bottled spring water, three-fifths Jack Daniels Black Label bourbon, two-fifths Stolichnaya vodka, one pint Southern Comfort, and two bottles Blue Nun white wine.
Madge has mellowed in the last 40 years, but let’s not forget that the Material World singer has embraced that philosophy. Whether it’s requesting 30 bodyguards, a chef, a physiotherapist, or that all furniture in her dressing room must be removed and replaced with her own pieces shipped in, Madonna knows exactly how to be a leading diva.
It’s also important to note that she’s not exactly fan-friendly—and at times has kept paying audiences waiting hours for a concert. Bearing a 200-person entourage is a lot for any junket to handle.
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The KISS front man seeks publicity all the time—both on stage and off, through his outlandish statements and beliefs.
He’s a notorious womanizer and misogynist who claims to have bedded almost 5,000 women during his years. Yet he puts down female pop artists and dismisses rap musicians altogether. Simmons’s sneering persona makes everyone just a little uncomfortable.
It’s hard to live life like a refrain in a country music song, but Jason Aldean does just fine. His bad reputation stems from his scandalous affair and dumping his family.
Beyond dressing up in blackface and then decrying being racially sensitive, Aldean carries the domineering husband into his second marriage—demeaning his wife on air. However, the hardworking everyman took stock of his life after the 2017 Las Vegas shooting that almost killed him.
Her backstage demands are legendary: full tea sets, two dozen pink or white roses, and three large, scented candles. Her food demands border on the insane: egg whites, turkey bacon fried hard, 12-piece buckets of chicken, salad with Wishbone Light Italian Dressing.
Minaj says it’s part of her on-stage persona—to become that strong, confident woman. In interviews, she’s been known to get difficult with writers, telling them that topics are off-subject or being rude altogether.
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The Motor City Madman at one time requested “man sized Kleenex” for his runny nose. He’s also a huge fan of peanut butter, tuna, and tropical Slim Fast on tour. His weird relationship in 1978 with a 17-year-old who wasn’t old enough to marry is cause for concern—he “adopted her with her parental consent” instead of “living in sin”.
But his outspoken conservative political stance, to the point of name-calling, has rankled some fans during his career—whether it’s about guns, mixed-race heritage, or school shootings.
Mariah Carey is known for having an uptight attitude. When someone asks her if she knows a popular star, she shakes her head and says, “I don’t know them.” Not to mention, we all remember her 2018 New Year’s performance where her equipment quit working, and she couldn’t hear a thing.
That doesn’t change the fact she had a full-on temper tantrum on stage.
It’s hard to believe that any member of the Beatles can be cranky, but Ringo Starr is known for having a serious attitude. In fact, one fan told a story about when they were a child to meet their favorite musician. Upon meeting Starr, he laughed at the kid and said, “No.” Then, he told them to leave…except with more expletives.
This is a regular occurrence with anyone that meets up with Starr, as described by other fans. If you’re a Beatles fan, you’ll be happy to know that the other members are incredibly kind, and Julian Lennon is as kind as ever—figures.
Axl Rose was known for being wild and less-than-kind in his younger years. While he’s cooled down a little, he’s still pretty dang cranky. Thanks to his anger issues, he regularly throws items and insults anyone who sets him off.
He used to tell his fans to go away (with more expletives), but he takes photos nowadays. That’s precisely why he’s on this list as cranky instead of just plain mean.
Tommy Lee, the drummer for Mötley Crüe, never said he was a good guy, but he can be a pretty rude dude. He refuses to take pictures with fans, which is fine, but he doesn’t have to go off on fans who ask.
Several stories by fans explain how he curses them out and claims that he doesn’t owe them anything. Maybe he’s had too many bad run-ins, but there’s no reason to start something when there’s nothing there.
Sebastian Bach is the lead singer of Skid Row, but things aren’t peachy in his world. He’s known for being a little grumpy and, in some circumstances, violent. For example, while visiting his hometown, the band went to hang out at a bar–not to play, but just to enjoy the evening.
Well, the bar already had a band playing, but Bach wanted in on the action. Naturally, they wouldn’t let him, and he began to throw a tantrum. A security guard attempted to remove him and got bit before throwing Bach out.
Kid Rock is mainly known for his hard and trashy persona, but that doesn’t mean he has to treat people like trash. On top of being disrespectful on numerous occasions, he’s physically violent.
He instigates public fights on the regular, including one where he punched Tommy Lee at the MTV Video Music Awards.
Lily Allen is crass in a delightful way, but sometimes she crosses the line. While she can be charming at times, she regularly writes songs about those in her life including her ex-boyfriends and brother. Her brother, Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy from Game of Thrones) has a song about him, Alfie, where Lily complains about what a loser he is.
To make matters worse, Lily Allen has feuded with other stars regularly, including the late Amy Winehouse and Kylie Minogue. She even drunkenly berated Elton John at the GQ awards in 2008.
The late Prince was a music genius, but he was reportedly also extremely rude. One of the worst stories is when he borrowed one of the Roots’ 1961 Epiphone Crestwood guitar and smashed it up on stage. Granted, he paid for it, but that doesn’t change the fact he smashed up someone else’s instruments.
Kevin Smith has plenty of stories, as well, that perfectly describe how entitled Prince was – including one where he requested a camel in Minnesota at 3 A.M. and didn’t understand why he couldn’t get it.
There’s no doubt Courtney Love has had a rough life, especially considering her history with Kurt Cobain. However, she’s been a little cranky and off-the-wall before she even met Kurt. At 14, she was arrested for shoplifting and was placed in foster care until she was 16.
After the drugs and trauma, she only got worse, and she’s known for being a thorn in celebs’ side. Love crashes interviews, channels her anger toward other female performers, and her own daughter even has a restraining order against her.
The crankiest little toddler in the bunch is none other than Justin Bieber. There’s a whole list of things that show he’s a colossal jerk, including forcing his bodyguards to carry him up the Great Wall of China, calling a fan a “beached whale,” spitting on fans, egging his neighbor’s house, driving while under the influence, and more.
Overall, he’s just a baby who's been throwing a temper tantrum for years. He's cleaned up his act since marrying Hailey Baldwin in 2018, but he's still young—and leopards don't change their spots.
Noel Gallagher is one of the co-founders of Oasis, the band that sung "Wonderwall". Well, Noel has a massive temper he’s not afraid to show; in fact, it’s one of the reasons he and his brother fought for so long.
In particular, Noel is known for throwing furniture around. In fact, he’s been known to throw chairs at his younger brother, Liam.
Liam Gallagher is the other co-founder of Oasis, and he’s not without fault. The reason Noel threw a chair at Liam was because he changed the lyrics of a song to insult Americans – Liam hates Americans for some reason.
He’s also been known to ditch a tour just to go on a shopping excursion.
Thom Yorke is the sort of person you know is going to be cranky when you meet him. He regularly curses at fans, mostly for requesting one of their most famous songs – “Creep”.
Fans who meet him on the street, however, don’t have a better time. He’s an intense person and hates to be approached by people. In the words of people who meet him, “he’s a jerk.”
Matt Good may not be as popular as he was in the ‘90s, and that may be because of his attitude. He’s known for having a difficult temperament and even sold merchandise that said, “I hear Matt Good is a real (expletive)” on the front.
Well, at least he isn’t afraid to admit he’s cranky. Someone get this man a juice box, STAT!
Morrissey isn’t the sweetest person in the world. On a few occasions, he’s walked off stage during a concert. Since he’s a vegan, he walked off stage during a show when smelling BBQ, claiming, “I hope it’s human.”
On top of that, he defended Kevin Spacey, saying that he was “unnecessarily attacked” following the accusation of sexual harassment and pedophilia. He also defended Harvey Weinstein’s actions, which ranks him as one of the worst musicians on the list.
John McCrea is the lead singer of Cake. McCrea is naturally an introvert, which is tough for any famous band, but he takes it a step too far. The group is known for insulting audiences who paid to see them by refusing to play when they don’t participate.
That’s right–when McCrea says sing along, you better sing along, or he’s going to walk off stage. He also insults entire countries while performing in said country, which once made crowds throw numerous water bottles at him while on stage.
Chris Brown has an anger problem, and no one can deny that – not even Chris Brown. Domestically abusing Rihanna in 2009 is a perfect example of this, but that’s not the only one.
He also punched Frank Ocean and yelled homophobic slurs at the singer and threatened to shoot him. Brown also had a serious bar brawl with Drake that involved several people suffering injuries.
Grace Jones has a long history of being violent and aggressive. In 1981, she attacked Russell Harty on a television talk show because he was speaking to another guest. In response, she slapped him several times on air.
That’s not the only time she’s started a fight, either. It became a regular thing on- and off-air.
John Mayer is one musician people love to hate, but it isn’t without fault thanks to his attitude. While he isn’t without talent, he seems to be without a conscious. First, he all but admitted to being racist in interviews by saying slurs in interviews in a blasé way.
He also brags about his dating “conquests” in interviews, which is an overall crappy thing for anyone to do. Just look up what he said about Jessica Simpson after they dated a million years ago..!
Pete Wentz is a member of Fall Out Boy. While he’s not a complete d-bag, he does have his moments, which is why he’s on the list as merely “cranky.” One story with a fan recalled how Wentz grabbed her friend’s phone and smashed it, telling her how he was going to smash her face next. Yikes.
Another story retold how Pete got drunk and poured beer on fans who approached him.
Kroeger undoubtedly gets a d-bag award. Mostly because he thinks he’s a music genius, but we’re labeling him cranky and rude because of his comments toward other musicians. He once claimed Stone Sour was trying to sound like Nickelback in an interview, claiming Nickelback had major diversity in their songs.
He then followed it up by comparing himself to Queen. All we have to say is that you could play a full Nickelback album, and it would sound like one loooooooooooong song.
When he was in concert in 2002, someone yelled out a request for “Summer of 69”, confusing Ryan with Bryan. Ryan Adams gave the guy $30 for his ticket and threw him out, refusing to play until the guy was gone.
Adams’s controversial misconduct charges of offering to assist women with their music careers in return for relationships, including one involving his former wife, have derailed his career.
Johnny Rotten (his stage name) has been a lot of things—but never subtle. The screeching punk pioneer of the Sex Pistols delights in wreaking havoc with words and actions. Born British but gaining his U.S. citizenship in 2015, Rotten delights in hurling insults from the comfort of Malibu.
Rotten’s main claim to fame is still his bad boy behavior that clashes with the establishment—almost to the point of being comical. Maybe it was funny to burp, fart, and spit as a punk band leader, but the persona is tired on an old man.
Everyone knows Katy Perry regularly has spats with other stars, including Taylor Swift and the other judges on American Idol. Stars fight, and that’s fine, but what puts her on this list is the fact that she thinks she’s better than everyone else, including American Troops...
One Reddit user described how she did a “support the troops” show, but didn’t shake hands and refused to be polite to anyone there. Other Marines have other stories similar to this one, so it’s definitely not a one-off.
Joel Zimmerman, aka deadmau5, is an EDM DJ who's gained quite a reputation. Despite donating large sums of money to charities, he’s known to be extremely rude in person.
He’s never been shy about openly mocking his peers, including Diplo, Skrillex, and Jack Ü. By now, he’s accepted his title and runs with it.
Not everyone has had the hard start that Curtis Jackson did, but he recovered to become one of the most well-known rappers to date. However, a cringy incident occurred in May 2016 in the Cincinnati airport, when he harassed and insulted a janitor.
He accused him of being under the influence. The teen janitor was hearing impaired and autistic, leading to a lawsuit.
Being a superstar producer and creating the infamous Wall of Sound, Phil Spector expanded the lives of hundreds of artists. However, his ego and megalomaniac persona left artists to fear him and the power he held over their careers. While his hustle and excellence in production was unmatched, his dark and turbulent behavior emerged.
The murder of Lana Clarkson, after years of Spector brandishing firearms for show, sent the renowned producer to court—where six women testified that he held them at gunpoint instead of letting them leave.
Considered Grinch-like when compared to his musical cousin Brian Wilson, Mike Love has admitted to having a bad reputation. Rumors of beating his wife, fistfights with other band members, and revenge swirl around the Beach Boy.
As the lead vocalist, Love was always front and center for the band but often not credited for the writing. But he’s the lead villain for ousting Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys’ tour lineup in 2012.
A self-described “difficult cat”, Crosby meddled in drugs and alcohol until his health made him stop. During his years with his band—The Byrds, who later became Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young—Crosby fought tooth-and-nail with his bandmates, creating tension with Neil Young by calling his girlfriend at the time, Daryl Hannah, a “poisonous predator”.
His self-absorption, rudeness, and cranky demeanor drove wedges in the bands that ultimately broke up because of it.
Back during the 1975 Country Music Awards, country singer Charlie Rich was given the task of announcing the Entertainer of the Year. And when it came to announcing John Denver’s name (literally one of the nicest guys in country)…
Rich actually burned the envelope because Denver was a crossover artist. He was then blacklisted from future award shows.
Kanye West is notoriously cranky. It’s not exactly weird for an artist to tell everyone to stand up, but pretty much everyone knows that this doesn’t include someone who is physically incapable of standing…except Kayne. During a concert in Australia, Kayne stopped his concert and told everyone to stand up. When he realized one fan was in a wheelchair, he doubled down.
Kayne told the fan unless he could show a handicap pass or proof (other than the wheelchair) that he couldn’t stand, then he wasn’t going to continue. The crowd started booing, and Kayne responded by going on a five-minute rant about how he (Kayne) was being unfairly targeted. Um, okay. That's just one incident of many that lands him on this list.
