Bands behaving badly? It is solely rock ’n’ roll.
Members of other rock band Jane’s Habit filed dueling lawsuits Wednesday over singer Perry Farrell’s onstage scuffle with guitarist Dave Navarro at a Boston live performance final yr, a fracas that prompted the cancellation of the remainder of their reunion tour and a deliberate album.
They be a part of a protracted and storied custom of bandmates suing each other, taking interpersonal and authorized troubles from the recording studio to the courtroom. Right here’s a have a look at a number of very well-known instances.
Jane’s Habit
WHAT HAPPENED: Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Eric Avery sued Farrell in Los Angeles Superior Court docket searching for at the least $10 million, alleging that Farrell’s habits on their latest tour had ranged from erratic to uncontrolled, culminating in an assault the place Farrell punched Navarro each onstage and backstage.
HOW IT WAS RESOLVED: It hasn’t been; it is simply getting began. Farrell and his spouse, Etty Lau Farrell, sued the three bandmates in the identical court docket Wednesday, blaming them for the battle and the violence.
The Seashore Boys
WHAT HAPPENED: How a lot time do you’ve got? The late, nice Brian Wilson, the Seashore Boys’ chief, feuded together with his cousin and bandmate Mike Love over songwriting credit relationship again many years. Love had sued Wilson a number of occasions, starting within the Nineteen Nineties.
HOW IT WAS RESOLVED: Wilson usually wasn’t the victor — besides in 2007, when U.S. District Choose Audrey Collins threw out considered one of Love’s lawsuits towards Wilson. In it, Love alleged {that a} free, 2004 promotional CD of re-recorded Seashore Boys songs price him tens of millions of {dollars} and violated Love and Wilson’s partnership.
Oasis
WHAT HAPPENED: The sibling rivalry between Oasis brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher is properly established. Their brawls not solely led to the band’s dissolution in 2009, earlier than their 2025 reunion, but in addition a authorized upset. In 2011, Liam sued Noel for saying Liam’s hangover prompted the cancellation of a 2009 competition efficiency. He stated in a press release that the lawsuit was not about cash, however that he wished an apology and for Oasis followers “to know the truth” — that laryngitis prevented him from performing.
HOW IT WAS RESOLVED: The lawsuit was dropped.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
WHAT HAPPENED: The post-breakup many years of Creedence Clearwater Revival had been marked by a lot authorized and private infighting that you just would possibly assume CCR stands for Battle, Conflict, Repeat. In 1996, singer-songwriter-guitarist John Fogerty sued ex-bandmates Doug Clifford and Stu Cook dinner for performing underneath the title Creedence Clearwater Revisited. That case settled in 2001, however the bandmates sued Fogerty in 2014, alleging he was violating the settlement by persevering with to publicly slag off the Revisited title. And so they stated Fogerty himself was now illegally utilizing Creedence Clearwater Revival in live performance promoting. Fogerty sued again in 2015, saying Cook dinner and Clifford weren’t paying him correct songwriting royalties for his or her performances.
HOW IT WAS RESOLVED: A federal court docket merged the 2 instances, and the ensuing hybrid was settled underneath confidential phrases in 2017.
Fleetwood Mac
WHAT HAPPENED: Fleetwood Mac and feuds are virtually synonymous. Breakups and divorces between members are important to a few of their finest songs. The battle resumed within the 2010s when the band kicked lead guitarist Lindsey Buckingham off their 2018 tour, and he sued. Buckingham claimed he was informed 5 days after the group appeared at Radio Metropolis Music Corridor that January that the band would tour with out him. He says he would have been paid at the least $12 million for his share of the proceeds.
HOW IT WAS RESOLVED: Later that yr, Buckingham stated they’d settled the lawsuit.
Journey
WHAT HAPPENED: In some unspecified time in the future, two key members of Journey stopped believin’ in one another. And throughout an Amex. Longtime guitarist Neal Schon sued longtime keyboardist Jonathan Cain in 2022, saying Cain was refusing to let him use the band’s American Categorical card. A counterclaim got here from Cain, who stated that Schon was working up monumental private expenses on the band’s account.
HOW IT WAS RESOLVED: A decide in 2024 appointed a custodian over the band’s monetary selections, particularly empowered to settle disagreements between Schon and Cain.
Corridor & Oates
WHAT HAPPENED: In 2023, Daryl Corridor sued his longtime music accomplice John Oates, arguing that Oates’ plan to dump his share of a three way partnership would violate the phrases of a enterprise settlement the Corridor & Oates duo had solid lengthy earlier than. The transfer rapidly prompted a decide to briefly block the sale.
HOW IT WAS RESOLVED: The lawsuit and arbitration are ongoing.
The Beatles
WHAT HAPPENED: Their inventive partnership had been over for months, however the Beatles needed to escape the barristers to interrupt up their enterprise. Paul McCartney went to London’s Excessive Court docket of Justice in 1970 to dissolve the Fab 4’s 1967 contractual partnership, which included the Apple report label. McCartney above all wished to do away with supervisor Allen Klein, whom John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr wished to maintain as overseer of their enterprise. “The only way for me to save The Beatles and Apple,” McCartney informed British GQ in 2020, “was to sue the band.”
HOW IT WAS RESOLVED: The court docket dominated in McCartney’s favor and appointed a receiver to supervise their ventures in 1971. However negotiations and wrangling continued till a long-term answer that will grow to be often known as “The Beatles Agreement” was signed by all 4 members in 1974.
