May 302012
Bad blood.
Townsman Sethro passed along the following topic for discussion:
Are there any brother acts in rock history who actually got along? The Bee Gees seemed to get along better than most, but most of the time you hear about The Everly Brothers, Oasis, The Kinks, etc and their constant fighting.
Happy sister acts or mixed brother-sister acts are also welcome for discussion.
I think The Finn brothers from Split Enz/Crowded House got along (perhaps I am wrong). The Spampinato Brothers (of NRBQ fame) seem to get along well.
This may be due to the fact that each one came into the band after the other (older) brother had already established himself in the band.
Sister Sledge (four sisters of “We Are Family” fame) seem to have gotten along pretty well for four decades now.
It seems like Ron and Artie Wood did, too, right?
How would anyone know? Did that band they were in last long enough or make enough noise for anyone to have heard of squabbles? If so, please feel free to smack me:)
I guess I don’t really know, but I wasn’t considering the existence of the band as the only part of their relationship.
There’s no evidence of them ever having problems, and I recall seeing nice pictures of the two of them hanging out and enjoying each others company at various points since the 60s.
Maybe I’m projecting a nice relationship where there wasn’t one, however.
After all, they didn’t play together for very long.
Philadelphia’s not just the city of brotherly love.
Now that I live down here in the land of the Allmans, I think I can say with confidence that the two who were really brothers got along (although I’m sure the more cynical among us assume that had Duane lived, he and his brother would’ve eventually had a brawl; it’s what wild eyed southern boys do, right?).
Angus and Malcolm seem to get along just fine.
I’ve never heard of beef between Ron and Russell Mael. I think Steve Jensen and David Sylvian continued working together after Japan, didn’t they?
NELSON!
The brothers in Jennyanykind get along so well, it’s creepy.
True!
What about Rudolf and Michael Shenker? Cold shoulders for decades? Or getting the families together for rumplemintz am Weihnachten?
I think the 3 Followill brother in Kings of Leon get on OK, but Caleb forced them to cancel their U.S. tour and I think he had to go to rehab.
How about Ann and Nancy Wilson? They’ve got a nice long streak going. They even do side projects together.
Off and on, yes, Jansen has worked with Sylvian.
Neil and Tim Finn got along too well, in my opinion. Tim ruined Crowded House.
We know they’ve gone to war against Diamond Dave, Sammy, Michael Anthony and (I assume) Gary Cherone, but have Eddie and Alex Van Halen ever had a public falling out of any kind? If they haven’t, they must have the strongest fraternal bond in all of rock.
I thought that there were some tensions and power struggles with Robin and Barry. Can anyone confirm?
And so who’s winning here? The siblings who get along or the ones who don’t? It seems to me that three sets of brothers got along so poorly that they created a stereotype that isn’t true.
Not counting the BeeGees for either side, that makes about 3 sets of Battling Brothers and 11 or 12 sets of siblings who appeared to get along just fine. Maybe the issue is that when you have a falling out with a bandmate who’s also a brother, there’s a good chance that you’ve already punched him at some point in the past so it’s not really breaking new ground when you punch him again, whereas you are not as inclined to punch someone if you’ve never done so before.
I think you add more to battling side, though:
Stinson brothers — The Replacements — Tommy sided with Paul Westerberg when he fired Bob)
Zanes brothers — From most accounts, Dan and Warren didn’t get along in the Del Fuegos.
The Deal sisters — Kim and Kelley have had some well-noted spats.
Never heard of any Greenwood beef.
I don’t recall any of the following having a major falling out:
Ron and Scott Asheton (except when strung out heroin)
Tegan and Sara Quin
The Watson Twins (Chandra and Leigh)
ummm The Watson Sisters (Minnie, Missy and Louise from the movie Highway 61)
Mmmm…. Greenwood Beef….
The Wilson Brothers seemed to put up a pretty solid front against Murray and Mike Love. Their only beefs seemed to be in regard to addictions, which I don’t really count as it’s all Rock&Roll.
The Van Halens were my first thought.
aloha
LD
cdm, you are correct. This was at least one reason why Robin left the group around 69/70, as I gather he felt like they were becoming Barry and the Other Two; which, in a sense, is what it ended up being later on since Barry sings lead on almost all of their “disco era” hits, I think.
“From most accounts, Dan and Warren didn’t get along in the Del Fuegos”
Dan Zanes was in the movie Do It Again (the one where the Boston Globe reporter attempted to get the Kinks back together) discussing brother relationships in bands.
You beat me to that bakshi. hat tip to ya.
From what I’ve read about the Beach Boys, it seems that Mike & Al used Brian as a deciding vote on business matters against Dennis & Carl in the 70s.
The Mael brothers were my first thought in this catagory.
Mike and Al also convinced Brian to work with them on crap like MIU and LA (Light Album). I think it’s a matter of the Love axis taking advantage of a sick and nearly-incapable Brian (who still held the business cards) rather than a real rift between the Wilson brothers. Dennis was pretty much out of the loop because of his own problems by that time and Carl didn’t seem to be the personality type to put up a big fight.
“Used” and “sick” I think are the key words here. I’m not one to cut folks slack on taking responsibility for their own behavior, but BW late-60s to the 90s is my exception. I don’t categorize the BW under the spell of the “Love Axis” (classic!) v. his brothers as the same guy from the early years. And during those years it was Dennis drawing the heat from Murray to protect Carl and Brian and Carl and Dennis backing Brian’s decision to stop touring against all the heat from the others.
Whether I’m right or wrong, this thread has led me into a nice little Beach Boys kick to start my summer!
aloha
LD
Sorry, I forgot to plug in the Dark Years of Landy also. I got distracted with the Love axis ref.
aloha
LD