The diss track is firmly back in the spotlight thanks to rap titans Kendrick Lamar and Drake going head-to-head online.
Rap and hip-hop may have the modern monopoly on the diss track, but the notion of tearing someone apart in song or subtly critiquing them in a way that keeps fans guessing has been around for a long time, as these pop, rock and RnB tracks show…
1. And Your Bird Can Sing, The Beatles (1966)
Biggest diss: “You tell me that you've got everything you want, And your bird can sing”
Released on The Beatles Revolver album, And Your Bird Can Sing was purportedly about Rolling Stones’s frontman Mick Jagger and his singer girlfriend, Marianne Faithfull.
With “bird” a slang term for girlfriend in the UK, the song is about a man who seems to have everything but, wrote Lennon and McCartney “You don't get me", seemingly a reference to Jagger not being able to have their song writing skills.
The two bands had initially engaged in a friendly artistic rivalry as each jockeyed for chart supremacy, and it was George Harrison who helped the Stones sign to The Beatles' record label, Decca.
Trouble started brewing when John Lennon began to feel that the Stones, who McCartney had previously dismissed as a "blues cover band”, were copying The Beatles' sound and direction.
Lennon later told Rolling Stone magazine: "Every ******* thing we did, Mick does exactly the same – he imitates us. You know, Satanic Majesties is Pepper.”
2. You’re So Vain, Carly Simon (1972)
Biggest diss: “You're so vain, You probably think this song is about you”
One of the most famous take downs of an egotistical ladies man in music history, speculation about who Simon wrote the song about continues to this day.
Having dated Mick Jagger, Kris Kristofferson and Jack Nicholson, among others, it was long rumoured that the song was about Oscar-winning actor and director, Warren Beatty.
Simon later told People that the second verse is about Beatty and that another of its subjects had the letters a, e and r in his name, making Jagger and Simon’s ex-husband, singer James Taylor, prime suspects.
3. Sweet Home Alabama, Lynyrd Skynyrd (1974)
Biggest diss: “Well, I heard Mr Young sing about her, Well, I heard ol' Neil put her down, Well, I hope Neil Young will remember, A Southern man don't need him around, anyhow”
Arguably the Florida rock band’s most famous song, Sweet Home Alabama features a chorus dedicated to singer-songwriter, Neil Young, after two of Young’s songs, 1970 track, Southern Man and the 1962 song Alabama, took the American south to task for what he saw as its racist attitude.
Young's song, Alabama featured lines such as: "Oh, Alabama, The devil fools with the best laid plan", while in Southern Man he sang, "I saw cotton and I saw black, Tall white mansions and little shacks."
Lynyrd Skynyrd thought Young was generalising the entire south and Young would later write in his book Waging Heavy Peace: A Hippie Dream that Southern Man was "accusatory and condescending".
For their part, Lynyrd Skynyrd felt their song was misconstrued and in fact carried an anti-racism message, evidenced in lines such as: "In Birmingham, they love the governor (boo boo boo)", a reference to Birmingham, Alabama governor George Wallace who enforced segregation in the 1950s and 1960s.
4. Ego Tripping Out, Marvin Gaye (1981)
Biggest diss: “Hey homeboy how come everywhere you go you have to go by limousine man”
Gaye’s track Ego Tripping Out is rumoured to have been written about soul and RnB singer Teddy Pendergrass.
Pendergrass rose to solo fame after leaving Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes in 1976 and went on to release five consecutive platinum albums.
Gaye was said to have felt Pendergrass lacked humility and so took a fictional narcissistic man to task in the track.
5. Miracle Man, Ozzy Osbourne (1988)
Biggest diss: “Now Jimmy, he got busted, With his pants down, Repent ye wretched sinners, Self-righteous clown”
Ozzy Osbourne wrote Miracle Man with his bandmates Zakk Wylde and Bob Daisley about the American Pentecostal televangelist Jimmy Lee Swaggart.
Swaggart had constantly railed against Osbourne since 1985 when a story emerged about a teenager in the US who had killed himself while listening to Osbourne’s Suicide Solution.
Swaggart was later caught by police in two separate scandals and cried on US television while admitting, “I have sinned".
6. You Oughta Know, Alanis Morissette (1995)
Biggest diss: “Did you forget about me, Mr Duplicity?”
In the lead track from the Canadian singer-songwriter’s third album, the five Grammy award-winning Jagged Little Pill, Morissette takes an ex-boyfriend to task in one of rock’s most rage-filled anthems.
Although Morissette has never revealed who the song is about, it’s widely believed that US actor and comedian Dave Coulier, who she dated from 1992 to 1994, is the Mr Duplicity in question.
The pair met and started dating while both starring in different Nickelodeon shows in Canada. Coulier revealed he first heard the song on the radio while in his car and initially called rumours attaching his name to the song an "urban legend", later admitting he believes it is about him.
"I’m listening to the lyrics going, ‘Ooh, oh no. Oh, I can’t be this guy’," he told Sirius XM. "And I went to the record store, bought the CD and I went and I parked on a street and I listened to the whole record. I started listening to it and I thought, ‘I may have really hurt this woman'."
7. I’ll Stick Around, Foo Fighters (1995)
Biggest diss: “How could it be I'm the only one who sees, Your rehearsed insanity?”
The track accompanied Foo Fighters' first music video and for years fans believed the song, with its “I don’t owe you anything” chorus was about lead singer Dave Grohl’s late Nirvana bandmate, Kurt Cobain.
In 2009, Grohl told his biographer Paul Brannigan: “I don't think it's any secret that I'll Stick Around is about Courtney [Love]".
8. Get What You Give, New Radicals (1998)
Biggest diss: “Fashion shoots with Beck and Hanson, Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson, You’re all fakes run to your mansions”
They may have been one-hit wonders, but New Radicals’ Get What You Give has remained a radio stalwart since its 1998 release and was also played at US President Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration.
In 1999, Marilyn Manson told MTV he would “crack” lead singer Gregg Alexander’s “skull open if I see him”, to which Alexander responded in the same year, “I don't have a strong view on any of the artists mentioned in the song".
9. All Too Well, Taylor Swift (2012)
Biggest diss: “I was never good at telling jokes but the punch line goes, I'll get older but your lovers stay my age”
While a large chunk of Swift’s back catalogue could be considered diss tracks aimed at some of the famous men she has been connected to, All Too Well sparked a global reaction from the singer’s fans, who dissected the lyrics and accompanying video.
First released in 2012, the track was re-released with an extended version for Swift’s re-recorded Red (Taylor's Version) and is universally agreed to be about Road House actor, Jake Gyllenhaal, who Swift dated from October 2010 to January 2011.
Company%C2%A0profile
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'Downton Abbey: A New Era'
Director: Simon Curtis
Cast: Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Maggie Smith, Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter and Phyllis Logan
Rating: 4/5
OPINIONS ON PALESTINE & ISRAEL
How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers
Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.
It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.
The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.
Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.
Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.
He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”
A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.
Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.
Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.
Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.
By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.
Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.
In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”
Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.
She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.
Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
UAE SQUAD
Mohammed Naveed (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Rameez Shahzad, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zawar Farid, Ghulam Shabber, Ahmed Raza, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Qadeer Ahmed, Chirag Suri , Zahoor Khan
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
War 2
Director: Ayan Mukerji
Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana
Rating: 2/5
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
More coverage from the Future Forum
About Proto21
Date started: May 2018
Founder: Pir Arkam
Based: Dubai
Sector: Additive manufacturing (aka, 3D printing)
Staff: 18
Funding: Invested, supported and partnered by Joseph Group
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
The biog
Age: 35
Inspiration: Wife and kids
Favourite book: Changes all the time but my new favourite is Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Best Travel Destination: Bora Bora , French Polynesia
Favourite run: Jabel Hafeet, I also enjoy running the 30km loop in Al Wathba cycling track
'Tell the Machine Goodnight' by Katie Williams
Penguin Randomhouse
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
What is an ETF?
An exchange traded fund is a type of investment fund that can be traded quickly and easily, just like stocks and shares. They come with no upfront costs aside from your brokerage's dealing charges and annual fees, which are far lower than on traditional mutual investment funds. Charges are as low as 0.03 per cent on one of the very cheapest (and most popular), Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, with the maximum around 0.75 per cent.
There is no fund manager deciding which stocks and other assets to invest in, instead they passively track their chosen index, country, region or commodity, regardless of whether it goes up or down.
The first ETF was launched as recently as 1993, but the sector boasted $5.78 billion in assets under management at the end of September as inflows hit record highs, according to the latest figures from ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five largest providers BlackRock’s iShares, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisers, Deutsche Bank X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
While the best-known track major indices such as MSCI World, the S&P 500 and FTSE 100, you can also invest in specific countries or regions, large, medium or small companies, government bonds, gold, crude oil, cocoa, water, carbon, cattle, corn futures, currency shifts or even a stock market crash.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
LEAGUE CUP QUARTER-FINAL DRAW
Stoke City v Tottenham
Brentford v Newcastle United
Arsenal v Manchester City
Everton v Manchester United
All ties are to be played the week commencing December 21.
