Top 10 Times Musicians Made Arses Of Themselves

#10: Gallagher Friction

The two frontmen and brothers of the band Oasis have had some iconic battles with each other over the years. But rarely have we witnessed Liam and Noel Gallagher clashing on-stage. Well, on the second night of their legendary performance at Manchester City’s former stadium, Maine Road, in 1996, we saw just that. As the group launched into “Whatever,” and Liam sang a few verses, Noel tried to get his brother’s attention. They then had a verbal fight for a bit as Noel wanted to restart the song for one reason or another. After the interruption, Liam did some sulking. After playing the tambourine for a bit, he sat on the floor and smoked while Noel did “Whatever.”

#9: Second Hand Embarrassment

The Peter Andre and Katie Price romance was one that quickly went from adored to despised and it was because of stunts like this. Peter Andre, a talented singer in his own right, encouraged his then partner to do the same. The results were devastating. Choosing “A Whole New World” from Aladdin as their song, the two belted out the worst rendition you’ve ever heard in your life. Still, it took place on Children in Need, so at least it was for a good cause.

#8: Interrupting MJ

Michael Jackson showed up to the Brit awards back in 1996. The legend took to the stage to perform his powerful “Earth Song” ballad. It was a hell of a performance, with MJ bringing his usual superstar energy - but one person took issue with it. Jarvis Cocker of Pulp decided to walk onto the stage and ended up coming across as just the first 4 letters of his surname. He pulled faces and made rude expressions in a staggering display of disrespect to both the artist and the audience. When confronted about the incident, he came up with some tosh about protesting how Jackson depicted himself as a Christ- like figure.

Sure mate, whatever you say - but many saw it as immature, attention seeking behavior.

#7: Don’t You Know Who We Are?!

While you might be a musician of a specific genre performing at a festival mainly for another, it’s best not to have a tantrum and disrespect the audience. But that’s what Royal Blood did in 2023 at “BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend” event in Dundee, Scotland. Near the end of their set, frontman Mike Kerr became hostile to the crowd. He mocked them for not knowing who the band were -- which sounds like his problem, really -- as well as being annoyed at their lack of enthusiasm. The duo finished by flipping everyone off as they left. It was weird. After the controversy, Kerr dropped the stage persona. He stated he was doing a performance and didn’t realise it would explode like this.

#6: Can’t Take A Joke

Beabadoobee is undoubtedly an exceptionally talented young star. That said, she did irreparable damage to her image in 2025, when she became the central figure of a popular meme. The meme would show a clip of her performing prefaced by a caption saying “artists who can’t sing” then switch to a clip of NBA Young Boy, a… far less talented performer, but with opera singing played over his vocals and a caption saying “artists who can sing”. It’s dumb, harmless fun.

However, instead of ignoring it, or laughing at the joke’s absurdity, Beabadoobee instead opted to take to social media and crashout. She went off saying how much more rich and successful she is than those making the jokes… which doesn't really have any relevance to the situation at all.

The thing is, the joke was obviously being ironic, Beabadoobee is clearly a fantastic singer.

She apparently didn’t even watch the meme to begin with… so what was she so mad about?

#5: A Bizarre Incident

East 17’s Brian Harvey was one of Britain’s biggest heartthrobs when the band was at its peak. However, he suffered major aura loss following an incident involving his car. Let us just start by saying, the injuries he sustained were horrible and by no means something you should make fun of, but Brian himself has been able to look back on the event and laugh at its absurdity.

As the story goes, he was feeling particularly hungry one day so he decided to gorge himself on jacket potatoes. He then went behind the wheel to get to a friend’s house and was suddenly overcome by the sheer amount of jacket potato he had eaten that he had thrust his door open to be sick. This somehow ended with him running himself over.

Thankfully, he was able to fight past his injuries. Years later, and Brian even featured in a scene from Roisin Conaty’s Game Face playing himself in a reference to the event.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFgymPdJC-Q

#4: Do We Have To Bring Yoko?

When people heard that John Lennon and the legendary American musician Chuck Berry were going to perform together on the Mike Douglas Show back in 1972, they could not be more excited. After all, these were two of the biggest names in Rock and Roll. The two were rocking out Berry’s tracks 'Memphis, Tennessee' and 'Johnny B Goode' when suddenly Yoko showed off her… “talents”. Her wailing absolutely killed the moment, and even Chuck Berry was visibly disturbed at what she was doing. Fortunately, one brave sound technician made the amicable decision to mute Yoko’s microphone, so the audience no longer had to suffer.

#3: Arctic Monkeys’ Speech

If you’ve seen our broader list of times celebrities made an arse of themselves, then you saw this one coming. It is just so hard to watch. When coming up to accept their award, Alex Turner has the most painfully exaggerated and unnatural swagger. He then begins making a paddling pool-shallow poem off the top of his head about how Rock and Roll isn’t dead. He’s trying to be profound but he just ends up looking like a bit of a prat. The ending bit where he drops the mic is sure to make you cringe.

#2: Rod Stewart Draws Balls

Rare is the occasion where someone makes themselves look daft, but actually come out of it being more loved than ever. That’s certainly the case with this little mishap involving Sir Rod Stewart. He was invited to participate in the draw for the Scottish Cup, which sounds great on paper. Until you realize he’s absolutely plastered. He keeps grabbing the numbered balls in the most exaggerated fashion and drunkenly thrusting them at the camera. The look on his face is absolutely priceless too. While the other two are trying to keep things prim and proper, Rod brought an energy to this draw that made it a moment to remember.

https://youtu.be/3xPDBA2mSHI?si=Gdf5Mh132JLJc7Hi

#1: Preston Gets Grumpy

If you’re not willing to take a joke, don’t turn up on Nevermind the Buzzcocks. It’s practically a given that you’re going to get the piss taken out of you, but even with that in mind, Preston of the Ordinary Boys came onto the show wearing the thinnest of skins. Simon Amstell was poking fun at his then partner, Chantelle Houghton, and instead of taking it on the chin he looked increasingly annoyed. Things reached a fever pitch when Amstell began reading from Chantelle’s autobiography, leading to Preston storming off. His career never really recovered from this incident.

Which of arse-making moments did we miss? Let us know in those comments below.