Iconic musicians who are notoriously difficult to work with

As a hard rocker, it's probably fair to have expected Gene Simmons to be all over the place in more ways than one. But, when even your bandmate calls you an "a--hole" and a "sex addict," it's clear the work situation isn't ideal. 

By her own account, Madonna can be difficult to work with. Her dancers faced that reality as they dealt with her perfectionist tendencies while rehearsing for her Rebel Heart Tour. “She knows who’s slacking. You wanna work hard for her," one of her dancers told People a little over six years ago.

As an all-around musician and the mastermind behind Wu-Tang Clan, RZA has been known as a perfectionist and a bit of a control freak. Wu member U-God accused RZA of the latter in his 2018 memoir, Raw: My Journey Into the Wu-Tang. In Hulu’s Wu-Tang: An American Saga, a series overseen by RZA himself, the production maestro is notoriously reluctant to let anyone but himself handle all aspects of production. It’s hard to argue with the results, but it might not have always been easy. 

Young Thug will go down as one of rap's greatest pioneers, but unfortunately, his penchant for being late to performances, video shoots, and other things connected to work hasn't made him the easiest to work with. 

Charlie Parker was a legend, but his wild behavior often interfered with his music. His heroin addiction played a heavy role in his erraticism; at least once, he missed multiple sections he was supposed to play because he was too drunk. 

Bobby Brown probably had a point when he said that New Edition was getting underpaid, but when he began trying to sing over groupmates, it was clear that he wasn’t always a team player. He left the group in 1986, with some citing jealousy as the motivating factor behind a lot of his actions. 

Pink Floyd accomplished a lot during their run, but things didn't always go so smoothly behind the scenes. Lead singer Roger Waters was noted for exercising disproportionate control over the crew, leading to conflict at various points at pivotal points of their career. 

As a band, Guns N’ Roses were pretty much unstoppable. So then, it only makes sense that its greatest threat came from within. Known for a titanic ego, Rose was accused of coercing his group to sign away their name, telling them that he wouldn’t perform if they didn’t. While Axl denied the claims, he was undoubtedly a volatile force even before that particular moment. 

By all accounts, Captain Beefheart’s The Magic Band did awesome work together, but apparently, he wasn’t so great behind the scenes, with bandmates claiming he abused them while behaving like a dictator. 

John Lennon’s artistic brilliance is well-documented, but so was the way his drug problems and his relationship with his wife, Yoko Ono, helped pull The Beatles apart. Sometimes, things just run their course, but it seems like Lennon played a significant role in this one doing so more quickly than it should have. 

At various times in his storied career, Van Morrison has proved to be a volatile presence in the workplace and otherwise. Over the years, there have been reports of him firing bandmates with little notice. More recently, he tried to dispute the validity of COVID-19 research, which, on a macro-level, could make him not only hard to work with but also help jeopardize plenty of innocent lives. 

Fair or not, Mariah Carey is a poster person for people who’re hard to work with. When on the set of one movie, actor Rob Huebel recalled the singer arriving to set four hours late before refusing to sing a song she was hired to sing.

David Ruffin’s vocals were unquestioned, but midway through his run with The Temptations, he was showing up late to rehearsals and showing some signs of being a bad teammate. After a while, he even refused to travel with the group, arguing that his name should be added to the front of their name. He eventually left the group. 

It doesn’t take a whole lot of research to find a trail of behavior that paints Nicki Minaj as a diva. Whether it’s sudden tirades directed at facialists or American Idol beef, the rap icon demands that things be a certain way — and good luck if you veer off that path. 

In the past, Iggy’s mid-concert antics made him the type of act you’d think would be difficult to insure. As a foundational force in punk rock, this type of stuff comes with the territory, and we should maybe even be grateful for it. But this guy was all over the place in the workspace. 

Being a global pop star isn’t easy, so it only makes sense that working with one isn’t either. Exhibit A: Lady Gaga. The “hard parts” include Gaga apparently owing nearly $400K in overtime payments to a worker and being on call at all hours of the day. 

Tupac was a legendary workaholic, and naturally that made recording sessions pretty intense. In the studio, ’Pac was known to keep certain rappers off songs if they couldn’t write their verses fast enough. Outside the studio, Tupac could be difficult, too. According to Busta Rhymes, Tupac once accosted a soundman before a show for not doing his job right.