20 iconic musicians who refuse to play some of their biggest hits

During a New Year’s Eve performance in Miami, Nick Minaj told her audience she wasn’t going to perform “Starships” for them. Minaj apparently isn’t a fan of the song anymore, despite it being one of her most recognizable tunes. 

Rihanna will only perform what she wants to perform, and she doesn’t feel bad about it. Ahead of a concert in the 2010s, Kendall Jenner tweeted that she hoped Rihanna would sing “Complicated.” RiRi replied to the tweet, telling Jenner not to come, indicating that she wouldn’t be playing the song the model had requested. 

During their short but impactful run, Nirvana grew very tired of performing “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” We can’t blame them, but knowing what we know now, it would’ve been awesome to have had a few more live recordings of that song. 

Radiohead became synonymous with its song “Creep,” so much so that the band cites some audience members exiting their shows after the band played the song. The repetition became dissatisfying to the group, so they stopped performing it. 

Cher has never been a fan of “Believe,” so it’s no wonder she’s refused to perform it in the past. Luckily for fans of the song, Cher isn’t totally against singing it anymore. But she has made it clear she’s upset by its age.  

Chris Martin is an artist through and through, and he knows that audiences are sensitive. He won’t perform “Speed of Sound” because he doesn’t like the final product, and he doesn’t want audiences to pick up on it while at a Coldplay concert. 

The song “Wonderwall” literally makes Oasis lead singer Liam Gallagher sick. Gallagher recognizes its popularity in the United States, though, which puts him in quite the pickle. The band will play it on occasion, but many times, the group has passed on the opportunity. 

There’s always risk associated with writing a song about someone you know in real life. Adele wrote her hit “My Same” about a close friend. When their relationship went sour, Adele took the song off her setlist. The two made up years later, and Adele began singing it again. 

Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin apparently didn’t want to be defined as an artist by his work for the famed rock group. When he went solo, he didn’t play “Stairway to Heaven” for decades, save three reunion performances with Led Zeppelin. 

Madonna has multiple songs she doesn’t sing anymore. According to the singer, unless she’s getting tens of millions to sing them, you won’t hear her perform “Like a Virgin” or “Holiday” again. We’d be willing to perform either song for much, much less. 

Billy Joel has plenty of hits to choose from, so his refusing to sing “Just the Way You Are” for years on end wasn’t a huge loss to his setlist. The song was written about his first wife, and performing it made him uncomfortable after they divorced. Also, Joel wasn’t too crazy about the track before he and his ex-wife divorced. 

If you can only name one Sinéad O’Connor song, it’s probably “Nothing Compares 2 U.” Due to its themes of loss, O’Connor stopped playing it some 20 years after its release, noting that she could no longer emotionally connect with it. At least she gave fans a warning. 

Pat Benatar has gone through a lot of emotions with the song “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.” She’s brought it in and out of retirement, but in 2022, she put it away for good due to the increase in mass shootings in the United States in recent history. 

Everybody in the world knows the song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin. The masses’ want for the song became tiresome to McFerrin, and he stopped performing it. But don’t worry (be happy), because in thousands of houses across America, there are still Big Mouth Billy Basses singing the song for McFerrin. 

Despite it being perhaps their single most recognizable song, Paramore has refused to play “Misery Business” in the past. Lead singer Hayley Williams has said that she finds some of the lyrics, which she wrote as a teenager, to be sexist and not sex-positive, which she does not stand for. However, Paramore began performing it again in late 2022.

There were a few songs that Prince stopped performing, but one of the most popular was “1999.” The singer said that once it had lost meaning, he no longer wanted to sing it live. Perhaps if he had changed the lyrics to a different year, he would’ve kept performing it. 

Apparently, fans had to fight for their right to hear Beastie Boys perform their hit “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (to Party!)”. The group wrote it as satire, but when audiences started listening in earnest, Beastie Boys decided to retire the song from their performance line-up. 

Elton John has only performed “Empty Garden” a few times, but it’s not because he doesn’t like the song. Playing it makes him too emotional. Some of his others he’d like to retire for other reasons, like “Crocodile Rock,” which he does not enjoy. 

Mick Jagger did not want to keep singing “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” for years and years and years, but despite his protests and refusal, it’s still part of the band’s setlist all these years later. It’s also part of countless cover bands’ setlists. 

Foo Fighters didn’t necessarily want to stop playing “Big Me,” but after it became a bit of a safety hazard (fans started throwing candy at the group when they performed thanks to the video), the band retired the song. After Weezer began playing it at their concerts, Foo Fighters realized how much they loved the song and picked it back up.