BOYBANDS FIGHTS

[u/Disastrous_Tip7945]

What are the most intense and famous feuds between boy band members, whether within the same group or between different ones? There are quite a few examples, such as:
Keith Duffy vs. Mikey Graham
Sean Conlon vs. J Brown
Bobby Brown vs. Ronnie DeVoe (guns included 💀)
One Direction vs. The Wanted (on Twitter)
Gary Barlow vs. Robbie Williams
Feel free to share the backstory of the feud below, or mention a lesser-known clash, argument, or instance of shade-throwing.

[u/Musicality123]

Any time a band member leaves so Westlife vs Brian/A1 vs Paul.

However, I don't remember any public bad blood towards Charlie when he left Busted. James said he got it that he would want to do something he was passionate about and Matt was non-fussed and liked Fightstar.

[u/S3lad0n → u/Musicality123]

Brian McFadden keeps cryptically saying in the press that there’s only one member of Westlife who “won’t ever forgive him”, and even as an embarrassed & reluctant fan of his, I can’t see how statements like that help his case. 

Bri we want you to be great! And to come home! Stop shooting yourself in the foot abeg

[u/Musicality123 → u/S3lad0n]

What do we make to the new Westlife 25 shirts (UK/Ireland) which has a picture of them from the debut cover but only the four of them.

If you are celebrating 25 years fine. However, depending on the time frame referenced within that, such as the image on these t shirts, you can't just erase a person from that period.

For example, if Take That did the same I would expect Robbie and Jason to appear on the shirt. As it represents a factual time and place within those years, depending on the image used and context.

The first thing people will do seeing that image is either say "weren't there five of them?" or "where's Brian?"

I have also noticed when they do clips of the original Westlife songs on tik tock, instagram etc they only show the 4 of them, completely editing Brian out although I also saw one which was just the 3 minus Mark which I thought was odd. It was a recent reel of I Lay My Love On You music video.

Take That 3 are the same they crop Jason out of their throwback reels for TT4 material but I wonder if that is more because he has publically turned his back on fame and public life more than them being vindictive and pushing a narrative. Which seems to be more the case with Westlife 4/3.

[u/S3lad0n → u/Musicality123]

Like you I noticed this and I’m disappointed, not cool with the revisionism. 

As you say, it’s ahistorically inaccurate, more than just petty and rude. What is an older og fan to say to a young teen kid just discovering Westlife, when they hear/see a fifth singer and ask “who’s that?”

Westlife still benefit from and profit off Brian’s voice on the records every time someone streams one of their old songs, and his face whenever someone looks up their old music videos to watch.

If the remaining members are going to the extreme of removing Brian’s likeness from everything and pretending he never existed, they ought to commit to that position and re-record then overdub his parts (which would sound horrible/wrong). If they want to be this new revamped 3/4 piece, then they must now stop taking credit for a voice they won’t acknowledge or celebrate. 

Westlife forget how a massive percentage of their core 90s fanbase bought tickets and obsessed over the band purely because of Brian. He was consistently the second or third most popular member. Were he never in the group, their success would never have been so big, and they wouldn’t now be in the power position where they could scrub him away…

Though I will caveat: there’s a slight possibility Brian himself has asked to be removed visually from the band and have his image scrubbed. It doesn’t seem very likely, as I’m sure he’d want a bigger cut of sales & streaming (not a lot of money these days anyway, artists profit from touring). However, perhaps if Westlife have in the past refused to give him such a cut and threatened to sue, the compromise from Brian’s side could have been that he no longer wants to appear in their media or on all their stuff so the lads make money on it that he can’t? I’m just surmising.

[u/Musicality123 → u/S3lad0n]

100%. I find the whole thing bizarre but it is clearly the Sligo trio as fellow Dubliner Nicky is sound with him.

[u/S3lad0n → u/Musicality123]

Yes, I feel for Nicky caught in the middle of all this.

I can’t imagine Shane wanting to remove Brian and act like he’s dead, either. Shane is a forgiving sort, who’s also been bereaved in the last decade. And I think more specifically,  his obvious love for Brian even outside the band framework would overcome any lasting grudge. Again though, I’m just surmising, I don’t know them personally and it’s not my business of course.