Beefs 2014: War on Drugs Address Mark Kozelek Controversy: "He's Such a Fucking Child"

BY Gregory AdamsPublished Oct 28, 2014

It's taken a few weeks, but Philly rock group the War on Drugs have finally weighed in on the beef Sun Kil Moon songwriter Mark Kozelek tried to start with them with his song "War on Drugs: Suck My Cock," a tune about the band drowning out Kozelek's performance at the Ottawa Folk Festival with their own. Now, frontman Adam Granduciel sums up his side of the argument with the following message to the Sun Kil Moon singer: "Get over yourself."

Granduciel gave his opinion on the supposed feud to Swedish blog Songs for Whoever [via Consequence of Sound], noting the band didn't initially have a problem with the song, which describes them as basic, John Fogerty-style rock.

Granduciel goes on to allege that Kozelek had suggested coming to a recent War on Drugs show at San Francisco's Fillmore, where they could back him as he played "War on Drugs: Suck My Cock." Granduciel thought it was a "pretty cool idea" but noted that since he didn't immediately jump at the chance to collaborate with Kozelek, the offer was pulled off the table. Kozelek later aired this out online.

"Then two days later I get an email back from him, saying 'the offer has expired, maybe when I get home from tour I'll go to Starbucks and buy your record.' I was like 'you're such a fucking prick, dude,'" Granduciel said. "He was such an asshole, I didn't even say anything. Then he goes to the internet and he 'challenges' us to this thing, but I was like 'you fucking prick, you already said 'No!'"

Granduciel continued, "He's such a fucking child. And then the song is just idiotic, he's just a fucking idiot. I don't have time for idiots. I'm just pissed that he tried to make it come out like he was challenging us. I had already essentially agreed to it, and then the Starbucks comment… what the fuck, dude. Get over your fucking self."

The controversy-stirring diss song also received a trouncing earlier this month from Perfect Pussy's Meredith Graves, who wrote an essay questioning the language of male violence embedded within the message of the song.

"'Suck my cock' is an order, not a request," she wrote, "'Suck my cock' is, when used by the wrong person, the language of physical force, the language of rape. He wants the world to know that he thinks TWOD sucks cock, implying that sucking cock is a bad thing. Who sucks cock? Not straight dudes like Mark Kozelek, but women and gay men. Which one of these groups is he using as an insult?"

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