In an interview with the British newspaper The Times, 79-year-old rock and pop star Rod Stewart ripped into Ed Sheeran and suggested he doesn't know any of his music.
During the chat, Stewart was asked if he believes musicians are still making music that could be considered timeless. "I'm sure they are," he said, with a follow-up question of his own in which he referred to one of his tracks. "You mean like 'Maggie May'? Songs that will be played in 50 years?" he asked.
"I like whatshisname," Stewart continued, while getting frustrated at forgetting at certain musician's name. "Oh fucking great, Rod. Well Done. He's British, really talented and his songs will be around." It was suggested to him that he could be thinking of Ed Sheeran, who is arguably one of the most popular British musicians currently active, but he stressed that wasn't who he was thinking of. "No, not Ed," he said. "I don't know any of his songs, old ginger bollocks."
Stewart and the reporter Jonathan Dean were able to deduce who he was actually thinking of after he sang some of the lyrics to George Ezra's "Shotgun." "Yes! I think he writes really tremendous songs," he said. "He'll be around for quite a while."
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Elsewhere in the interview, Stewart lamented the current state of the music industry and said that many artists are chasing fame over crafting genuine art. "We were brave in those days to go into the music business," he said. "We didn’t know where it would take us, but record companies were different. They would give you a try. Also, the people I came up with—the [Rolling] Stones, Elton [John]—we all came into it because we loved the music."
Last year, Sheeran was involved in a major lawsuit over accusations his song "Thinking Out Loud" infringed on the copyright of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On." He ultimately won the case, with a Manhattan jury agreeing that his song did not replicate key harmonies and melodies from Gaye's track.
