10 Greatest Band Rivalries In Rock History

10. The Beatles vs. The Beach Boys

In the 60's pop scene, no one exuded the free-spirited nature of the time like the Beatles. The band's endless charisma onstage and off made them feel like fun-loving guys who just happened to be getting No. 1 hits. At the same time, America had their take on the pop rock sound with the Beach Boys' boy-next-door mentality under Brian Wilson's songwriting genius.

Though the marketing departments of both camps had their work cut out for them, things got even more heated once everything started expanding. Starting with 1965's Rubber Soul, the Beatles began to take their pop formula in a more mature direction than the standard love songs of the day. While Brian Wilson said that he loved the record, he wanted to see if he could make a good enough album to compete with his British friends. With the result being the pop masterpiece Pet Sounds, Paul McCartney started to listen in a bit more.

Being absolutely stunned by Wilson's work, McCartney aimed to be even more ambitious and started to put together tracks for what would become the band's grand conceptual work Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. All from a friendly songwriting battle, the world got some of the greatest album experiences to come out of the rock music genre.