10 Greatest Band Rivalries In Rock History

Music should never be considered a competition. For the most part, many people come into the genre wanting to bring their unique take on music to the world. At the same time, some people try to use their platform as a way to play against their contemporaries.

Throughout the years, many bands have fallen in conjunction with one another over who is the better band. Whether it be a personal feud or a legitimate musical similarity, these bands have all had some bad blood flowing through their veins. Rather than combing through personal experiences or follow their muse, it's often just as easy to find inspiration as an opponent rather than a musician. While these guys may have carried on fighting through thick and thin, rock fans typically won out in the end, with each band delivering their best work in an attempt to outmatch the band next to them.

Here are the bands that turned the art of creating music into sonic sport. It's up for debate who did it better, but these bands have brought their kickass songs to the table to stomp out their competition.

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.