By the time Beatlemania hit, The Beatles were basically peerless.
No one else was hitting the heights they were, and no one else was on their level. Sure, they had friends in other bands, and plenty of people were influenced by them in a give-take style flow of inspiration. But the second they hit the pinnacle, the Fab Four really had no competition.
Even when considering the other top-level acts from the moment, there was never enough crossover to pose any real threat. The Rolling Stones were only just getting started when the Beatles were huge, so Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were more like younger brothers or students than competitors. Bob Dylan was big, but in a separate world, even though the band were inspired by him. Elvis Presley was probably the only other artist coming close to their scales, but despite being the ‘King of Rock and Roll’, Presley’s music and energy were quickly very different from the Beatles, meaning their fan base split.
The Beach Boys provided some competition in terms of another band that seemed to be evolving at the same rapid pace and into the same experimental directions. However, again, there was enough differentiation to cut any true feelings of competitiveness and, instead, just leave room for mutual admiration.
It wasn’t always the way, though. The Beatles were peerless at the top, but they’d only got there by battling through perhaps one of the most competitive scenes in musical history—the unassuming Mersey scene.
Home to the Merseybeat scene, Liverpool somehow became the first real home of rock and roll in the UK, further developing the merge of blues, rock and pop to create something infectiously radio-ready. Obviously, The Beatles are the best-known product, but back when the boys were just playing the clubs around their hometown, there was competition on every corner and stage.
Liverpool was home to so many bands just like them at that time. Each night, at each venue, there would be some other group playing that The Beatles were basically directly up against for any level of attention or for future books. In particular, they saw one as a real rival.
“Gerry was a mate from our early days in Liverpool. He and his group were our biggest rivals on the local scene,” McCartney recalled, talking about Gerry and the Pacemakers. The rivalry was heightened by the fact that Gerry and the Pacemakers were also represented by Brian Epstein and also recorded by George Martin, meaning that they weren’t just two acts influenced by the same music; they were being directly shaped by the same hands.
In the end, though, The Beatles obviously won out. However, for a good while, Gerry and the band would still be trailing in their footsteps with Epstein using the success of his main band as a springboard for his others. When the Fab Four broke America, he made sure to quickly usher in the others, spreading the Merseybeat sound around.
But despite the rivalry and the weirdness that could have come from it, McCartney only really had nice things to say about Gerry and the Pacemakers, stating, “His unforgettable performances of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ and ‘Ferry Cross the Mersey’ remain in many people’s hearts as reminders of a joyful time in British music.”
