That's what lots of people tell me, but I've never considered music to be a contest. Just enjoyment.
Oh, I agree. I was being a little facetious; music certainly isn't a contest, though historically, theres always someone trying to be the 'best,' whether its a jazz trumpeter, a first chair violinist, a romantic composer ...
But, to me anyway, it seems 'metal' has grown through competition, a primal sort of oneupmanship----trying to thrash faster (exodus, slayer), trying to be more evil (venom, mayhem), trying to sing higher (nitro, grim reaper), trying to riff heavier (pantera, sepultura), be more brutal (dying fetus, cryptopsy), more technical (cynic, spastic ink). It might not be their one true goal, but it certainly breeds competition, and then innovation.
I think Meshuggah has won 'heavy'
(11 minutes into "I"... that just might be heaviest riff POSSIBLE!!
until someone tops it, of course
)