Meanwhile, bands like Pink Floyd, Hendrix, Janis Joplin and The Doors were light-years ahead of anything the Beatles did and their influences echo through popular music to this very day.
But you know that before The Beatles, you had girl groups and teen idols. In 1959, rock died with Buddy Holly and Elvis went to Hollywood. The Beatles resurrected that sound, and then took it in a whole new direction.
You mention I Want To Hold Your Hand. Yeah, talk about a progression from that to A Day In The Life. The Beatles constantly changed their sound, finding new sounds. You can't put any song off of Please, Please Me onto Rubber Soul, and you can't take any song from Rubber Soul and put it on Abbey Road, and you can't take any song off Help and put it on The Beatles (White Album). Hell, they stopped touring at their height to go into the studio. Imagine any top-line artist today giving up the lucrative touring business, and just make music.
The Beatles had so many firsts, musically, I couldn't begin to list them all here, as I'd be here are night.
You mention Hendrix. Do you know how influential The Beatles were to him? He had a cover of Sgt. Pepper literally within 48 hours of hearing that album. And remember all that backwards tape he used? Guess where he got that from... he even reached out to McCartney and (seriously) inquired about getting together musically, as McCartney said, only finding out years after the fact.
1967, The Summer of Love. Who kicked that off on June 1 with Sgt. Pepper? The Beatles didn't follow, the led by example.
You are forgetting The Beatles paved the way for all those British Invasion bands to stroll to America. Also, The Beatles gave away so much material to the Mersey Bands. Hell, the Stones had one of their first hits with a Beatles song.
In the 60s, you had Dylan and The Beatles. Everything can be traced back to them.
Some people don't like them. I don't like one of the bands you mentioned, Pink Floyd, but I can't discount their influence, especially their early stuff. But to say The Beatles were light years behind anything those artists did, is just plain crazy talk.
Brian Jones visits The Beatles in the studio, sees Harrison playing a sitar. Stones were first to use sitar in a #1 hit, Paint It Black. The Stones blatantly copied the Beatles through the mid to late 60s. It's no surprise, you can see Jagger in photos constantly throughout that era.
To put it into a perspective we can relate to: I hate Microsoft products. But I will be the first to say they were the first company to really do commercial software, and they had a bunch of success. Just because I can't stand them, doesn't take away from what they accomplished.
If you could poll every relevant artists from the 60s/70s, two constant influences you'd hear over and over are Dylan and The Beatles. Like it or not, that is the truth.
I'll end it with a "put your money where your mouth is" statement. Their certified record sales are over 250 million. Claimed sales, or unofficial sales are 600 million. For reference, Pink Floyd, about 114m certified sales.
No matter how you look at it, by sales, influence, or whatever, no other artist(s) in the history of the world were more successful. They didn't do it with smoke and mirrors, just good music.
And don't forget, they had all this success with essentially a word of mouth campaign. You went to a record store or read a magazine, or were lucky to see them on Ed Sullivan or Dick Clark. Imagine today, with the instant media of the internet and cable?
In closing.. did I say that already? As a group, and as solo artists, the amount of good material that made it to vinyl will never be matched. That's just my opinion.
However, Nirvana was the first band/artist that I had from my own generation, and not my father's. Hoping to get tix to the 2014 Rock HOF induction ceremony when they go on sale!!!!!!!!
