The Beatles

Well, how many times do you hear a Beatles influence in current pop music - constantly. A CD of their 27 (!!) #1 hits that's selling in the Britney / NSync range. They still have a huge sales appeal and are extremely influential in music being produced today - transcending all other musical artists of this era would be a strong statement, but hardly dismissable.

You're irritated by everything musical your kids like and define rock and roll as "anything musical that irritates the parents" - hmmmm, sounds like a nice objective starting point for evaluating the merits of the genre. For somebody who has such a distaste for it, I'm wondering why you spend as much time as you apparently do listening to or researching the playlists of Classic Rock radio stations - who, pray tell, still listens to FM at all regularly, much less a classic rock station? To hold up their playlists as evidence of the significance of a band's contributions is just irrelevant.

KThomas, it was a joke both about poor ol' Led Zep and about the radio stations. Still NOBODY has explained how they transcended everybody else. If my joke on radio stations is invalid then your take on selling agillion albums is also invalid because the only people that bought the album are aging boomers. My kids and their friends,who are a very perceptive lot I might add, don't give a damn one way or another. It's only oldtimers' music. As far as influence is concerned, in the 80s and 90s ,(besides TV commercials) who did they possibly influence: Madonna? Prince? M.Jackson? InSync? B.Spears? But did they influence REM? or Nirvana? U2? Since everybody likes to pontificate, tell me what specifically makes them transcend everybody else and influence others. Maybe I don't understand because I live in a different musical universe than you. Hell in some other musical universes' Hank Williams Sr is god who transcends over everything.

Shubertmaniac - Actually, I agree that selling a jillion albums has nothing to do with their influence and, to a large extent, significance. I only brought it up since your line of reasoning seemed to be centered on measures of popularity.

Who did they influence in the '80's and '90's? Squeeze, Marshall Crenshaw, Crowded House, Fountains of Wayne, Moxy Fruvous, Oasis, Charlatans UK. These are just bands that come immediately to mind that I listen to often.

I'm not personally arguing that the Beatles transcend the ages, mainly because I'm not enough of a student of music history to say that with any authority. But their influence, success and skill are all but inarguable. Go read the entry on them on All-Music Guide (www.allmusic.com) - they quite eloquently explain how the Beatles transcended everybody else.

I have a 14 year old daughter and I'm very aware that the Beatles hold no particular interest to her or her friends. Again, though, aren't we back to talking about popularity issues as opposed to significance or skill?

I think it's quite possible that you don't understand based on being in a different musical universe than I and many others. Your example of Hank Williams Sr. is a good example - he's definitely not in my musical universe - there are clearly many to exist in and very few people can be in very many at once.

KThomas..we are both right...our musical universes are (and those that crucfied me) are just totally different. I guess I am now satisfied. Enough from me for awhile.

Schubertmaniac - Interestingly enough, anecdotal evidence doesn't do much for any of us. I live in the Metro Detroit area and our classic rock and oldies stations play quite a bit of Beatles music, "come Together" and "Let It Be" seeming to be two of their corporate headquarter's favorite. As we all know, 99% of FM stations are owned and programed by corporations who only want to make some money from them. And, this is interesting: our local "jazz" station plays NO Miles, Mingus, Monk, or Coltrane let alone anything from Chet Baker, Charlie Parker, or even Duke Ellington. We do get lots of Earl Klugh, Grover Washington, and Anita Baker, none of whom show any influence of any of the truly greats listed above. Oh yeah, and my 19 yr old nephew (who I see once a year) absolutely loves the Beatles and has told me he "intensely studied" them for his music. His band (alt rock) has won two battle of the bands in the last 18 months and is booked almost every weekend. And for his high school graduation a year ago, three people, including me, bought him Miles Davis' Bitches Brew box set! David recently told me he likes Santana's last album but that "His first six albums are his Canon." Anyway, I personally think kids today are, in many respects, a pretty shallow bunch of people. I know I was when i was 14. Aw, what the Hell...Miles, Coltrane, Hendrix, and The Beatles absolutely rule!!