Harold,
I doubt a single one of the musicians you mentioned respectfully would agree that prog rock would have happened without the Beatles. Anyway, the fact is that it didn't. Revolver was released in summer of '66, featuring tracks with classical instruments, Indian instruments and the track Tomorrow Never Knows, which pushed the envelope quite a bit. Strawberry Fields Forever was produced in late '66 and released in early '67, still ahead of the wave of forward-looking (or -sounding) Brit bands you mention (mind you, I also like those bands and "was there, so to speak").
One of the valuable (to me, at least) things I learned in school came from a music theory teacher. I don't remember if we were discussing fugues or twelve-tone music or what, but he told me "it doesn't matter how complicated or sophisticated the method of composition is--what matters is 'is it good?'" I don't think the Beatles were interested in creating genres or producing music for art snobs--just music that "is good." Since we'll never know what would have happened without them speculation is pointless.
I doubt a single one of the musicians you mentioned respectfully would agree that prog rock would have happened without the Beatles. Anyway, the fact is that it didn't. Revolver was released in summer of '66, featuring tracks with classical instruments, Indian instruments and the track Tomorrow Never Knows, which pushed the envelope quite a bit. Strawberry Fields Forever was produced in late '66 and released in early '67, still ahead of the wave of forward-looking (or -sounding) Brit bands you mention (mind you, I also like those bands and "was there, so to speak").
One of the valuable (to me, at least) things I learned in school came from a music theory teacher. I don't remember if we were discussing fugues or twelve-tone music or what, but he told me "it doesn't matter how complicated or sophisticated the method of composition is--what matters is 'is it good?'" I don't think the Beatles were interested in creating genres or producing music for art snobs--just music that "is good." Since we'll never know what would have happened without them speculation is pointless.