Are the Beatles the reason why modern music exists

OK so i'm not as old as Avguygeorge, but i've been performing really old music for forty years. IMO R&B was an electric version of what began 30 years before with artists like Skip James, Charlie Patton, Robert Johnson.... that music was the catalyst, R&B was a variation.

what happened with the Beatles was that music became a cultural power. people were fanatics, lots of people, and their lives to a large degree revolved around 'music', and that music wasn't just about someones lovelife.
walk on the street today and observe how many people are wearing headphones... someone from a hundred years ago would think we're all lunatics for the way we define our identities with music. Huxley would have pointed to it as the Soma of the 21st century. on the other hand, this music culture connects us all in some sense and cummunicates ideas.

oh yeah , and the Beatles wrote great songs!

Jaybo got it right. Little known fact: The Ramones were trying to be a New York version of the Bay City Rollers, but something went awry. And, for better or worse (worse, I think), more "modern" pop music sounds indebted to the Ramones than to the Fab Four.

By the way, "modern" music has always existed. Most of it just isn't modern anymore.

Cheers

I love the comments. That doesn't mean that I agree with them. Think about it. Would the music be the same today, if not for the Beatles(not that it is any good, or it might be?)?

If it is shame on them. The top modern music is country and rap.