Are the Beatles the reason why modern music exists

It is impossible to condense this subject into a forum like this. Too many important people will be left out. I agree with Dan_ed that Robert Johnson deserves mention. To expand this a little further it is also important to mention Jelly Roll Morton. He claims to have invented the 4/4 signature upon which Jazz/Blues/Rock are based. This is obviously not verifiable but on his smithsonian recordings it's pretty cool to hear him tapping out 4/4 with his feet. Also, as an aside, while it's true that most early Jazz performers were largely self taught and poor there was the important influence of the Creoles who had real classical training. For diverse modern echos of all this check out 1956 Evis, any early Stones, and Led Zepplin 1. Each one DIRECTLY "borrows" from the melding of early jazz/blues pioneers and the progression through modern blues masters. - Jim

"The Blues had a baby and called it Rock "N" Roll" I can't believe only one person mentioned Led Zeppelin, I think they were as big a influnce on music as any group ever will be. I found the Blues by listening to them! As far as modern music today that most mindless people like, it exists because of MTV, Radio, Kurt Cobain, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Snoop Dog, Ice Tea, Ice Cube, Madonna, Janet Jackson etc. I don't think it would be fair to blame the Beatles for this crap! Thank God for CD players

Blblues68 Zep were a big influence (but not in the universal way The Beatles were)indeed they are a massive influence on two of the bands on your hate list!

Tee hee that really made me laugh......

Over 300,000 million albums sold worldwide, ok so there not as big universally as the Beatles. Mabey if they would have made singles, appeared on Ed Sullivan, talked to the press, made songs like Love,Love Me Do & Yellow Submarine there influence would have been bigger. The list of Bands and Musicians that were influenced by them goes on forever! I could have named another 20 bands on my hate list besides Motley Crue, Mettalica, and Ozzy that were greatly influenced by Zeppelin those were just the one's I had to listen to the most growing up. The Beatles would appear on my most overated list though I must say! I will apoligize ahead of time for offending anyone with my last comment.

While the Beatles were a very popular band, in my opinion they were not responsible for any great shift in music theory or in what you might call rock theory. They wrote a lot of good music that is still enjoyed today and without them we would be out oh so many clever allusions. But if they hadn't given us those jokes and tunes to listen to, someone else would have. If what you're suggesting is that without them the whole course of music would have changed, I don't know if I agree. While Chaos Theory does come into play, it also does with every butterfly who flaps its wings and every single one of us. And farbeit from me to credit myself with any major shift in human history.

My point is, if you want to give someone credit with why modern music exists, give it to the first dude who started banging some rocks together or hitting a tree with a stick and nodding his head to it. Or perhaps you could credit birds and other animals which provide nature's own melody and the inspiration for many early pieces of music :P But if that guy hadn't started banging those rocks or sticks together, someone else would have, maybe not to the same beat, but it would've been close enough for jazz. Same with the Beatles.

The Beatles were great and a lot of bands list them as an influence. But that's also true of the Pixies and many other bands, but nobody's praying to them for musical guidance. Let's let the Beatles religion go and let these fine men rest in peace.