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Are the Beatles the reason why modern music exists

I believe that the Beatles are the reason why modern music exists. The album that ushered in modern music was "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". Although I consider it maybe their 4th best album, this is the one(One person said it was the Rolling Stones, but do you remember what their equivalent album was? It was called "Satanic Majik Mysteries", or some such{you had to be there}.) It definitely wasn't Elvis. Although good, Elvis was not the innovation that allowed modern music. One interesting thing is to ask youngsters what the Beatles' "White Album" is.
mmakshak

Showing 2 responses by pabelson

pabelson
344 posts
 
Um, Debussy, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, etc.?
pabelson
344 posts
 
Sorry for my somewhat flip first response, but "modern music" does mean something, and it ain't mainstream rock-n-roll. The Beatles were, in Sir Paul's words, "a great little band," but their artistic innovations were definitely at the margins. I'd give more credit to the generation that preceded them--the 50s artists who walked the distance from blues to pop. And Dylan, who in his own way expanded the boundaries of popular music.

As for Sgt. Pepper, it was indeed hugely influential in its time, though not necessarily for the better. (Think prog--and apologies to its surviving fans.) By 1980, however, the punk-New Wave axis was looking back to the Velvet Underground (Eno's famous quote: Almost nobody bought their albums, but everyone who did formed a band) and blues-rock innovators like Hendrix and the Yardbirds. In the 80s, people who thought Sgt. Pepper was the Beatles' best album were decidedly unhip.

The Beatles are probably more influential today than they were 20 years ago, but more credit probably goes to albums like Rubber Soul and Revolver than to their Mannerist period.
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