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[Greg]

Something like The Beatles will never happen again.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/candy-leonard/6-reasons-a-beatleslike-p_b_6348070.html

1. The Beatles had a fan base larger than any performer before or since.

2. There were relatively few entertainment outlets during the Beatle years.

3. Media saturation in American households reached absolute levels during the Beatle years.

4. The Beatles appeared at a time of cultural cognitive dissonance.

5. President Kennedy's assassination left young people feeling disillusioned and confused.

6. The Beatles brought something genuinely new and compelling to the pop landscape.

[Greg]

I like 2, 3 and 6.

I can also say this.  It may not happen in the US, but it could happen in a different country.

[2 of 3]

Yeah, I can't say I agree with number one at all. The Beatles never had the internet. They had the Ed Sullivan show. Before or since? Hmm...Elvis...Sinatra...they did ok Maybe even MJ had more collectively at the time? Good question.

[Keri]

Number 6 is good with me and i agree that the cultural influences were involved. The Beatles acted like a catalyst on the culture, it's like there were all these elements bubbling away but they needed the Beatles to fuse them. It all seems kind of mythic and inevitable now.

It's interesting to think that when the Beatles came Rock N Roll had seemed to have come and gone. Shouldn't the rock n rollers have changed everything? They didn't it was the Beatles from Liverpool that somehow made it all bubble over in a way that is astonishing.

It's like the Beatles were able to tap into all this cultural stuff that had not percolated out fully into society and they grabbed it threw it into the mix and it all bore fruit: Rock N Roll, surrealism, Spirituality, Beat poetry, psychedelics, collage, music concrete, music hall, pop art, Motown.

And the music gushed out and over 50 years after it all started we're all still boggled by it, still love it with a passion, it still feels meaningful to us.

[Greg]

It's interesting to think that when the Beatles came Rock N Roll had seemed to have come and gone. Shouldn't the rock n rollers have changed everything? They didn't it was the Beatles from Liverpool that somehow made it all bubble over in a way that is astonishing.

Great statement.  And yes we forget that rock did seem to have come and gone. 

This statement is a bit flawed, but...5 years after The Beatles stopped carrying the torch it was punk and disco to give the rock world its kick in the a** and say, "Let's get dancing and have some spirit to music again."

[Mervap]

I does seem that, at least in the 60's, 70's, 80's & 90's, whenever rock & roll got too "corporate" sounding, there would be a rebellion against that, with something new and exciting breathing new life into the genre. I am likely just too old to hear that rebellion now, but I'll bet it's there.

[2 of 3]

It's rap and hip hop ain't it?

[Greg]

It is.  But I will say this.

The only good thing about rap is that it pisses off old people.

Otherwise, to me, it is a lazy, lazy approach to art.  Public Enemy was great, Eminem, and a few others, but what an embarrassment as a genre.  If anyone says that I am out of touch because of my age, then that's fine.  I can't argue with you.  I won't.

In a genre that requires you to not come up with a bridge, a chorus, verses, a melody, harmonies, play an instrument...good luck.

[Keri]

This statement is a bit flawed, but...5 years after The Beatles stopped carrying the torch it was punk and disco to give the rock world its kick in the a** and say, "Let's get dancing and have some spirit to music again."

I don't buy that either, great music was made throughout the 70's, it was a really vital time: T Rex, Roxy Music, Yes, Elton John, David Bowie, Zeppelin as well as Dylan, McCartney & George Harrison still making very good records. The Punks maybe added some more energy but they lost some of the richness. The Beatles had both excitement and richness.

[Greg]

You like Jethro Tull don't you?

I forgot to mention that I saw Jethro Tull front row center at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee a couple months ago.  A friend begged me to go and bought my ticket.  I didn't like them much, but I have total respect and a liking for them now.

The guy is a nut and a showman and a great songwriter and just the coolest guy.

Very fun time.

[2 of 3]

One of the tightest bands I've ever seen. Sadly, Anderson's voice was never the same after about 1985..not sure what happened.  But like you said...he's just great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgUw6t3b6oE

[Keri]

You like Jethro Tull don't you?

I forgot to mention that I saw Jethro Tull front row center at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee a couple months ago.  A friend begged me to go and bought my ticket.  I didn't like them much, but I have total respect and a liking for them now.

The guy is a nut and a showman and a great songwriter and just the coolest guy.

Very fun time.

I missed them when they came here, I just didn't know they were coming, kicked myself.

Yes I should have added them to the list, very creative and a really undervalued songwriter, good musician too.

Should also have mentioned Stevie Wonder, there were a ton of good artists in the 70's I don't think they were pushing the frontiers quite like the Beatles did, but then as we're saying the Beatles burst the Dam, the others rode the flood.