The Beatles?
Yeah, they were the most popular and all that, but I don't get 90% of the arguments for them. The one who sells the most records is not necessarily the BEST at anything.
Wow, you must be the reincarnation of Dick Rowe.
I could go on almost forever about this at length (and don't worry, I will) but for those who don't want a huge argument, just the best one, here it is...
I think quite simply that the biggest reason that the Beatles get that title (Best Rock Band Ever) is because they pretty much invented it. Before the Beatles the pop charts were dominated by Andy Williams, Pat Boone and Connie Francis. What rock and roll there was (and there was very little at that) was not widely played as it was considered race music and black folk didn't get played on white stations. And, at that, it was individual performers, Little Richard, Elvis, Chuck Berry, Bill Haley and the Comets and not just The Comets, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, not just The Crickets that ruled the charts and pop music. There was a surf deal going down largely in LA, but back in the day those musical units were referred to as 'groups' and 'combos' far more than they were called 'bands'. It was about one huge star and a bunch of autonomous back up musicians. But The Beatles were 'a band' - it wasn't just one of them, it was John, Paul, George & Ringo doing that most awesome of human activities, combining their efforts to create true synergy (something that is greater than a mere sum of the parts).
Pop music can be (and was almost from the start of their career) as Pre-Beatles and Post Beatles. It's hard to imagine, even for those of us who remember it and all but impossible for those that don't what a clear break they were from what had gone before. They were a new era. So much so that program directors like Rick Sklar of New York's WABC went so far as to forbid DJs from playing any "pre-Beatles" music, and that was in 1964.
Those four guys shattered constraints and limitations of their time and invented/created something that was both unique and original. "In the form that they worked in, in the form of popular music, no one will ever be more revolutionary, more creative and more distinctive."
Before The Beatles rock and roll was a very small part of the pop music scene. After The Beatles Rock was totally culturally dominant and would remain so for over half a century.
Quote from Rolling Stone associate editor Robert Greenfield.
