Would their have been bands like GNR or Aerosmith without the Beatles? I have no idea, BUT, you do not realize the huge influence they had on everyone who was alive and a Rock and Roll fan when their music was new and fresh, it is very hard for most people who are maybe younger than 35 or 40 years old to understand how limited the music media was in the 60's, you might have one AM radio R&R station to listen too, and a lucky kid might get one new 45rpm record to play on the turntable a month, WOW 2 songs, Of course since you only had one radio station, that played everything that was considered R&R, whoever was on the Top 10 or 20 got heard the most, and the Beatles stayed on the charts like that for at least 7 or 8 years, so even if you didn't like them, you still had to hear them. It's funny you mention Bill Haley, Elvis, Buddy Holly, who do you think were some of the influences of the Beatles were? But by the 60's Elvis was mainly just making movies, Buddy Holly was dead, and Bill Haley must have been selling used cars or something while awaiting the 50's music revival of the mid 70's, (Until then 50's music was our Mom&Dad's music and you know how boring that is), most Dylan fans didn't like the Beatles and vice versa, IMHO, he may be a poet, but he ain't no singer, and John Lee Hooker's influence was microscopic, unless you were a musican seriously into the blues, you probably never heard of him in the 60's. As far as the Beatles album's go, most of their albums were considered groundbreaking, especially, Rubber Soul, Sgt Pepper, Magical Mystery Tour, the White Album, and probably Abbey Road, when you consider the fact that most bands never even record that many albums in a career, let alone have one considered groundbreaking, and the Beatles had all those in the space of about 4 or 5 years, and the music changed vastly over their career, listen to the first Beatles album, and then listen to one of the ones listed above, they also exposed people to alot of different styles of music, different instruments, thematic albums, etc. I say all this as Joe Average White Boy growing up in the 60's, in the U.S., every kid I knew at the time was a Beatles fan, they also influeneced fashion, everything from haircuts to shoes, their even was a Saturday morning Beatles cartoon show. I'm sure Axl, Slash, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry all heard plenty of Beatles growing up, in the 60's or the 70's, I know they were on the turntable at every opportunity at my house, I heard alot of others groups, artists, but I can't say any of them had the overall influence of the Beatles..........

[Edited by pstring on 01-23-2003 at 10:14 AM]