"The beatles were really to poppy for me to see how they influenced a rock band like G&R. I would credit that to an early rockstar, not a pop band. I think it was more people like Beck and Clapton and Hendrix which influenced these bands."

Guns N' Roses were/are a pop band too, just with a hard rock core, if you like. Its evolution, you dont have to sound like the music your influenced by, Led Zeppelin were influenced mainly by old blues artists, but they(some say) invented heavy metal, you get it?

At the end of the day, my opinion is, the Beatles wrote better songs than everyone else and thats why theyve been so successful.