Taylor Swift is possibly the nearest but whether people will still be playing her music in 60 years is moot 
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True… It pleases me to think when I get to the old peoples home they will be playing Voodoo Ray / NWA and Nirvana.
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I think Bob has a point. It could be argued that The Beatles were very much the tipping point at which Rock n Roll became white music, having evolved out of different strains of mostly black American music.
Hip hop has been a very slow burn as far as mass acceptance goes. Kendrick playing The Superbowl half time slot is significant, I think that Hip Hop is now the dominant pop music. Also interesting that Hip Hop is still predominantly black. The origins of it are similar to some of the early elements of rock. Do-Wop for instance sprang from street corner singing groups. But Hip Hop hasn’t crossed over so much, at least the artists haven’t. I know there are decent exceptions but Vanilla Ice anybody? 
. There’s a huge white market for Hip Hop now, though.
Harry Mack!
If we are talking about pop (popular music, the Beatles couldn’t ever be classed as underground). They sold 600,000000 records. (Not a typo six hundred million) which is more than any other band before or since - In other words the most popular band ever.
Certainly ‘the teenage’ really only kicked off in the 50’s with Elvis et al appropriating black music (Hello hound dog). And yes sounds were less diverse in mainstream pop (Not so in Jazz) The Beatles didn’t invent any Genre they just came to define / appropriate / ace several in a way that has not been repeated
I genuinely wish it were - As a side note: I’d love a new sub culture come to think about it - That hasn’t happened since Rave culture and it’s subsequent offshoots. ( arguably Brit pop and for a shot time grunge on a far less global scale) What I mean by culture is something that incorporates: Art / Dance / Ideology / fashion / A drug / Language and sound. Hip Hop / Punk / Disco / Hippie Movement even Prog had these elements. Manufactured Pop cuts away at so much of this, as do record labels run by accountants and the internet which ‘blows’ up or incorporates scenes faster than they can grow roots. - This is a long winded agreement with Bob, it would be very hard to have something new and distinct en masse these days - and probably why the Beatles could do what they did (Excluding their formidable talent)
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It helps when as well as possessing fabulous individual and collective musicianship, and the ability to adopt different styles and sounds almost at will, that you are uncannily good at writing a catchy tune whatever genre you’re pitching at.
Yes, their talent level was quite extraordinary. Whilst they may have been perceived as ‘uncool’ I’m not sure many of their contemporaries would have said no to joining the band.
Growing up in the 70s,and I guess in the 60s was the speed cultures and tribes changed. It was all so fast,and not one of them really lasting more than 18 months tops.
I naively thought it was always going to be like that.
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There is a lot to their sound too. Multitracked vocals, the tight harmonies and the feeling they are singing directly at you a lot of the time. They were fantastic singers. The guitar sound, the drums…
Early on, they’d record their albums in a day! 
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Birthday present and I’m bereft, because I’ve finished it now! Really excellent, pretty devastating towards the end. Try not to fall out with those you love, folks. 
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Beatles with bagpipes (OK, Uilleann) - specially for @htm_1968 and @rmsshipbroker
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(God) help me…
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No way I’m clicking on that. I’ll bet there are flutes involved too.
It’s OK, you’re safe. No flutage, and the pipes only make a brief appearance. Mostly guitar, drums, keyboard. I think it’s pretty good.
I would point out that the worst Beatles cover ever heard in Wam/AA contexts didn’t include flutes or, indeed, any instruments.
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The Beatles have always been a bit of a lacuna in my musical journey. I’ve heard their most famous songs of course, but never heard any of their albums all the way through. I’ve recently worked my way through their oeuvre, chronologically.
While I appreciate all the points about their rapid development, influence, variety, etc., personally they’re not a band I’ll return much to. I found on every album there are one or two, maybe more, tracks I really like, but haven’t enjoyed a single album all the way through. For me, they had standout tracks of greatness (e.g. the below) but no coherent body of work. Funnily, and this will probably invoke the wrath of @Wayward I thought the White Album was my least favourite. I get it’s critically acclaimed, etc. and the lacking is clearly mine, but apart from a few tracks, I found it quite irritating to listen to.
Anyway, glad to have finally listened to them properly. Next up, The Rolling Stones…
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Me too*.
I intend to do the same thing, a retirement project!
*I think I probably have heard SPLHCB all the way through.
I think The Beatles’ reputation puts loads of pressure on new listeners of their records. How can the music ever live up to it? I guess that I have always listened to them, pretty much, and haven’t approached them with a ‘let’s see what all the fuss is about’ type attitude.
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