Quote:
Originally Posted by Baby Lee
They're each important in their own manner. Elvis was the pioneer, the Beatles were the best, and most innovative, musicians, Michael resuscitated a moribund industry.
The place one before the other is akin to comparing Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. Would Einstein have made the breakthroughs he made if he had to invent calculus first?
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There's a heck of a lot of truthiness in this statement.
Still, you begin from where you are at the time, Mr. Baby Lee. It's fair to say that, had the Beatles not been inspired by Elvis, rock-a-billy, and up-tempo blues, they might have been inspired by someone or something else and we might be listening to a whole lot more accordion duos on satellite radio. It doesn't necessarily mean that their impact would be any less ... just very different.
Although Elvis was hugely important to the emergence and wide, cultural acceptance of "rock & roll", to me, the breadth and depth of the Beatles' influence - not to mention the lasting appeal of their songs - gives them the nod. And it shouldn't even be close.
FAX