Are the Beatles the reason why modern music exists

The Sgt. Pepper album came out after George Harrison paid a visit to San Francisco. Think of them more like Pat Boone making hits out of Little Richard tunes. There was music coming out of LA and San Francisco that was much more interesting than the Beatles, at least until Mr. Martin started working with them. Just like today, however, Pop music sells more and has more influence than the music it copies.

Fascinating show on PBS recently called "John Lennon's Jukebox", in which the artist's whose records were in John's jukebox are interviewed and asked if they recognize influences of their music in the music of the Beatles. Really interesting, IMO.

Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, Fats Domino and many others prior to the Beatles.

Rather than disagree that they were the most influential, I would tip that on its head and say the Beatles were one of the most influenced bands. Where the Beatles made a big contribution was that they channelled those influences into music that affected many millions.

For everything you might claim they were the first at, it is easy to find someone that did it earlier, that probably influenced the Beatles, but didn't take it to anything like the market the Beatles were able to reach.

So, of course the Beatles were incredibly influential - but not because of any originality in their music or even style ideas, but in the sheer marketing genius. It has often been said that hit tunes rarely have enduring merit (except for how they remind us of how we felt when we listened to them at the height of their popularity), and succeed by delivering the right song at the right time. The Beatles did that repeatedly and led the market for pop songs by the nose for several years till they got bored with it.

They did not give birth to modern music, but they did give it huge momentum.

I might not credit the previous thoughts mentioned on this forum, so please forgive me. A couple of thoughts, though. One, would music have evolved to the point it is now from Elvis or Louis Armstrong? I don't think so. That is not intended to denigrate what those great musicians provided. Also, the point about drugs is well taken. I lived(and still do) in the San Francisco Bay Area during that time(Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Santana[3 times] played my high-schools). I think the point about reaching a mass audience is relevent here. I just think that the Beatles broke down the walls, and that breakdown occurred with "Sgt. Pepper's "