[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Lets have an intelligent musical discussion. On the recent Nivana thread folks have been comparing Nirvana to Beatles, which might not be valid. Its led to heated side-bar discussion about the Beatles in general. I personally just don't see the Beatles as being influential to the 1960s so much as inspiring. So many bands were inspired to start up bands and get out there when they saw the Beatles doing it, but I just don't hear any influence on the music itself.

If y'all do, kindly document this progression please. Can y'all help inform me and list record releases in chronology to demonstrate how the Beatles directly influenced mainstream bands from 1964-1968? I don't dispute the influence of records like Abbey Road and Let It Be, but these records clearly had their impact more so in the 1970s as a plethora of Abbey Road/Let It Be records and bands came out. However before then? I just don't hear it. It was mentioned that Stones responded to Sgt Pepper, but to me I don't hear it, if anything it sounds like Sgt Pepper was a response to both the rising Stones and also the weird 1966/67 Blues revival explosion which replaced the folk era and spawned the success of bands like the Grateful Dead (who relied almost solely on kick ass Ottis Redding covers until 1968), Jimi Hendrix (who also relied on blues "standards" until Are You Experienced), Cream, Black Sabbath, and even James Brown.

So step up and help us out, with evidence demonstrate chronologically just how influential the Beatles were (as opposed to being inspiring)..