[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

The Beatles changed the rules. They made it OK to experiment with new ideas, new musical forms, new instrumentations, and new ways of recording. They really opened up popular music to a whole range of innovative possibilities.

The only positive thing I can imagine that would have resulted if the Beatles had never been a part of our world is that if the Beatles had never made that wonderful and inventive movie, A Hard Day's Night, the Monkees never would have had that lame TV show.

I didn't think The Monkees was that lame a show (although its hard to judge since the show tended to rerun a little too much), and it was different from what was on the air at that time (I can't think of another show of that time that was like it). Still, they did have some great music, some of which are as good as some of The Beatles' songs to me (The Girl That I Knew Somewhere, Pleasant Valley Sunday, Daydream Believer, and That Was Then, This Is Now).

Of course, if The Beatles didn't exist, we wouldn't have had The Rutles and their great music.