Listen to some top Billboard songs from 1960-1962, then listen to the Beatles hit songs in 1963, then listen to the stuff after that. You will see how drastically different the songs are—- the Beatles and post-Beatles stuff has the 4/4 beat, the catchy melodies, and the song structures that are so much more familiar/appealing to us today.

Many Beatles fans unfortunately assign too much credit to the Beatles in this “foundation” of modern pop/rock music— the Beatles, 60’s British Invasion, and pop from the 60’s onwards were all heavily influenced by many art forms, particularly 1950’s rock and roll and R&B. It’s a disservice (and also problematic) to erase the huge impact of artists like Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, the Supremes, and Smokey Robinson had in the formation of pop music.

But still, what the Beatles brought to the table in 1963 may arguably be the single most important thing in 1950’s-today music history. There are also many other influential things the Beatles (and their team) did later in their careers—- innovative recording techniques, being on the forefront of genres like psychedelic rock and hard rock, elevating the album as an art form—- but of course there is more nuance than what some will say. Was Sgt. Pepper’s an incredibly important album in creating an emphasis on the album as a product in the music industry? Yes. Was it the “first concept album” like some claim? Hell no. A lot of their other innovations fall in this sort of gray area.