LAST EDITED ON Oct-13-14 AT 09:09 PM (EDT)
 
>>You see similar stuff in different cohorts: boomers arguing
>>Beatles/Stones
>
>Which is pretty funny to those of us, in and after that generation,
>who recognize that the Who in its prime was a greater band than
>either. :)

I would argue all three of the bands (in their prime) regularly passed the Donald Dunn Test of Band Quality, possibly varying in quantities transformed. <1>
The problem with listening to The Beatles now is that they've been overplayed to the point of elevator music and almost no one has the musical context to really appreciate just what they did. It's a bit like the high school kids who complain about all the clichés in Shakespeare.
Similar deal with Elvis and a host of other acts.

I was massively overexposed to Beatles music while in elementary school (f'ing young boomer teachers) and I didn't listen to them for decades after. It was only in the late 90s when a friends who is very music knowledgable with a wide breadth started educating my ears and got over my resistance.

>"I can't stand that surf shit.
> Rock and roll's been goin' downhill ever since Buddy Holly died."

My aforementioned friend has a long involved argument that rock'n'roll would probably have developed in different directions if Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens had lived. I think he's projecting the future into the past some, but there is no denying the influence Holly had, even with only one and a half years of successful career. And he was smart and ambitious and loved music and knew what sin was.<2> I can't see him having no influence, particularly as he aged into writer and producer roles<3>...he'd be 78 if he was still alive today....just reaching the end of his career.

-VR
<1> Goat Piss. Gasoline. You know the rest.
<2> "But Lubbock will by-God let you know what sin is. So you can go out and do it, and enjoy it."
<3> "I have a sound in my head, and so far it’s not like anything we’ve done here." — The Buddy Holly Story
"They copied all they could follow, but they couldn't copy my mind,
And I left 'em sweating and stealing a year and a half behind."