What direction would rock have gone without The Beatles?

Guess what? This whole thread consists of opinions. But given that it's part of the historical record that the Stones started writing their own material in response to the Beatles' success, I don't think I'm too far off the mark. Without the Beatles, rock music wouldn't have been as popular. The Stones would have had no incentive to stop playing the blues and Chuck Berry covers they loved and start writing their own songs. The blues scene in London would have continued as a semi-underground scene. I don't think any of this is particularly outrageous speculation.

 

Again...you are arguing to argue - but ramping up being obtuse whilst
you argue.

 

South!

 

Professional songwriters might have been writing most of the songs for rock groups. The Beatles showed that bands could write their own songs. Rock n roll movies might not have been common either if it wasn’t for the Beatles. The Beatles invented show business. There would be no Rolling Stones without the Beatles.

 

There would have been no Black Sabbath. You can close the thread.

 

OK we're getting kind of far afield here, but let me spell it out for you:

If there is any American musician whose body of work captures the essence of psychedelic drugs, it's Jerome Garcia.

Does that help?

 

Buddy Holly, Brian Wilson, The YardBirds, and many others were
writing their own songs. And the Rolling Stones would have got
there -albiet a little later possibly - but they had it in them.

 

Nope. Jerry Garcia was not influential in the San Francisco scene till 1968 or 1969.
My older brother was a record producer - he is quite well known in that scene.
And people going in and recording weren't talking about Garcia as an influence.
Most said in the mid sixties that he was an accomplished 'blue grass' player.

 

It would have been different without The Beatles. I think that's really all we can say with any certainty.

 

Totally disagree. Andrew Oldham saw the real money was in publishing. Go write songs and get rich lads. The Beatles weren't the first songwriters. Geezus.

 

"Is there ANYBODY out there ?"

 

Wow. You need to read more history mate. It was a rock n roll movie that made John Lennon want to be a musician in the first place.

 

barely. they never left that comfort zone. they never recorded in the states like other UK groups either. Which is probably a good thing as far as sonically, and helps my earlier point of George Martin and his team being the main ingredient.

 

That their songs could be written by them ,they learned from the following and etc...
'"That'll Be the Day" is a song written by Buddy Holly and Jerry Allison. It was first recorded by Buddy Holly and the Three Tunes in 1956 and was re-recorded in 1957 by Holly and his new band, the Crickets."

 

Hmmm. Didn't we already have this topic recently under a different name? The outcome was the same though: without the Beatles, the path of popular music would have been SO different (for better or worse). That's the simple fact. There's not much that can be said beyond that though.

 

It would have taken a left turn at Albuquerque.

 

Among the many times they ventured off site - Hey Jude was recorded at Trident.

 

I found this on-line article about the demise of the group (from 2008). It states that the group broke up due to a prank which lead to their arrests. The members spend two days in jail and were given the choice of more jail time, enlist in the army or enroll in college. I believe all involved enrolled in college and eventually became lawyers.

Perfect Sound Forever: Mike and the Ravens

BYW, I think that the well worn pre-Beatles era theory that rock n roll was dead - that Buddy Holly died, Elvis was drafted, Jerry Lee Lewis' career sunk after he married his underage cousin, Chuck Berry went to prison, and in their place was the rise of non-threatening pop crooners- is exaggerated. Although, I don't think that it is an exaggeration to say that the Beatles revitalized rock n roll. And I don't know if it's been mentioned in this thread yet, but the Beatles were never shy about expressing their influence from and love for American music.

 

???
Garcia and the GD were hanging and playing with Quicksilver, Big Brother and the Airplane at a myriad of concerts all through 66. Also,owned and opened one of the first ballroom scenes, and famously had free concerts in the Gate opening up the opportunity for the Human Be-In January 1967- perhaps the first large out door gathering of the psychedelic movement where the Grateful Dead also performed.
Frankly, 1966 was still mostly straight as far as the recording industry was concerned. Nowhere near close to the burgeoning underground scene (which really began in earnest summer of 1965) to care enough.

Caution (Do Not Step On Track)

 

It would have been a fusion of r&b, folk, country, surf music, vocal groups, girl groups and Chicago blues with some pop thrown in. Basically like the Beatles without the music hall.

 

Or Elvis for that matter

 

Captain Trips not influential until ‘68?

You might be off by a year or two. He practically produced the Airplane’s second album in late 1966.

Grateful Dead Guide: Jerry Garcia & Surrealistic Pillow

Garcia was listed as the “Musical and Spiritual Adviser” on the back cover when it was released in February ’67. Though perhaps meant to be tongue-in-cheek, it’s actually quite a serious indication of Garcia’s high standing (at least among the Jefferson Airplane). Hidden behind that vague credit, Garcia did quite a bit of work on the Airplane’s album, a couple months before the Dead even entered the studio – in fact, he spent more time on Surrealistic Pillow than he did recording the Dead’s first album!

The Airplane felt Garcia did more than just hang out!

Paul Kantner said, “We had an RCA producer, but Garcia did the art side of it.”

And Jorma Kaukonen said, “Jerry could be credited with really being the producer…in that he was one of us and he knew what to do with the band… He really was the producer who arranged those songs.”

 

Other than Rock Around the Clock, Blackboard Jungle is hardly a mere rock ' roll movie.
Girl Can't Help It or Jailhouse Rock fit that bill much better.

 

Elvis, Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry were influencing rock musicians long before The Beatles and would have continued to do so. Rock music may have stuck to a more rootsy American approach ala Bob Dylan, country blues/folk, etc..

Musicians in jazz would have continued to explore new emerging technologies and, by a natural progression and louder amps, would have gotten heavier into rock territory so I don't think music would have crumbled away into a little ball and died.

There was plenty of great music prior to the British Invasion and there would have continued to be so without it.