What If: Beatles Never Form
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Yes....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_record_sales said:
Probably even faaaar more if bootlegs are taken into account. Beatles bootlegs were a gargantuan market, and still are.
Sandmannius
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How reliable is that source? Beatles or not, I've always doubted that any band or singer, be he John Lennon, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson whoever, has sold more than one billion albums, let alone more than 1.5 billion albums. Where did all these albums go to?
It's wikipedia, but from everything I've seen, it's 1 billion+.
Into the hands of 1 billion+ people, or a bit less than that but in different formats over the years (vinyl, cassette, CD, etc).Beatles or not, I've always doubted that any band or singer, be he John Lennon, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson whoever, has sold more than one billion albums, let alone more than 1.5 billion albums. Where did all these albums go to?
I can't imagine the music landscape without the Beatles because they were such a massive impact on popular music in the 1960's in a way few bands could ever be and a lot of what they still did is still a major influence. With no Beatles, there's that massive blank spot in the music landscape. There were certainly more talented bands out there than the Beatles, but there's no substitute for Beatlemania and how it transformed popular music forever.
The Rolling Stones become the Gods they were intended to be!
By the way I did a similar thread a while back.
https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=92836
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Even if Buddy Holly had lived, rock music would still go into some remission from 1959 to 1963. You had the payola scandal, Elvis in the army, Chuck Berry in prison. Also, rock and roll was attacked by conservatives as evil or satanic. The popular genre would go to slower-moving "beach" music.
True, there would not be an OTL British Invasion, but the absence of the Beatles opens a lot of space on the record charts, in the stores and on the radio. In August, 1964, the Kinks will still be there to release "You Really Got Me" and set the progress of music back on track. Instead of an "invasion," you have a "trickle" across the ocean.
Remember, the Baby Boom begins to enter the campuses and the work force in these years. Higher fidelity music is finally penetrating the market. Rapid change is culturally inevitable. Different, but inevitable.
True, there would not be an OTL British Invasion, but the absence of the Beatles opens a lot of space on the record charts, in the stores and on the radio. In August, 1964, the Kinks will still be there to release "You Really Got Me" and set the progress of music back on track. Instead of an "invasion," you have a "trickle" across the ocean.
Remember, the Baby Boom begins to enter the campuses and the work force in these years. Higher fidelity music is finally penetrating the market. Rapid change is culturally inevitable. Different, but inevitable.
Another poster already said it. Some other "rock" group would have come along. It's not like there was a lack of good (or even better) music groups back then.
The world would have been spared some of the most over-rated, pretentious, crappy pop music ever conceived. Metal and hard rock would have sprung up anyway. They were originally a counterweight to all that "Love and Peace" crap of the sixties.
IMNSHO, the world would have become a different and much more tolerable place.
Yes, you guessed right: I DETEST the Beatles. I abhor them. Unrepentantly and with a smile on my face. The Rolling Stones aren't much better.
The world would have been spared some of the most over-rated, pretentious, crappy pop music ever conceived. Metal and hard rock would have sprung up anyway. They were originally a counterweight to all that "Love and Peace" crap of the sixties.
IMNSHO, the world would have become a different and much more tolerable place.
Yes, you guessed right: I DETEST the Beatles. I abhor them. Unrepentantly and with a smile on my face. The Rolling Stones aren't much better.
A certain English town by the name of Liverpool remains to have no real significance to anyone outside the U.K. whatsoever.
The Beatles did things and changed things in ways that cannot be overstated. Early on, they were doing things others were doing but better. Later on, they were doing things no one else was doing and which everyone else ended up following.
And there was a lack of better music because by the Beatles time, everyone was either not doing rock, trying to do the same old rock, or doing the same things they were doing. Rock was dying, as I stated earlier and for the reasons I stated earlier.
One of the good things about the Beatles is they'd experiment and evolve and break down doors as a result. Another group could come along, but it wouldn't be better, unless the Beach Boys ended up experimenting without the Beatle catalyst.
It's not overrated when it's basically influenced every musician and every genre since their time.
They were a counterreaction to the artsy rock that evolved in the 1960s in one way (a storm after the calm), and a reaction to peace and love in another, and an outgrowth of it in another (Ozzy Osbourne is a John Lennon fan, btw).
The universe shall punish you in ways I cannot.
I'm thinking along these lines too, but it's a bit of a paradox if my thinking is correct. I believe that Pet Sounds had been influenced by Rubber Soul. I think there had been that kinda Cold war between the Beach Boys and the Beatles, where one would do something and the other would compete and top it, and then the other would compete and top it, and on and on, but I believe the Beatles started what the Beach Boys started to compete with and tried to top.
Not actually dying, but in remission for reasons I stated earlier. Motown was causing rhythm-and-blues to evolve into Soul. American artists had penetrated commercial radio, and had to work with market constraints. British artists were held back from much radio, so their development came without the same restrictions. In any case, by the mid sixties, the British would still have much to add to the body of rock music, mixing their contributions with American Soul. So, the schedule gets back on track, with or without the Beatles.
Didn't Brian Wilson stop the production of the first Smile because of Strawberry Fields Forever (which isn't strictly a Pepper track, but was recorded during the sessions for said album)?
John and Ringo WERE already in other bands in their pre-Beatles days. John fronted the Quarrymen, which Paul later joined. Where do the Quarrymen go if John and Paul never meet? IIRC, the skiffle craze didn't last much longer after they became The Beatles.
Ringo was drumming for a Liverpool band called Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, and he'd already proven himself to be a great drummer. But is a great drummer enough to make the rest of the band great? In any case, he has the potential to make a name for himself. He might become a highly sought-after session drummer.
And Paul on his own would have probably done something musical with his life. He had a passion for music. He even taught himself guitar from listening to the radio. (In fact, he was the one who taught John how to tune his guitar.) He was writing his own songs when he was just 14, before he even met John! Paul just had too much natural talent and ambition to not at least make a stab at being a professional musician one way or another.
As for George...I don't know. I'm pretty sure he got into the Quarrymen because Paul vouched for him. If he and Paul remain friends, but Paul never meets John, maybe George and Paul become a songwriting partnership instead.
Ringo was drumming for a Liverpool band called Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, and he'd already proven himself to be a great drummer. But is a great drummer enough to make the rest of the band great? In any case, he has the potential to make a name for himself. He might become a highly sought-after session drummer.
And Paul on his own would have probably done something musical with his life. He had a passion for music. He even taught himself guitar from listening to the radio. (In fact, he was the one who taught John how to tune his guitar.) He was writing his own songs when he was just 14, before he even met John! Paul just had too much natural talent and ambition to not at least make a stab at being a professional musician one way or another.
As for George...I don't know. I'm pretty sure he got into the Quarrymen because Paul vouched for him. If he and Paul remain friends, but Paul never meets John, maybe George and Paul become a songwriting partnership instead.
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