I'm by no means a music buff but I completely respect the utter domination of The Beatles in music.

But what if they came along today, formed their band in the mid to late 90s and started making music of this generation? How big would they have gotten? Could they have ever reached the level they reached in the 60s/70s? Was it just a different era which was conducive to what they accomplished or would their genius shine through in any era?

You wouldn't have had as much music from them. Today you're lucky if a band releases an album every three years. Back in the 60's they released albums a lot faster.

I dont belive they would do the same. They basicaly started out like a boy band. I think they would have had a few big hits together, broken up, and George, John, and Paul would go on to develop and put out amazing stuff. And Ringo would start another crappy band caled the New Beatles or somthing like that.

It's a difficult question because it's a paradox. It's kind of like asking "What if Beethoven came along today?" Clearly he wouldn't be as popular, because the kind of music he wrote isn't popular now. He'd probably be scoring action movies.

Same with the Beatles. The musical landscape of today wouldn't be what it is had the Beatles not paved the way in the early 1960s. If they hadn't existed, some other band would have influenced the scene, but who knows what they would have sounded like? And that band would have influenced generations of bands that came later, so music now would probably be nothing like it is.

^^ Good answer.

I'm not sure today's boy bands serve the kind of apprenticeship undergone by J, P, G & R and/or the other guys that played in the pre-Fab Four line-ups.

What I ment by that was they put out happy pop songs and sappy love balads made for radio play and to sell singles. Not that they were put together by Lou Perlman, given matching outfits, and had a team of writers to write all of their music for them.

Let's just say that you take out the 60s/70s Beatles but EVERYTHING else is the same for ease of argument.

Taking the Beatles out of the musical landscape of the early 1960s changes the landscape in a profoundly dramatic way.

They would be called an Oasis knock-off.

Each prominent musical artist is of it's time. Had they not come along music obviously would be quite a bit different. It's curious to wonder who would have been the band or artist that would have had their kind of influence on other artists. The Rolling Stones? The Who? Elvis? The Beatles can't come along today because the music scene has changed so dramatically the last 10 years. If they did come along today they may not be noticed at all because of no airplay for their kind of music....as they would be a new band they wouldn't be played on oldie/classic rock stations. Obviously not hip-hop or rap. Possibly alternative but at that it would be on the soft side. Adult contemporary? Maybe. They would probably have a core of followers.

Can't be done. Artists of those days talk about listening to each others' recordings and in turn aspiring to measure up to the excellence of their peers. Take The Beatles away and bands like The Rolling Stones, The Who and The Beach Boys in turn may have made albums substantially less impressive musically because they weren't being pushed to do so by the greatness of The Beatles.

1st off their from England and their music would have a hard time being played here.
The last time radio played a lot of British band's music on the radio was the 1980's.
And then there is MTV, if it was the 1980's they would be a hit like DURAN DURAN was.
Today MTV can't even get a concert shown right.

They'd be glumped together with a lot of Indie English bands and would be patronized by millions of Coldplay fans. I think it would be impossible for them in this decade to break out as big as they did in the '60s.

Their video would be #3 on TRL and everyone would hate them because of that.

as big as Jet.

Well, they did wear matching outfits and covered a lot of songs (no need for a team then) in the beginning.

As others said, different era...useless to compare.

As much as I love them, they would be a critically acclaimed indie band who doesn't sell many records.

Good music in the 90s and 2000s does not sell very often. Ya gotta have a single and some naked girls in a video.

Sad but true.

Praise bands like New Pornographers, The Walkmen and The Shins among others.

I'll give a Strong agreement to Mr. Salty's comments about their effect on the 60's and all that has come after.

probably equal to Coldplay right now

They played their own instruments and wrote their own songs. They would never get played on the radio now.