" I think their influence is blown out of all proportion"
It is ironic how the BEatles, as well as other BRitish Invasion bands of the early-mid 1960's took late 1950s American Rock and roll and its related genres, repackaged it, and then sold it back to mainstream America, where it had originated several years earlier and had by then already largely gone its way and faded in popularity.
Then those nasty BEatles became artists as well and led the charge to take rock and roll to new horizons where it largely lost the "roll" part and became more of an artistic form created for listening as much if not more so than it was for dancing, as was original and true "rock and roll".
And yes, the origins of the BEatles music, which they openly have always acknowledged, was what used to be known as American "race" music, before Elvis, Stoller/Lieber and crew, etc. made it more digestible to the American mainstream (in the form of R&B as well as R&R).
My only regret is that I wish many more of the black musicians that helped create these new forms of uniquely American music in the first place could have benefited as much as the Beatles and many others did later.
