In my opinion, THE BEATLES were and still are the most influential and prolific Rock band of all time, having generated more original, innovative music than any other band, and having exerted a greater influence on popular culture than all others. The Beatles single handedly advanced Rock ‘n’ Roll from danceable, cheerful songs about teen life into extraordinarily sophisticated and serious ones for people of all ages and of all educational levels. They were an unstoppable and irresistible force of musical change and creativity, redefining entirely the genre of Rock music, turning it into something strikingly different from what it had been. Amazingly, during their ten year, larger-than-life odyssey, the Fab Four lost neither their sense of humor nor their musical mental health. Ultimately, the Beatles opened a new, international, and eclectic doorway for other aspiring musicians and bands. In making the two below playlists, I was reminded of just how overwhelmingly phenomenal the lads from Liverpool (along with their producer George Martin) were and still are. Their volume of imaginative and cutting-edge music is only matched by Stevie Wonder, which is why I think they are tied for first place for best overall artists of the entire 20th Century.

LED ZEPPELIN arguably achieved the same thing as the Beatles but with a smaller discography and within a somewhat narrower genre range. I also think they did not enter a preexisting genre, as did the Beatles, and then later transform it. Rather, I think Led Zeppelin actually changed the genre of Rock with their first album, moving forward from there. They did not, in other words, morph from one kind of band into another type. By Led Zeppelin II, many people were beginning to understand what later became incontrovertible by the fourth album: these four Brits were the new, undisputed, musical mavericks of Hard Rock who would not be overtaken. Similar to the Beatles, Led Zeppelin generated songs that can be described as sonically induced religious experiences. To this day, no band really duplicates the sound of Led Zeppelin just as no band can reproduce the enchantment of the Beatles. Both bands were and still are Musical Juggernauts that did not yield to the musical state of affairs of their time. They actually became the new state of affairs, altering the future direction of music.

So many of us listened exhaustively to PINK FLOYD'S 1973 album "The Dark Side of the Moon," and we wanted a whole lot more of that kind of music. Like the three bands above, Pink Floyd created still another Rock 'n' Roll genre that hitherto did not exist and that we now usually just call Progressive or Prog Rock. Having begun in the second half of the 1960s as an experimental, psychedelic Rock band, exploration was their typical, musical pathway, but as they moved forward from 1967's release of "The Pier at the Gates of Dawn," they increasingly sounded less Britpop-ish and psychedelic and more like what they were becoming. We see a glimpse of that movement on their second album, 1968's "A Saucer Full of Secrets," in the song "See-Saw." Their 1970 album, "Atom Heart Mother," as a whole moves in the direction of "The Dark Side of the Moon." The song "A Pillow of Winds," from 1971's "Meddle," is definitely starting to sound like the Pink Floyd most of us came to love because it is dreamy, a tad ambient, and definitely gentle and melodic. That album made clear that Pink Floyd was developing a distinctive style that was their own. 1972's "Obscured by Clouds," which is the lead track on the album of the same name, indicates that this band had found its compass heading. It is an outstanding release and one of my favorites! The next album, of course, is 1973's "The Dark Side of the Moon," which sound engineer (and later highly successful producer and artist) Alan Parsons significantly influenced. It sold over 45 million copies worldwide and was on the Billboard Album Charts for 141 weeks, from 1973 through 1988. Needless to say, things changed hugely for Pink Floyd from that point forward. It is my opinion that this band created Progressive Rock in the way that so many of us respect because it is often gentle, melodic, musically intelligent, eclectic, creative, experimental when helpful, and emotionally engaging. We see those characteristics in many of the current European and American Prog Rock bands, from RPWL to Fish on Fridays to Dave Kerzner. Pink Floyd is rightly ranked with The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Yes as one of the greatest and most influential Rock bands of all time.

Over the years when many of us discussed the above bands, we did not place an adjective-genre indicator in front of their name such as Prog Rock; rather, we just said The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Yes, or Pink Floyd. The individual musicians who formed these legacy bands synergized themselves into musical eminence, and we are thankful they did!

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