# It's been 40 years... why hasn't there been another Beatles? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 24, 2011, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-been-40-years-why-hasnt-there-been-another-beatles/575904 "2011-03-24T23:06:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-been-40-years-why-hasnt-there-been-another-beatles/575904/81 "2011-03-25T22:44:50Z")
[QUOTE=Sparky812;13613645Bands didn’t tour, at least not like today. Touring has evolved into a massive industry and has become a requirement. Almost all artists/band spend months or years on the road either nationally or globally depeding on their popularity which takes away from their production of new material. New material is what keeps you current and on the radio, and on the charts. It’s like trying to mount a comeback with each subsequent release every 2-4 years (or even longer in alot of cases).[/QUOTE] The way I heard it was that musicians used to tour to support their record sales. Now they make records to promote their tours. > [@Marley23](#): > > I can think of loads. (For starters, how many guys do they have in P-Funk these days?) But the number of black musicians who are in well-known rock bands with a significant number of listeners is significantly smaller, and I’m sure it’s dwarfed by the number of black rappers and R&B solo artists. Yeah, where are the Earth, Wind, & Fires, the Sly & the Family Stones, the Commodores, etc. of today? Now it’s all solo rappers, solo R&B singers, and bass players. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-been-40-years-why-hasnt-there-been-another-beatles/575904/82 "2011-03-25T22:47:42Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > That’s easy. 😉 Frank Sinatra. He was the first huge pop star, he literally had teen girls screaming & fainting at concerts. Of course, without television he didn’t get the same numbers a the Beatles. The girls were called Bobby Soxers. > [Frank Sinatra - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Sinatra) > > Ol Blue Eyes set the trend for Elvis and The Beatles. They had teen girls fainting too. So, yeah, the OP was about _since_ the Beatles… ---
**Author:** ![spymaniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@spymaniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spymaniac)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-been-40-years-why-hasnt-there-been-another-beatles/575904/83 "2011-03-25T23:41:00Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > I’m just not sure how you can then make the leap of faith that the Beatles success was truly due to something special about their music. it’s not a leap of faith, it’s as close as something as subjective and unquantifiable as pop music can come to being a _stone cold fact_! can’t believe anyone would try and argue The Beatles were not musically _the_ scene leaders of pop in their own time and pretty much still today… I respect your opinion though, because it doesn’t even look like you’re trolling. I’m just surprised anyone would say this ! ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-been-40-years-why-hasnt-there-been-another-beatles/575904/84 "2011-03-26T00:05:49Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > It certainly plagued Bob Dylan. Nah, that was that neck-brace harmonica thingie. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-been-40-years-why-hasnt-there-been-another-beatles/575904/85 "2011-03-26T00:14:38Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > What’s different about the Beatles is once they appeared it CHANGED the direction of music. > > This wasn’t as overnight as people think, but it did change. For exmple it was Louis Armstrong’s “Hello Dolly” that ended the run of Beatles hits at #1. Not only did they change the direction of music, they did it twice. I wonder if the people who say the Beatles weren’t important can post their age, since anyone alive at the time could never think that. The only recent event I can see as similar to the Beatles coming to America the first time was Michael Jackson dying. I’ve listened to rock and roll since about 1960, and it was in terrible shape before the Beatles, with lots of novelty records making the charts and manufactured groups. The Beatles didn’t use session men, and, more and more, wrote their own material. Notice how after they became big it became necessary for successful groups to write their own material, not even close to being true before. Dylan was as important to music but nowhere as near popular. He made it possible for folksingers to break out of singing only traditional songs and, if they were daring, Woody Guthrie. And when Dylan returned to rock and roll, he helped enable the break from the old fashioned love song. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-been-40-years-why-hasnt-there-been-another-beatles/575904/86 "2011-03-26T00:18:36Z")
There was. His name was Garth Brooks. Be glad you missed it. ::shiver:: ---
**Author:** ![scamartistry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@scamartistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scamartistry)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-been-40-years-why-hasnt-there-been-another-beatles/575904/87 "2011-03-26T03:34:57Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Comparisons with Michael Jackson and even **Justin Timberlake** are quite fair, at least for the early part of their career. Yeah, Justin hasn’t had a **Sgt. Pepper** or **White Album** yet, but give him time. The Beatles were never in a movie as good as **The Social Network**. You sir are a troll [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-been-40-years-why-hasnt-there-been-another-beatles/575904.md?page=4)