Rock & pop music was in a backwater in the early 60.'s.  The wave of rock 'n' roll started by Elvis Presley and many other 50's rock 'n' roll and doo wop groups had pretty much leveled off.  Don Kirshner's brand of rock/pop, characterised by his "wall of sound" concept, took hold for awhile.  In 62-63, surf music, led by the likes of the Beach Boys, rode rather high until one group came along and knocked everything aside.  That group was the Beatles.  They started a whole new genre of rock music, practically re-creating it, and the so-called 'British Invasion', with British groups becoming super popular in the U.S.,  which occurred soon after the Beatles hit the airwaves on the Ed Sullivan show in February 1964 (or January, I forget), is now legendary.  The Beatles, who were themselves influenced by early U.S. rock, turned around and then influenced all rock in a way that has continued to this day.  We all owe much, maybe even everything, to the Beatles.  Those of you who are too young did not see or hear the amazing popularity of them; every week for several years, they were on the charts, continually coming out with hit after hit and album after album, and early on, quit concertising in order to be able to better concentrate on recording (there were other reasons for them stopping concerts also, I'm sure).  For several years it was Beatles this and Beatles that, and rightly so.  

The Rolling Stones also rode the wave that was started by the Beatles and, like the Beatles, were greatly influential on all musicians listening and learning back then.  Unlike the Beatles, the Stones' very early material was not original.  They soon caught on, however, and British Rock was never the same after that.  

Two asides here:  

> The Beatles not only revamped rock music, but also started the great popularity of the guitar.  Many of us took up the instrument soon after the Beatles gained popularity and as a direct result of that popularity.

> After the Kennedy assassination in November 1963, the U.S was stunned into a shock mode.  The Beatle helped us get out of that state of mind and back on track.  They were wholesome, happy, refreshing, young, funny, and something new, all of which we needed here and to which everybody eventually took to.

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Quite possible the most over-hyped, worst sounding group EVER!

Mictheslik wrote on Apr 2^nd, 2007 at 3:48am:

Hey Jude is my 5 year old son's favorite song.  I'm serious on this; he's known the words since he was four, and every time I play music, he wants to hear it and asks for it my name.  I think it's probably their BEST song, not the worst...

BTW, McCartney and Lennon fought like cats and dogs over the line 'the movement you need is on your shoulder.'

Actually, I think both stories are true.  'Hey Jude' was originally written as 'Hey Jules' (John's son being Julian).  The original hand written lyrics went on sale a few years back and bear this out.

Given the amount of infighting in the band during the last few years, it's surprising ANYTHING got agreed to at all...