no because unlike this disney pop and teen pop garbage that's out now,the beatles actually made a difference in the music industry,they did more for music in 7 or 8 years together than most bands do in an entire career.they made an impact on the industry and on pop culture as a whole that is still being felt even now.
here is an example of the impact they made:
1.their influence on pop culture is still being felt even today;for more on that read this link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles%27_influence_on_popular_culture
2.they changed the way that bands use the recording studio to make music,for more details check out this link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles%27_recording_technology
3.one of the 1st groups to treat an album as a work of art in its own right instead of just a collection of singles
4.they unofficially halted the practice of artists making foreign language versions of their hit singles,thus unofficially making english the official language of rock and roll and all its sub-genres.klaus meine of the scorpions said that when they started,that the only way they would really make it big was to record in english.i attribute this to the beatles influence
5.they made it fashionable for men to grow their hair long
6.they pioneered the big world tours as we know them today,i think the beatles were actually the first band to go on a world tour
7.they were the first band to actually express their true feelings on major world issues of the day instead of keeping quiet(as brian epstein wanted them too)
8.they were the ones who brought the music and instrumentation of india to the west(first western rock band to use indian instruments on record)
9.they were the 1st rock group to actually make money from their record sales and have record sales in the millions.let's put things in perspective,before the beatles record companies used singles and albums to promote the live show of whatever artist it was because the live shows where were the real money was.it wasn't expected for an artist to actually make any money from their singles or albums.in fact before the beatles you could sell 200,000 copies of your latest record and have a hit(nowadays,you sell that much its considered a flop).at 1 point during i want to hold your hand's run on the charts,it sold over 1.5 million copies in 5 days,that's 300,000 copies a day,in 1964 this was unheard of.no artist back then was expected to sell that many copies of anything.in fact the next single can't buy me love had so many advance orders(over 1.5 million)it actually debuted at number 1 on the singles charts.nowadays,with soundscan and all that acts debuting at number 1 is old news,but in 1964 it was news because no one had ever done it before in america.
10.1st rock group to take a stand against segregation:when a rumor went out that the audiences at a beatles concert at the gator bowl were going to be segregated,the beatles and their manager sent a letter to the venue owners stating if they were going to do that,then they could have their money back and that the beatles weren't going to do the show.now there were never plans to do that,but it says a lot about the beatles to take that type of a stand.
11.one of the 1st rock groups to start their own record label.
12.one of the first bands(if not the first)to have the drummer as a featured singer thus paving the way for bands lke genesis and the eagles who have the drummer as their lead singer(or 1 of their lead singers)
13.one of the first groups to have massive popularity worldwide,not just in the us or uk,read this link to get an idea:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Beatles%27_record_sales
14.they also influenced songwriters by departing from the standard 3 chord pop song with the standard verse-chorus-verse-middle eight and why because the beatles had no formal musical training and this gave them the freedom to ignore the conventional rules of pop music and of song-writing in general.in fact the beatles never allowed themselves to be bound by the conventional rules of pop and rock,they were always constantly pushing the boundaries of modern music.look at the single of hey jude in 1968,at the time no pop single was more than 3 minutes long and why?that was one of the traditions of the time,but the beatles went against the tradition and it paid off
15.they also inspired musicians to acquire certain instruments and music companies to create new instruments and here's what i mean by that:they made the instruments they played household names.in fact before george harrison,no one knew what a grestch guitar was,but when he started playing one,suddenly every amateur guitarist had to have one.it was john and george who made people go out and buy rickenbacker guitars.in fact when george got his 360/12 in 1964 and played it on a hard day's night,every band in the world wanted their records to sound just like a hard day's night and thus they all went out and bought rickenbacker 360/12's.in fact george was the reason why roger mcguinn of the byrds acquired his rickenbacker 360/12.when paul was seen with his hofner violin bass,suddenly every aspiring bass player wanted one.when ringo was seen with his ludwig drums and zilidjan cymbals,suddenly every aspiring drummer had to have them.every time the beatles changed guitars,suddenly everybody had to use the same instruments or equipment that the beatles used.heck they inspired music companies to make new instruments,for instance in 1967 danelectro,to capitalize on the popularity of the sitar in rock music,actually made an electric sitar.john and george were given the 1st 2 ever made.in fact because the beatles used vox amps for their live shows and even on their records,every other band had to have vox amplifiers.heck the beatles were one of the first bands to have music companies custom make instruments for them,for instance the rosewood telecaster that george harrison used during the get back/let it be sessions was actually custom made for george by fender,john lennon in 1964/1965 actually had rickenbacker custom make guitars for him.the rickenbacker 360/12 that george got in either january or february of 1964 was given to him by rickenbacker(2nd one ever made).
16.lennon and mccartney were among the first songwriters to have a stake in the publishing of their music(by forming their own publishing company,northern songs,in 1963)as opposed to having the record company control it all and dole out a tiny sum of money to them.
17.they totally changed the artist producer relationship in the studio,instead of the producer bringing material to the artist and telling them how to record it,the basic attitude being"i'm the producer,you're the band and you'll record what i tell you to and how i tell you to."the beatles and george martin actually worked together in the studio.in fact by the rubber soul sessions of 1965,the beatles were either asking martin for suggestions or they would tell him what they wanted to do or how they wanted a particular song to sound.this was totally unheard of at the time.do you know why producers and artists now enjoy the collaborative relationship they now do in the studio?the best example of this being the quincy jones/mj relationship?credit it to the beatles working relationship with george martin.
18.they redefined what it meant to be an international celebrity and here's what i mean,before the beatles came along america was considered to be the center of the entertainment world.anybody who was known in music,movies,and the arts in general for the most part were from the us.the vast majority of international celebrities prior to the beatles were from the us.the beatles were among the 1st acts to achieve international stardom that weren't from america.to give you an idea of how america was percieved in the music world before the beatles,in the uk,for instance,their record charts were dominated primarily by us artists,in fact with the exception of tommy steele and cliff richard,there really weren't any british rock stars.when an american act came to the UK,they almost always got top billing,even though they may have only had one or two hits each,but because they were american they got top billing.take for instance the beatles march 1963 tour with tommy roe and chris montez,now tommy and chris only had 2 big hits each,but because they were american,they were initally given top billing,but a couple of days into the tour,the order was changed and the beatles got top billing.in fact i venture to say that the beatles were the first english rock stars and their coming on to the american rock scene like they did not only encouraged other rock acts from the UK,but also rock acts from other countries as well.
now as to who bought their records,i think the fact that the beatles sold over 1 billion records worldwide and almost 200 million records in the US alone answers that question
now i leave you with 1 final thought,i quote to you from something that malcolm mcdowell said near the end of the compleat beatles:"it must be stoically accepted that the beatles were,in the end,a phonomenon of the 60's.the 70's and beyond were only to feel their influence."
have a good day,
colin