Now before I kick this off on my tangent, which I will do, let me first say I love the Beatles very much. They were a great band and Lord Paul and John Lennon are indeed an incomparable song writing force. While I generally disregard their very early stuff as boyband pop rubbish, you could see the fellows mature with each suceeding lp. Help was where it actually started getting interesting, even though it was still pop.
From that stage forward, the Beatles propelled their music forward, always experimenting and maturing with every great lp. Indeed , they seem to keep up with the times and were always at the fore front when style and tastes in popular music were evolving. However, they were never the 1st to change. They just had enough good sense to realize when change was needed. Well that, and their own maturing tastes in music as well.
Bob Dylan and the Byrds preceded the Beatles Rubber Soul when it came to folk rock. Pink Floyd and the whole underground psychedelic scene was alive for a good year before the Beatles showed up on the scene with Sargeant Peppers. Now I realize that Revolver was released in 66, but I believe it was late 66 compared to the beginning of 66 for the psychedelic underground. I have read that the Beatles even attended these affairs, but whether or not that is true has never been confirmed.
So the Beatles have always had the good sense to change with the times. Also, lets not forget that George Martin had a strong influence on their experimental side of things. If it were not for him, you probably would have seen more lps like Let It Be( a good standard rock lp) rather than Sargeant Peppers. Also, only a hand full of songs are truly psychedelic, or progressive. I would say most of their music on any lp is still pop, with the possible exception of Sgt Peppers.
Now if you are saying that they were progressive...i.e...innovative and experimental...fine, but the Beatles are NOT prog. I feel so strongly about that that I have decided to come out of my self exile to state that as such. Quite simply they do not belong here as well as a bunch of other eye brow raising proto-prog and prog related material that has been recently added here. This was the last straw straw for me so I decided to speak up. Normally I really don't give a rat's ass who you add here but now I feel the integrity of this site has been undermined.
Pretty much now, you guys may as well add in any act you like..The Doors, Steely Dan, Journey, LEd Zeppelin or UFO...I'm sure it is only a matter of time now. Soon the archives will be flooded full of pop bands that have had some progressive infuences and the weight of the crappy material will send the archives crashing down like a house of cards. It is time we we drew a line in the sand and save the archives integrity. Inclusive isn't always a good thing...I vote for more strict rules and a better sense of exclusiveness.
You callaborators really screwed this one up.