I measure this analogy on the history. The Beatles were already influential to Procol Harum, The Moody Blues and Syd Barrett years before Pepper. It may be to some, a matter of you got there first which is a offending attitude due to the highly regarded originality of the Beatles writing.
The shock about Pepper was how it influenced musicians to play and write this way or in this fashion stylistically. It had such an impact on American musicans. Jazz players enjoyed aspects to it, Classical players enjoyed the arrangements, Rock guitar players spent hours emulating the style of George Harrision and also constructing their own songs to be taylor made in the Pepper fashion. To truly put things into perspective,...one must think about the music of that day . When Pepper came along it was a slap in a musican's face. Everyone wanted to be disciplined and quickly enter the level that the Beatles were on.
With King Crimson I felt it was the overall idea to be something different ....like in a musical approach. Which was something the Beatles made evident to most bands of that era. Just the idea alone that one could expand off a concept. As Crimson sounded nothing like the Beatles however it is imaginable to hear Paul singing "Cadence and Cascade". There might be a slight Beatles influence in Crimson ballads but, Crimson were more unique if anything. It feels like a religion. You should have seen all the musicans back in the 60's feverishly struggling with Pepper. Various egotisitical individuals that I crossed paths with...and who are from a different generation....tend to give the Beatles history regarding all of it's artistic impact....about a C average. It has more to do with issues over the amount of stardom an artist has. Yes there are groups of people that think this way but, it's an attitude that Johann Sebastian Bach and Mozart had dealings with with their colleagues.