The best bands are the ones that are most influential, outside of their era. That’s what you call timeless. The Stones created modern rock music and flourished, while the Beatles collapsed. A big reason why the Beatles couldn’t survive in this new era was because they didn’t possess the level of musicianship of the Stones, the Who, Cream, Jim Hendrix, etc. The era of the Beatles’ simple pop tunes (Eleanor Rigby, etc.) gave way to the Super Group, so realizing they were no match musically, they wisely quit. Left alone at the top, the Stones went on to influence many bands including Aerosmith and AC/DC (Bon Scott era), both harder rocking rhythm and blues bands. Motorhead then took hard rock R&B and speeded it up. Metallica followed Motorhead and added and Industrial influence, turning the rhythm guitar into a jackhammer and turning the blues based guitar solos into a tour de force blitz krieg. After Metallica, Sepultura elevated the guitar rhythms to an extreme level. The core groove or “head-banging” experienced in thrash and first generation of death metal all directly relates back to the R&B hard rock created by Stones. On the other hand, the Beatles influence died with them in the late 60’s.
Mick Taylor Vs. George Harrison
Taylor would have slaughtered Harrison and would have held his own against Clapton. If you don’t think Harrison was mediocre at best, consider these two things.
1.) The documentary “Let it Be” documents the trouble Paul had getting Harrison to play the guitar parts for his songs. He complained that every time he tried suggest how the part was to be played, Harrison would give him the attitude, “I’m George Harrison…you can’t tell me how to play!”, and would end up doing it his way.
2.) Between the recording of Let it Be and Abbey Road, Lennon began forming the Plastic Ono band featuring Clapton himself. If Harrison was so great, why would Lennon even consider forming a Supergroup with Clapton, while still a Beatle? Lennon also included Alan White, a real rock drumer. At this point, I won’t even get into Ringo/Watts comparasons.
The art in rock music is that it totally subverts what’s accepted as normal popular music. Do I really have to explain that? By nature, it’s politically incorrect, and challenges the pop culture of what’s accepted. For instance, “Brown Sugar” was ballsy then, and it’s still ballsy today. In fact, no radio station will play it. On the other hand, “Elenear Rigby” can be heard in super-markets and dentist offices because it’s soothing and harmless.