The world began changing - for better and/or worse - with the rise of rock'n'roll (Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley, Hank Ballard, etc.)... then there was schlock rock ( Fabian, Chubby Checker, etc.)... and American kids got turned off and turned on to folk music, and then came The Beatles who turned folkies onto Rock'n'Roll and then pissed all over it with their psychedelic English Music Hall album, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The Rolling Stones had more hair (and more class); The Pretty Things had even more hair; and - at the time - I had more hair than the lot of 'em.

Whether or not 'they were "Helpful or Harmful to Society" is debatable, but they sure got a lot of attention, and still do.

Bastards stole my acid.

maybe they helped people 40 yrs ago....their catalog isn't really producing, and it's lame pop music

Ummmmmm.... why are they on this list, anyway?

They have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember and have brought me nothing but joy, so yes, I consider them helpful to society.

Great band but I think its important that we maintain the principle of the seperation of Beatles and State.

I'd argue that entertainers are pretty uniformly neutral, rather than helpful or harmful.

They were damn entertaining, and made a lot of folks happy, which I guess could tip the scale towards "helpful."

Although I suspect some of the people who were parents of teenage girls at the time of Beatlemania have a different opinion.

I like the Beatles and have since they started in the 60's. There songs remind me of different stages of my life (they spark a lot of memories).

they certainly have made some wonderful music for us to listen to. I do not know how helpful that would be just nice to hear what music they make.

Neither helpful nor hurtful. Whether you are a fan or not (I'm not, for the record), they're just a music group.  On second, thought, they were kind of the orginal boy band, so maybe they were harmful to society in that they helped to unleash the likes of New Kids on the Block, and then more recently groups like N'Sync and the Backstreet Boys.

This group caused a lot of goofy attitudes and dress, i.e. the hippies and hair styles and more.  The Fab Four provided a lot of good entertainment, however, so "four" is appropriate.

I'm not sure how much they helped,but they certainly did no harm.I'm enthusiastically waiting to see the new movie about John Lennon and US attempts during the Nixon administration to have him deported for his political views.Sounds like an interesting flick!

They couldn't hurt anyone. They were simply making a living at something they did well...really well. People can make their own choices on what should influence personal behavior. If anything, they helped get a lot of truth out about what was really going on in the world, with wars, violence, drugs, and, just about every other issue you can think of. That's what media attention is intended for. They chose to release important info through music, and, like I said, they did it really well.

the beatles are great

Don't tell me, let me guess...Mark David Chapman emailed this suggestion in right?

I don't know about society, but for the music industry their contribution was invaluable. Name me a band thats been bigger than The Beatles or even as successful as The Beatles? Theres not one. They paved the way for Rock and Roll bands and if it wasn't for The Beatles we wouldn't have had Jimmy Hendrix, The Doors, The Verve, Coldplay or even Oasis.

Great band. I offended the one person earlier. Yes I was being a smart ass I got 2 hours sleep last night and yes Beetles are different then "The Beatles". So, great band I grew up listening to them and yes they changed the world for the better. Just so there is no future misconduct ;) I have added a picture. I never vote negatively against people, I just don't vote for them. Thats one thing I don't like about this site is the people that either say something bad about someone with a personal attack or find it neccesary to vote against them. Not my way of operating in life, oh well thats why the option is there. Also before I get a lecture from someone I know this is not the right forum to voice my problems of the site and maybe I should begin a topic with the things that bother me about Rate it All. I will instead get some sleep tonight and get over it. Thanks for letting me type out my problems.