OT: the importance of the Beatles and the British Invasion

As someone old enough to have experienced the British Invasion, I 
find myself reflecting (again) concerning the importance of the 
Beatles and the British Invasion, i.e. why we (in North America) 
needed to be invaded.

This is not completely OT since our Jane, as a 
singer-songwriter-instrumentalist who composes songs that are 
sincere, eclectic & ambitious was /is growing up in a post-Beatles 
world. (Agreed?)

So, to enumerate, the virtues found in the British Invasion in 
general and the Beatles in particular were:

A) Autonomy-- a rather pompous word, perhaps, but I can't think of a 
better one.

The ideal here is a band that 1) plays its own instruments, and 2) 
writes its own songs.

For the Beatles, the crucial influence /role model was Buddy Holly 
and the Crickets. (Crickets > Beatles, geddit!?).
And they had to fight for 2), against George Martin who wanted them 
to record songs written for them.

B) Intensity, which is a matter of both

1) recovering the aggressive energy & volume of the first generation 
of rock & rollers-- Little Richard, Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Holly, 
Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Larry Williams...-- who ALL 
(amazingly!) were knocked out /side-lined for one reason or another.
And so... the white teen pop song went into its "dark ages," before 
the British "renaissance," i.e. re-birth. (This R&R energy what the 
Beatles learned in Hamburg, where they transformed themselves into a 
"charismatic power-house," popping amphetamines, "making show," and 
playing for hours on end...)

&

2) Importing the intensity of American black music, as found in 
blues, rhythm & blues, soul, and Motown pop-soul.

All of this autonomy + intensity was bearing down upon its opposite, 
the designated (de-facto?) enemy of the British Invasion, and the 
epitome of why we needed to be invaded: The reign of the ghastly male 
teen idols: Anka, Avalon, Boone, et al. Who did not play their own 
instruments, sang bland & drippy songs written for them-- with Boone 
above all focused on blanding (i.e. de-intensifying) black songs in 
order to fit the insipid white market.

With both of these elements (R&R + Blues, R&B) the British, as they 
invaded, were reminding white Americans of their own (American & 
Afro-American) music, which we had forgotten about or ignored. (This 
was certainly true for me... tho I was a big Coasters fan, pre-Beatles.)

The next virtues are

C) eclecticism and ambition-- virtues that can be attributed to 
Lennon and McCartney in particular, and less to the larger wave of 
the British Invasion. More to say here, but I have to get back to work!

Comments? Additions?

Admittedly, it may be hard to appreciate the significance of this 
unless you lived through that revolution...?
	Then it's just... ancient history. Something that your parents 
jabber about, when they're reminiscing (for the nth time) about the 
60's and all that.
While wearing their old tie-die T-shirts and puffing on a righteous doobie!

Bruce

PS What would US rock-pop song have become if Holly hadn't died? I 
can't think of a more intriguing hypothetical. My recollection, from 
watching "the Buddy Holly Story." was that he was looking for ways to 
develop his song-writing, to step outside of his path, seek a new 
path. What would that have brought us? How would it have influenced 
the Beatles?