"as long as you produce something great as the result of your "borrowing," there's at least an artistic (NOT legal) argument to be made for the validity of your stealing."
Still that can make the music great, but certainly not the musical group. When you don't give credit to the original, or buy the rights, it's a rip-off.

It's not like they stole full songs. They made lyrical references and were influenced by others' riffs. Everyone borrows and references, The Beatles innovated on top of that, and that's what matters.

Endings are most definitely not paramount. The music they made and the legacy they left are paramount. The ending might matter a little bit. Maybe.

"@Vash, what facts have you stated that matter?"

Fact 1: John lennon was a douchebag (To be honest this fact matters the least, but are you really going to call a wife-beater, adulterer and dead-beat dad one of the greatest of all time)
Fact 2: They were a boy band (The truth of the matter is that the beatles were engineered to be popular, their music tailored to pander to large audiences (much like modern day pop music) though they did break this mold later)
Fact 3: They were the first real pop band (before them we had rock music(which is awesome), but they were the first in along line of pop artists, though I will not directly compare them to any modern day acts(such would insult the Beatles) modern music could have been better without their influence (or much worse depending on your view)
Fact 4: They broke up after a somewhat short time because they hated each other (to me this just weakens their status to me, it isn't like one of them left and they waned, they just collapsed altogether, not a sign of "greatness")
Fact 5: They ripped-off more innovative artists (sure they "innovated" but by stealing from artists like Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly. They may not have stolen full songs, but you would think the "greatest band ever" would have a little more integrity. They didn't innovate so much as popularize other peoples innovations, and claiming them as their own. (Side Note: Tesla over Edison any day)

My qualm is not too much with the music (though I do find it boring), as much as it is with the artists who made up the act. They did not exemplify greatness, they exemplified popularity, which is a completely different thing. As a result I can not call those people the greatest "musical act" of all time.

"Endings are paramount and they had a bad one (though some did have later success)"

1. 3/4 had critical success (Lennon's an icon, McCartney's arguably the most successful English-language songwriter of the century, and Harrison had a respected solo career and got together with Clapton and Dylan for some things) and Ringo still enjoys financial success from...being a likeable and funny dude who can play drums, lol, which in one sense makes him a success in that sense, at least (and probably far more fun to be around than quite a few of us.) :p

2. Their last album was good, though, and "Let it Be" is a hell of a song to go out on...I think they actually had another song as their last one, but it's close to their end and is generally considered as such.

1. He was flawed, sure. We're talking about greatest musician though, not greatest person.
2. Yeah, never denied that. They were the best boy band ever, and then they started making more interesting music and became the best band ever.
3. What do you even mean by this? Their later stuff was what had a large and long-lasting impact. People were doing what they did early before they were, just not as well. They were in no way the driving force behind modern pop.
4. You would have preferred them waning? I don't get why this matters. It's not like they didn't remain friends or continue to collaborate. They just went their separate ways. And even if they had just never talked to each other again, that in no way diminishes what they did when they were together.
5. I'm starting to think you haven't listened to any of their later stuff, because they were easily as innovative as any of those guys. EVERY MUSICIAN EVER has built on the works of others. Stealing a Chuck Berry lyric is not blatantly ripping off of him. It's making a reverent reference to him.

Obi, Let It Be was the title track on the second to last album they recorded. It a song written to go out on. Abbey Road ended up getting released earlier than Let It Be because of some funkiness, but it was recorded last, and its penultimate song is called "The End".

I defer to ghug on the Beatles defense, lol...

Though I still think it's a bit much to pick them over freaking Beethoven.

Then again, I think part of the issue may the reverence which comes with time...

In 2214, WebDip will still exist (of course it will!) and they'll have yet another of these Greatest Musical Act tourneys...

And the Beatles will be revered for having lasted 200 years and being sooooo much better than a great act that only existed 50 years ago...
Beethoven will still be revered...
Future-Putin will be saying New Band took everything from the Beatles and be the chief voice against New Band...
Future-ghug will defend New Band thusly...

And Future Obi will STILL be chirping about how frigging amazing Shakespeare and Mozart are. ;)

For the record, I don't hate the beatles. But I personally can not call them the greatest of all time (for the reasons stated). Then again, I like Fall Out Boy and Linkin Park, so maybe I am not the best authority on this.

I changed my vote to the Beatles because they're more important to me and more relevant in my life. Beethoven is fantastic, but I don't appreciate his music as much. I maintain that he was better at what he did than The Beatles as a group or as individuals were but my vote goes to The Beatles.

Looks like The Beatles are the greatest musical act ever.

That sounds actually like what you'd expect. Again, I can't say I agree, but I am happy with the result.

Looks like webdiplomacy lost any credibility it ever had on aesthetics.

That happened when Kanye lost.

Still stand by green day

How can credibility be applied to aesthetics? It's purely subjective.

If you agree with Putin, you're intelligent and going places. If you don't, you lose all credibility. He's never wrong, so it's a very simple metric for judging intelligence.

Still, how did 30STM lose to Spoon?
Anyway, what will our next tournament be? I'm up for most badass historical figure.

What metric can we reasonably apply to badass? It's not exactly a well-defined term. Do you mean physical feats, mental feats, perseverance, impact?

Depends on what the masses think. But most badass will probably be a mixture of them all.

I think we'd end up nominating all of history. Maybe separate categories?

"How can credibility be applied to aesthetics? It's purely subjective."

Then what this exercise about?

We could have spared ourselves the trouble and just posted everybody's current playlists.

"If you agree with Putin, you're intelligent and going places. If you don't, you lose all credibility. "

Sayeth the man who cusses people out for disagreeing on sports threads?

OK boss.

Re historical badasses, this might help:

http://www.badassoftheweek.com/

Oh yes, certainly. But if you look how many there are, then it would take forever.

"Then what this exercise about?"

Fun? Enjoyment?

Making sure you have a grammatically-correct post before acting superior to others while deriding them on the basis of something as inane as what kind of music they prefer?

"We could have spared ourselves the trouble and just posted everybody's current playlists."

...Sorry...how much "trouble" was a vote-a-day thread for you, exactly?

Did your Beatles bashing and adulation of the Kinks really cause you that much distress on a daily basis?

(If so...we should have threads like this more often.)

Top Ten AC/DC songs. Not a bad list. Check out the bagpipes on #7.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/readers-poll-the-10-best-ac-dc-songs-20141015/thunderstruck-20141015

For those about to rock, we salute you.

AC/DC has multiple songs?

(Side note: "For those about to rock, we salute you." is a disgusting misappropriation of a pretty vile historical practice.)