Scientific study finds emergence of hip hop eclipsed Beatles, Stones
The impact of hip-hop's arrival on the pop music scene eclipsed that of the Beatles-led British invasion of 1964, a computer analysis of 17,000 songs has found.
The unusual study found three revolutions on the charts: the 1991 emergence of rap and hip-hop on mainstream charts; the synth-led new wave movement of 1983, and the advent of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who and other British rockers in the early 1960s.
Although the Beatles -- paced by the songwriting of John Lennon and Paul McCartney -- enjoy perhaps the highest place in critics' esteem, the researchers found the hip-hop movement -- from pioneers like Afrika Bambaataa to megastars like Jay-Z -- more profound.
They wrote that the rise of rap and related genres represents "the single most important event that has shaped the musical structure of the American charts in the period we studied."
By contrast, the British bands -- heavily influenced by U.S. stars like Chuck Berry and Little Richard -- were found to have followed existing trends.
The study, released on Wednesday, was conducted by the University of London and Imperial College
The researchers analyzed 30-second snippets of roughly 17,000 songs from the U.S. Billboard pop charts from 1960 to 2010.
By: Gregory Katz
Source: The Associated Press
