Readers React: Hip hop reigns over rock? Dream on.

To the editor: The study by the Imperial College of London purporting to show that hip-hop singles had a greater impact on pop culture than rock songs isn’t worth the newsprint you printed the article about it on. The study’s premise is fundamentally flawed. (“Hip-hop, not Beatles, had greatest influence on pop music, study says,” May 8)

Every true fan and listener of what is now categorized as classic rock (the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Cream, Black Sabbath, the Who and others) knows that with the exception of the very first years of the British Invasion, “singles” and Billboard’s Hot 100 list were virtually barren of the best and most influential classic rock songs.

The impact of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix was and continues to be most heavily felt in album sales, an area this study apparently forgot to account for.

Now armed with this obvious information, The Times might want to rethink its headline.

Classic rock does indeed permeate and dominate popular music in the United States, Western Europe and beyond.

Ray McKown, Los Angeles

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