Unlike a Rolling Stone

Arno Keks makes the usual mistakes of the small but vocal Beatles-denial squad (Letters, Dec. 12). Bob Dylan and the Beatles influenced each other. Dylan’s lyrics inspired John Lennon. The Beatles’ energy cantilevered Dylan’s electrification.

Keks equates the Rolling Stones’ survival compared to the Beatles’ breakup as indication of some significance. But the Stones’ valid contributions to contemporary rock were in narrower straits than the important quantum leaps in writing and recording engineered by the Beatles.

(The reason the Stones continue to tour as a geriatric, Vegas self-parody is partly because Mick Jagger still has an enormous chip on his shoulder about the Stones perennially being No. 2 to the Beatles.)

Finally, Michael Stipe has been whining for years about how he was never influenced by the Beatles and how they created elevator music. But without the Beatles’ influence on Stipe’s heroes, R.E.M. would still be taking the stairs. Stipe is accurate though about the lack of direct influence. A careful examination behind the myth of the self-hagiographic R.E.M. reveals that Stipe was clearly more influenced by the Monkees.

MARTIN LEWIS

Los Angeles