The fact that so many books still name the Beatles "the greatest or most significant or most influential" rock band ever only tells you how far rock music still is from becoming a serious art. Jazz critics have long recognized that the greatest jazz musicians of all times are Duke Ellington and John Coltrane, who were not the most famous or richest or best sellers of their times, let alone of all times. Classical critics rank the highly controversial Beethoven over classical musicians who were highly popular in courts around Europe. Rock critics are still blinded by commercial success: the Beatles sold more than anyone else (not true, by the way), therefore they must have been the greatest. Jazz critics grow up listening to a lot of jazz music of the past, classical critics grow up listening to a lot of classical music of the past. Rock critics are often totally ignorant of the rock music of the past, they barely know the best sellers. No wonder they will think that the Beatles did anything worth of being saved.
I agree with your general point, the pioneering acts from the 40's/50's except Elvis are being forgotten everyday. Folks like Big Joe Turner, Bill Haley, Louis Jordan and Fats Domino built the genre and most people today wouldn't have any clue who they are or their importance. Yet through my own research and self exploration in the music of the last decade, The Beatles are still imo the most important act in rock music and their sales/popularity is only part of their equation. They synthesized all the music that came before them into something new and almost everyone to come after them were influenced by the Beatles or an act that was influenced by The Beatles.
