For me, friend Ebbie, it has to do with what was created by their success. When one looks at the eclectic, exciting musical experiments spawned by their success, one cannot help but be amazed. I am not saying they were solely responsible for the mid 60's to early 70's music, but their success and their experimentation spawned whole subsets of the rock genre. I am thinking of music influenced by baroque, classical, blues, rockabilly, and on and on. Add to this the great lyrics, and you start to get a glimpse of their greatness.

Lyrics examples:

You've Got To Hide Your Love Away"
"Here I stand, head in hand, turn my face to the wall.
If she's gone, I can't go on, feeling two foot small....
Hey, you've got to hide your love away

WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS
I look at you all, see the love there that's sleeping,
while my guitar gently weeps,
I look at the floor and I see it needs sweeping
still my guitar gently weeps
I don't know why nobody told you
how to unfold your love, I don't know how someone controlled you
They bought and sold you

Norwegian Wood
I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me?
She showed me her room, isn't it good? Norwegian wood.
She asked me to stay and she told me to sit anywhere.
So I looked around and I noticed there wasn't a chair...

If I had more time I would include many more.

All the best,

Mick