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I know that this post is possibly filled with some gaps, but follow me on this...

Although I have read that type of statement before, I still slightly debate on that. The Beatles were mainly a great self-contained Pop/Rock band with a large following of Pop fans who found a group of presentable musicians who happened to have a pretty cool and then-groundbreaking style, both image-wise and musical. Pop based "Boy Bands" to me are more connected to a lot of the vocal groups and bands that usually (not always) relied on outside writers and used the lighter-styled trends of the day that attracted a mainly teenybopper following in their day, so in a 60's context that includes The Walker Brothers (One of the few GREATS that had the luck to have powerful songs and in their history a developing writer in Scott) to maybe say The Dave Clark Five, who were also self-contained but with a style that was certainly lightweight in my opinion, and Herman's Hermits, although they only had one 16-Magazine style face in my opinion (Peter Noone). I can also call The Bee Gees another classic example of a Boy Band who had the rare example of being self-contained but also having the distinction of creating some very high quality work that was focused mainly on Pop with only a few examples of trying some more edgy styles.

But The Beatles? Not a Boy Band.

They also were a step for many kids to try and develop their skills as musicians. Outsider kids of the era certainly had a lot of influence from The Beatles, and while it was largely overtaken by bands like the Stones and The Who later on, The Beatles' mix of skill, style, and image had a strong effect for people to choose being musician as a career choice that Boy Bands usually never can (with one of the exceptions being the Gibbs who certainly had to have influenced many through both hit making ability and longevity).

To me, Beatlemania was one of the few era in Rock where the teenyboppers actually had focused on a great band instead of a charismatic singer with a great voice in the best of cases or a hype that had the luck to be with the right style at the right time in the worst examples.