Or like how a band such as the Beatles with their matching haircuts and photo-ops and movies were somehow not trying to "catch a little fame".

lol also very true. Plus they've been open about who influenced them, from older rock to contemporaries, so I mean where's that criticism neardeathman?

I doubt you've even heard of those bands let alone listened to them.
In fact I don't think I've heard you say anything good about any music dated any later than 1970.

I like Jakob Dylan. I Started A Joke (A song by the Bee Gees in 1968) is one of my favorite singles by Dylan & The Wallflowers.
Faith No More actually covered this particular song and did it quite well as a matter of fact.

They did a fine job covering "Heroes" too.

Then try this, from 1992:

Brian Wilson himself has covered that song in concert, even opening with it. Paul McCartney said that he'd like to work with them.

I think the problem with Pop today is that you have the same small cadre of people producing all of the popular music and relying on the same tropes and influences over and over again, so pop sounds like hip-hop and hip-hop sounds like pop and it's all very generic and samey and bland. Does anyone even listen to this stuff anymore besides 12 year old girls?

yes

^ 13 is pretty much the same thing

12? I think a large portion of the population younger than 30 listens to modern mainstream HipPop.