the "sound." I know what you mean now. Everyone wants the Neptunes "sound" or whatever. They want it to be the same cause that's what's popular, not because that's what's good.

I think one of the first examples of this is Phil Spector and his "Wall of Sound" thing. He was probably inspired by The Beatles, so yes i think it's acceptable to blame the Beatles. I mean even though the Beatles arranging and stuff is still better than most, it's still not what makes them great. It's their songwriting.