Yes, we could argue till the cows come home, and yes, I do know that the innovators of anything aren't always the ones to be the popularizers of it. Still, allow me to note that musicians say all kinds of things, and often, like the rest of us, things to satisfy or get rid of the interviewer, while their job is to play music not to speak about it. As to influences, here's what Rodney Crowell wrote on his Facebook page two days ago:
Beatles photographer and film-maker Ethan Russell, a friend of mine and a very close friend of my ex-wife, Rosanne Cash, once said to me that, “like no other band, those guys gave us the gift of our own inspiration.” Amen! Rodney
If you recall a month ago, after Phil Everly died, dozens of musicians, some of who you might have interviewed, said how they all had been influenced by the Everly Brothers. As were the Beatles, without a question, Simon & Garfunkel, Peter & Gordon and the Hollies, among many others. History of popular music did not start and did not end with the Beatles, and did not start (as absurdly suggested everywhere last week) in February 1964. History of trends among the practitioners in some branch of art or craft is meaningless when it focuses on it from the point of view of the users, buyers or receivers of this art, and that is what I am seeing.
And finally, if it wasn't Link Wray who used fuzz on a "major record", then it must have been Nokey Edwards on another 'concept' album that came out long before Sgt Pepper:
Ah, but here's the rub. My interviews were NOT about the Beatles. In one case, I was interviewing rockers about their recollections of the Berlin Wall falling, and just as a set of warm up questions, I'd ask "So, what caused you to be a musician." The ALL volunteered the Beatles.
The second group occurred when I interviewed people for a biography of Mark Stein of Vanilla Fudge. Again, my focus was never on the Beatles, but on their relationships with Mark, but again, as part of the warm up questions, they ALL mentioned the Beatles as their influence.
There was actually a third group I interviewed during the filming of "Rockin' the Wall," and same thing. Even foreign musicians (Muslim musicians!) that I interviewed for my second film often (but not as universally) said the same thing. So, I think I'm on very, very solid ground here.