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That's interesting and not at all what one might have expected.

But you know that the Beatles and Beach Boys were known even in their day for combining different instruments. You wouldn't have found such "timbral diversity" in most music before them.

The point about a decline in pitch content seems to be valid. Lyrics also aren't what they used to be.

"You wouldn't have found such "timbral diversity" in most music before them."

Good point. However, the Stones outdid them both back in their heyday in the 60's and early 70's.

Personally, I don't believe there has EVER been a better intro to a rocker than Gimme Shelter. Not only is the guitar work with Richards and Taylor so complimentary, but the haunting vocal of the female singer makes it still a classic on just about any jukebox.

There has been no other song that has been so often used in movies/TV than that. It sets the tone of the scene every time. "Sympathy For The Devil" is also a classic. Did you know there are NO drums in that song? Being a drummer, I'm probably one of the few that only hear the bongos, plus hand percussion. Charlie Watts did not play his drums.

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, a big hit in the late fall of 1933 includes the lines, "so I chaffed them and I gaily laughed to think they could doubt my love" and "Now, laughing friends deride tears I cannot hide."

How many popular songs from the past half-century include the verbs "to chaff" or "to deride" in their lyrics? Probably zero.