Number Four Ain't Bad...
Aerosmith said:
The only Beatle I would consider a legend is George Harrison. Very under rated. Don't care much for Paul, John, or Ringo. KISS are legends they are only 2nd to the Beatles in Gold Records for Groups.
Aerosmith, your namesake actually outranks KISS in the gold record department, although both fall behind the Rolling Stones, who are the ones to claim that #2 spot.
NUMBER OF GOLD RECORDS AWARDED TO GROUP:
The Beatles: 43
The Rolling Stones: 41
Aerosmith: 25
Kiss: 24
Rush: 23
Alabama; Chicago: 22
Jefferson Airplane/Starship: 20
AC/DC; The Grateful Dead; The Beach Boys: 19
The Who; Led Zeppelin; Lynyrd Skynyrd; Pink Floyd; Queen; The Temptations; The Doors: 18
Mannheim Steamroller: 17
U2; Isley Brothers; Jethro Tull: 15
So... Chicago and Alabama have more gold records than Led Zeppelin, The Who, Pink Floyd, and Queen (all tied, interestingly enough). Does that mean we want to see a batch of Chicago PF's before these groups? Ick, no.
Meanwhile, The Eagles are nowhere on this list, yet they are the number three selling group of all time, with 89 million total units sold, compared to 19 million for KISS (the #58 all time best-selling group, total units sold). The Eagles have released fewer albums, but those albums sold like crazy.
Hootie and the Blowfish, Heart, Genesis, REO Speedwagon, The Doobie Brothers, Motley Crue, Earth Wind and Fire, The Cars, R.E.M., Steve Miller Band, ZZ Top, The Bee Gees, Boston, and Mannheim Steamroller have all sold more total units than KISS.
What do you think is more impressive, one album that sells 10 million, or twenty albums that sell 500,000? KISS have half a million fans that buy every one of their many records. Hootie & the Blowfish had 16 million fans buy one album and then abandon them. Which group is more popular? Which group has had more sustained and faithful popularity?
In the end, I would argue that neither total units sold nor total number of gold records alone make for a musical legend. There's just something more to it than that... (By gold record status alone, you could argue that Chip Davis of Mannheim Steamroller is more of a musical legend than Bono from U2. However, if you made such an argument, I would reach through your monitor and choke you with one hand while punching you in the face with the other...)
In the end, none of the other bands listed here would look as cool in their Greg Mowry costumes as KISS. That's what makes them an appropriate band to start the PF line!!