Journalist has a go at the Beatles. Again.

So, there's one of those fairly lazy slagging off articles on the Guardian music blog recently (so dull I won't bother linking to it) - blaming the Beatles for music being male dominated. Because obviously, that there are far more boys than girls picking up guitars and trying to form a band is entirely the fault of the Beatles and had nothing whatsoever to do with, say, pervading Western mores, the dominance of music by men long before the Beatles appeared, or even with teenage boys being more slightly more likely to sit on their own in their bedroom obsessively trying to learn three chords than girls are (because it's a pretty damn antisocial thing to do until you can actually play).

So anyway, taking The Guardian as a perfect example of those sexist media monsters - who do they talk about (as far as Google can see, act name entered in brackets)? Trying a fairly random list of old, overplayed bands, bands I like, bands I think the media likes, and bands and people I wish would just shut up and go away gives:

Bob Dylan - 6,420
Paul Simon - 4,820 (yes, this surpised me, but I didn't bother going through the list much, so perhaps there's a Guardian journalist of the same name)
Elvis - 4,360
The Beatles - 4,150
Bono - 2,970 (though probably more media whore than music these days)
Arctic Monkeys - 2,690
U2 - 2,040
Amy Winehouse - 1,970
Beethoven - 1,970
Coldplay - 1,870 (oh, they really deserve to suffer for this)
Kate Bush - 1,710
David Bowie - 1,560
Radiohead - 1,550
Eminem - 1,240
Pink Floyd 1,160
Bruce Springsteen - 1,110
Lily Allen - 1,050
R.E.M. - 967
Elvis Presley - 939
Johnny Cash - 798
Miles Davis - 780
Tom Waits - 694
Damon Albarn - 640
Nick Cave - 632
Jarvis Cocker - 624
Bjork - 588
PJ Harvey - 414
Billie Holiday - 382
Diana Ross - 256
Goldfrapp - 222
Graham Coxon - 179
Simon and Garfunkel - 173
Bat for Lashes - 115 (the other female act nominated for this years Mercury Prize - so a possible dark horse if they feel Ms Winehouse has had enough publicity already)
Fionn Regan - 21

Ms Winehouse appears to be doing well. Two albums and she's caught up with Beethoven. Not catching up with Bob that fast, though. What would music journos have to write about it they didn't have Bob?