After reading the various comments, I realize that an infinite number of events or circumstances could have prevented the Beatles success.
So, I'd like to add some more what ifs:
* What if Paul wasn't a very good bass player?
* What if the Beatles were tall, short or fat?
* What if the Beatles natural hair colors were all different so that they weren't similar in appearance?
* What if the Beatles didn't call themselves the Beatles but some other name? Maybe the name Beatles is more important than we think.
* What if Brian Epstein wasn't gay, maybe he wouldn't have cared as much about promoting the boys?
* What if Pete Best were a very good drummer and smiled a lot? Was it really essential that he leave the band?
* What if Ringo's name was different like Arthur or Donald? Maybe he wouldn't have been as popular.
* What if the Beatles were a bunch of squares? Would people still have liked their music?
* What if one or more of the Beatles were not likable people?
* What if Paul had never written "Love me Do?"
* What if the early critics of the Beatles approved of them? Would the fans still have liked them or did the fans like them because they were considered to be underdogs due to the critics disparaging reviews?
* What if the Beatles were still in their teens? Did they need to be in their twenties before the fans would like them?
* What if one or more of the Beatles were ugly looking?
* What if Paul was not the "cute one" but looked ordinary or very dull?
* What if Ringo had a nose job thus eliminating his sort of clownish appearance? Would the fans not have liked him as much?
* What if George had a better singing voice and could sing anything John or Paul could? Maybe this would have seriously disrupted the chemistry of the group.
* Finally, what if you or I never existed? Maybe the Beatles wouldn't have either. I base this on "the Butterfly Effect" which proposes that the alteration of one event (however minor) could trigger a series of chained events that we couldn't possibly prove or account for. The idea was that the Butterfly's wings, depending on which way they flapped, could conceivably change the course of world history!! Yes yes seriously.
And thank you, Julius Caesar (
and butterflies), for bringing us the Beatles. Hip Hip Hooray!!!