With baseball, the stats are all that matter.

Would it be possible for Millege to have a better batting average, and more homeruns, more ERAs, etc, than Mantle -- but still have less talent?

No. Because baseball is about talent more than anything else. If Millege had better stats than Mantle, you'd say that he had more talent.

With music, the stats only matter to the business types, and to the millions of people who only listen to Top 40 music.

As has been said before, music is art. It is subjective. It is not about stats. It does not matter if a band has been signed to any label, or if they've sold a single CD.

Music is simply about the listener. Every listener is different, and will appreciate different things.

For many, many years, Hip Hop and Rap completely owned the popular music industry. Are you a fan of that type of music because it is so popular among the general population?

What about boy bands like N*Sync, 98 Degrees, and Backstreet Boys that also ruled the charts for a long time? These bands are designed to be popular, they are thrown together by industry execs and pushed, and pushed, and pushed onto the radio. This continues to happen with "popular music". Are you a fan of those types of bands because they top the charts? The charts are driven by the industry just as much as they are by the masses.

No one is arguing about The Greats here. No one is saying that U2 is not a great band. Or that the Beatles weren't. Or that Jimmy Hendrix, Rush, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, The Beach Boys, The Eagles, etc, weren't. It doesn't matter if any of them were sellouts; they're all great bands.

But the fact that these bands all achieved popular and legendary status does not mean that everyone likes them. Why is that? Because music is subjective.

In baseball, you can argue that one player is better than another. But you can't argue with stats. Numbers don't lie.

In art, everyone can appreciate the Mona Lisa. But a much smaller number of people can appreciate Kazimir Malevich's "Black square".

In music, numbers only mean anything to those who are happy with what the industry continues to push. For those who are disillusioned by the industry, there's indie. Indie does not have to sound "weird", or have no harmony. It is simply music outside the Industry.

And in the ears of those who appreciate it, it can be just as good, or even better, than The Greats.