The Beatles are pretty much completely overrated and contrived, completely hypocritical -- a classic case of "do as I say, not as I do."
What about like..
Bjork
The Knife
Animal Collective's first album
Goldfrapp's first album
The knife especially. Have you heard Shaking the Habitual? That album is ****ing crazy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoH6k6eIUS4
The lyrics and the imagery are oozing with political commentary. The knife can be extremely vulgar, bordering on frightening.
I think all of those have a great deal of artistic merit, way more than any Beatles album. The Beatles is kind of elementary compared to other pop artists.
Perfume Genius's second album also, another pop album, incredibly moving and heartfelt. The most simple music you'll ever hear, aesthetically, but so much complexity found within the earnest delivery. So ****ing emotional, yet so simple. So brave, too. Pop isn't just for young people. This is literally someone who has been through some of the most terrible things a person can go through, trying to express that pain and to express a feeling of hope despite tragedy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-41zNoRO1sI
Antony and the Johnsons,
****ing Holly Herndon dude, this crazy producer who is bridging these arbitrary gaps between the academic and the instinctual. She is a pop artist who literally goes on tours giving lectures to music students. She graduated from the same place that John Cage did. This is an avant-garde, experimental artist who infuses dance and pop elements into her music, and addresses her audience politically, challenging convention and pushing boundaries both in the pop world and the experimental world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHujh3yA3BE