Pop Poll

The record executives who’d rather bet on the Beatles than any of today’s artists have no one to blame but themselves (‘For Now, Yesterday Is Here to Stay,” by Robert Hilburn, April 22). Ninety-nine percent of them wouldn’t recognize talent if it bit them in the butt (a John Hammond, now and then, is the exception). Sticking to the formula of a “catchy refrain” and “hit potentiality” leaves a dull redundancy in the end.

It shouldn’t be surprising that the Beatles are continually being rediscovered by subsequent generations. By the way, they didn’t write hits. They wrote songs that became hits. From “Meet the Beatles” to “Abbey Road,” the songs were genuine. Brian Epstein made sure of that. Wanna bet these same record executives would have “passed” on the Fab Four in ‘62-’63?

PHILIP J. HILOW

Sunland

*

I was surprised by the responses of my fellow executives in Hilburn’s poll.

Where is Mariah Carey, who has sold nearly more albums than any other artist in the past decade, is still young, has an incredible voice and a proven work ethic?

Where is Garth Brooks, the biggest solo artist of all time?

Where is Sarah McLachlan?

P.S. By the way, it was great to see everyone recognize and acknowledge the success of the Beatles’ “1,” but they didn’t always recognize the value of future catalog success in their artist selections!

ROY LOTT

Deputy president,

EMI Recorded Music, North America

Hollywood

*

Since Hilburn put the defunct Beatles on his list of long-term music faves, he should have added Tupac Shakur, whose death hasn’t stopped him from being more prolific than every other act mentioned. And I’ll bet that Elvis is still outselling nearly all of his RCA stablemates, despite a general lack of label support.

But then again, that might shatter the American record industry’s ongoing myth that the world’s greatest music of all time was produced in the past three months.

JIM DAWSON

Hollywood