I'm too lazy to quote everything to which I'm responding.
I agree with what you're saying, and found myself feeling the same way as you say you do in that last paragraph. I appreciated the Beatles early stuff - lord knows, I love a good pop tune - but never got into them. That all I changed when I got the White Album (of course, that's what everyone says...). Then I realized there was something more to them. I went backwards from there, tracing the progression in reverse - MMT, Sgt. Pepper, Revolver, Rubber Soul, etc.
I also think Blind-Fitter stated brilliant points about the time and generation gaps. I probably can't ever appreciate their total impact because I was born 3 years after they disbanded. I can't imagine a band today with such growth from album to album in a 5 year span. Amazing to me...