I don't think I miss the point at all. Jim Marshall's accomplishments only impacted one genre of music--rock. Les Paul's accomplishments and inventiveness impacted not just one genre of music, but the entire recording industry--which impacted all genres of music.
I don't dispute any of that, I already said so. But then, one could just as easilly say that no one's impact on modern music beats that of Edison - but then things get ridiculous. For the record, Les Paul didn't actually
invent multitracking. He was doing a primitive form of it using and playing along to record acetates - as were others and some before him.
And one shouldn't minimize rock and pop - they may only be a couple of genres but they have consistently for 60 years been far and away the dominant genres of music, bleeding into everything from jazz to classical to opera to reggae to rap. To some extent pop and rock music themselves have actually had a far greater and more lasting impact and influence than the machines that all forms of music have actually been recorded on. And that's why the argument is something of a 'non sequitur' or a roundabout one.
One other thing about Marshall and his amps - they stand at a very decisive and important turning point in music history, that point where
bands playing live could now be heard
above the noise of thousands of fans. That might seem like a dumb thing to say, but it marks the change where music of the common man became an art form to be listened to, not danced to and screamed at. Like many things it's the combination of people and events, rather than anything or anyone singular.
As for Laney and his amps, Marshalls were already the dogs bollocks with many established 'stars' when he started building them for local Brummie musicians. The people that used early Laneys like Tony Iommi didn't become established until the 70s, by which time Marshall had a serious headstart and had captured many artists' hearts and ears and had become iconic at heavy gigs.
Sometimes, things just catch on and other things of maybe equal stature don't, or at least, not in the same way.
