Aftermath would become another hit for the Stones, citing "Paint It Black" as the focal point of the hard rock album and revering Oldham for his production. Cash Box was extremely impressed by the LP and also predicted immediate chart success, saying "Lady Jane" and "Goin' Home" in particular are likely to attract considerable notice. Writing in Esquire in 1967, Robert Christgau said that the Stones' records present the only possible challenge to Rubber Souls place as "an album that for innovation, tightness and lyrical intelligence" far surpassed any previous work in popular music. About two years later, in Stereo Review, he included the American Aftermath in his basic rock "library" of 25 albums and attributed the Stones' artistic identity largely to Jagger, "whose power, subtlety and wit are unparalleled in contemporary popular music". While suggesting Jagger and Richards rank second behind John Lennon and Paul McCartney as composers of melody in rock, Christgau still considered it the best album in any category and wrote: Influence and legacy Aftermath is considered the most important of the Rolling Stones' early albums. It was an inaugural release of the album era, during which the LP replaced the single as the primary product and form of artistic expression in popular music. As with Rubber Soul, the extent of Aftermaths commercial success foiled the music industry's attempts to re-establish the LP market as the domain of wealthier, adult record-buyers – a plan that had been driven by the industry's disapproval of the uncouth image associated with Jagger and their belief that young record-buyers were more concerned with singles. In Malvinni's opinion, Aftermath was "the crucial step for the Stones' conquering of the pop world and their much-needed answer" to Rubber Soul, which had similarly embodied the emergence of youth culture in popular music during the mid-1960s. With their continued commercial success, the Stones joined the Beatles and the Who as one of the few rock acts who were able to follow their own artistic direction and align themselves with London's elite bohemian scene without alienating the wider youth audience or appearing to compromise their working-class values. Speaking on the cultural impact of Aftermaths British release in 1966, Margotin and Guesdon say it was, "in a sense, the soundtrack of Swinging London, a gift to hip young people" and "one of the brightest stars of the new culture (or counterculture) that was to reach its