The Myth of Gibson?

I recently got to work on this lovely Gibson 50s Standard Les Paul with P90 pickups, and it got me thinking about the "myth" of Gibson guitars. Or are is their prestige deserved, despite recent issues and so many other brands offering similar, if not better, quality? All of my guitar heroes growing up played Gibsons, and my biggest influence as a songwriter is Neil Young, famous for wielding a modified version of this exact guitar. I just shared my thoughts as someone who has never owned a Gibson, knows there are probably some other guitar manufacturers who will make a better version of Gibson's offerings... but they're just not a Gibson, are they?