My new friend Dan Tudor posted a link to a list of misinformed and horribly wrong quotations by some famous people, such as the chairman of the board of IBM predicting that “there's a world market for about five computers.” And the president of Digital Equipment Corp. saying – as recently as 1977 – that “there is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”
Also included in that list is the A&R man from Decca Records who turned down the Beatles following a recording s
ession audition in January 1962. His name was Dick Rowe, and he said, “We don't like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out.”
Of course, he was proven wrong, way wrong, but at least Dick Rowe gave them a session. He sent his assistant, Mike Smith, to
Rather than being remembered as the man who didn’t sign the Beatles, Dick Rowe is the man who gave them their first real shot.
Decca ended up signing a local band, Brian Poole And The Tremoloes (who?) simply because they lived in London rather than Liverpool. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think Dick Rowe later signed the Rolling Stones to Decca, at George Harrison’s suggestion. That seems a pretty good payback for the risk he took.
The 15 songs recorded at the Decca audition are available all over the Internet. And they're not bad, but listen closely. Would you have offered them a contract based on that?
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