THIS WEEK REWIND: When The Beatles were rejected as having "no future"

This week 55 years ago saw budding band, who would become musical legends The Beatles, dismissed as having " no future in show business".
The Beatles: "no future"The Beatles: "no future"
The Beatles: "no future"

January 1 1962 saw inauspicious start to that year for four scruffy Scousers (here celebrated with ultimate quiz, soundtracked by their biggest hit) who traveled in a van 220 miles through snow for a London recording audition ... only to be turned down!

Decca studios was scene, same day as a The Tremeloes audition, of senior A&R man Dick Rowe and assistant Mike Smith's supervised session after the latter had seen the band play at their Cavern Club home venue.

The Beatles: the hitsThe Beatles: the hits
The Beatles: the hits
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Original line-up John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney and then drummer Pete Best nervously performed 15 songs over an hour before manager Brian Epstein was assured they would hear "within weeks" of their fate.

When he didn't, he chased a decision, only to be told “Groups with guitars are on the way out ... The Beatles have no future in show business”.

Rowe went on to redeem himself by subsequently signing such top acts as The Rolling Stones, The Animals, The Moody Blues, The Small Faces and Tom Jones.

The Beatles: the hitsThe Beatles: the hits
The Beatles: the hits
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And The Beatles? Well, the rest is well documented pop culture history. But even Fab Four's legendary producer George Martin later conceded he too may have been inclined to reject the group on the basis of their dodgy Decca tape.

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