Fifty years ago today, the first James Bond movie, “Dr. No.” premiered in London. The movie launched an enduring franchise and starred the man who’s still the best of all the Bonds, Sean Connery.
Also in England on Oct. 5, 1962, and more important, EMI’s Parlophone Records released “Love Me Do,” the first single* by the Beatles (pictured below in EMI’s Abbey Road studios on Sept. 4, 1962). The song spent 10 weeks on the British charts and peaked at No. 17. The band that would change pop music didn’t start with a bang. But start they did, and their next single, “Please Please Me,” released three months later on Jan. 11, 1963, sparked a worldwide phenomenon.
The Beatles began 1962 by auditioning for Decca Records in London on Jan. 1. Several other record labels had already rejected them so they and their manager, Brian Epstein, saw Decca as one of their last best hopes for a record deal. The Decca audition tapes have been widely bootlegged; five of the 15 songs performed during the audition were officially released on “Anthology 1” in 1995. In February, Decca producer Dick Rowe told Epstein, “Guitar groups are on their way out, Mr. Epstein.”** Decca rejected the Beatles and offered a contract to a group called Brian Poole and the Tremeloes. (Yeah, me neither.)
The hinges of history fascinate me. Had Decca signed the Beatles, at least two things today would be true.
The first is Ringo Starr almost certainly would be anonymous Richard Starkey of Liverpool, England. Ringo didn’t join the Beatles until August 1962 after George Martin, who had signed them to EMI’s Parlophone label in May, suggested they needed to replace Pete Best with a better drummer. And the best drummer in Liverpool at the time was Ringo Starr of Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.
The second is the Beatles would be different. How big would they have become, what songs would they have written and recorded without Martin’s guidance and EMI’s indulgence? They may be nothing more than a footnote, if that, in pop music history. They may be just as famous, but with a discography we can’t imagine - no “Rubber Soul,” no “Revolver,” no “Sgt. Pepper.” And if Decca had signed the Beatles - had signed John, Paul, George and Pete - would the label later have signed the Rolling Stones?
Few events happened in 1962 that were more important to today’s world than Decca’s rejection of the Beatles. That rejection led to Oct. 5, 1962, and the release of the first single by the band - John, Paul, George and Ringo - that would go on to conquer the British and American charts for the next eight years.
And the inhabitants of that other world, the one where Decca signs the Beatles, maybe today is the day they recognize the first single on Parlophone by Brian Poole and the Tremeloes.
*
* “Love Me Do” wasn’t the Beatles’ first appearance on record in England. They had backed Tony Sheridan on a version of “My Bonnie” that had been released as a single by Polydor in January 1962. It didn’t chart - well, not until after Beatlemania struck and it poked its way onto the British charts for a week in June 1963.
** Allegedly. Epstein was the source of the quote, and Rowe, who died in 1986, denied ever uttering it. To give the man some credit, Rowe did sign the Rolling Stones to Decca in 1963 … following an introduction by George Harrison. Obviously, there were no hard feelings and by then, of course, guitar groups were very much in.