2.Liverpudlians Usurped By Tremeloes
New Years Day 1962 marked the death of a prehistoric sound known as 'guitar music'. Or at least it would have had Decca Records A&R supremo Dick Rowe had his way. Yawning his way through a stuttering set by four Scousers fresh of the plane from Hamburg, he turned to their manager and uttered the immortal words, "Guitar groups are on the way out, Mr Epstein". He was wrong, of course, but then he did pass up the chance of signing the four young men who were calling themselves The Beatles. Rowe can be excused his embarrassing gaffe to an extent. The Beatles were bedevilled by nerves on that cold January morning and their equipment was deemed to be sub-standard, forcing them to use Decca's own amps. Added to this was the fact that only three of the fifteen song set list were originals, and of the covers only Searchin' would appear on the Anthology discs and see the band give an immaculate performance. The group had still been confident of signing with Decca, only to find themselves up against Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, who were the preferred choice of Rowe on account of their Dagenham location. Rowe would remain haunted by his words to Epstein, forever crystallising him in the public's perception as the man who turned down The Beatles. He could take solace in the fact that he did sign The Rolling Stones-on George Harrison's recommendation. As for The Beatles, had they signed to Decca, we would never have had the serendipitous decision of George Martin to remove Pete Best and gift us Ringo Starr-the world's most underrated drummer. He never played the snare and the hi-hat simultaneously and we can thank him for that.