Four-Piece Groups with Guitars Are Finished
"The Beatles have no future in show business," a Decca Records executive told the band's manager, Brian Epstein, in 1962. "We don't like your boys' sound. Groups are out; four-piece groups with guitars, particularly, are finished." It's almost inconceivable how wrong-headed this statement was, considering Britain and the U.S. were about to usher in the era of the modern rock-'n'-roll band (many of them four-piece guitar groups) via the greatest foursome of them all. But in 1962, the Beatles were still just another band playing clubs in Europe and trying to make it big. John Lennon and Paul McCartney hadn't even started writing many songs yet (only three songs played at the Decca audition were originals). With the Fab Four reportedly not too fab in their audition, Decca went with another band trying out at the same time, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes. Yeah, we've never listened to them either.