The Worst Decision in the History of Music
Epstein’s group left Decca Records dejected that their New Year had started with a rejection. Not so Dick Rowe, who figured that 1962 began auspiciously for him and his label. That same day, he had listened to another auditioning band, liked what he heard, and signed up Brian Poole and the Tremeloes to a deal with Decca. As Rowe recalled later, he had told his A&R subordinate Mike Smith to decide between Epstein’s group and Brian Poole and the Tremeloes: “He said, ‘They’re both good, but one’s a local group, the other comes from Liverpool.’ We decided it was better to take the local group. We could work with them more easily and stay closer in touch as they came from Dagenham.”
Signing up the Tremeloes was not a bad decision in of itself, as the band had some success. In 1963, they entered the UK charts with a cover of the Isley Brothers’ Twist and Shout, and followed it up with a UK chart-topping cover of the Contours’ Do You Love Me. A year later, their cover of Roy Orbison’s Candy Man pleased the Brits, and a cover of the Crickets’ Someone, Someone made it to number 2 on the UK charts. Rowe’s screwup was his failure to sign the other band that had auditioned the same day as the Tremoloes: The Silver Beatles, who soon shortened their name to The Beatles.
