4 ms·

This one is easy: Decca recording turning down the Beatles. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles%27_Decca_audition https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_B

by apathy 10y ago

This one is easy: Decca recording turning down the Beatles. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles%27_Decca_audition https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles%27_Decca_auditio... "We don't like their sound, and guitar groups are on the way out." Sort of like Adidas turning down Michael Jordan for not being tall enough, except that Adidas is still in business.

drzaiusapelord 10y ago
Isn't this common in publishing and in music? Every big hit seems to have been turned down several times. A lot of publishing houses aren't the arbiters of taste but instead have goals and metrics for certain types of work and only shop for them. You may have a great historical novel on your hands, but if the agents are only looking at sci-fi and YA stuff, then you might get turned down until you find a publisher willing to take a chance on something the market isn't necessarily asking for. Also guitar groups were on their way for a while. The charts in the early 1960s were pop bands like the Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder, Andy Williams, The Sensations, Ray Charles, etc. Obviously, rock became a powerful force by the mid 1960s but that was difficult to predict. I don't think anyone saw the British Invasion, Dylan, psychedelic rock, and the hippie counter-culture coming.
- apathy 10y ago
  Right, but when your job is to pick winners, this is a problem. Netflix has been doing a spectacular job of this lately, essentially turning themselves into a must-have "channel". HBO, too, by going a la carte. Contrast with Blockbuster's decision not to buy Netflix. It may have been understandable, and hindsight is 20:20 (I left Google because I couldn't figure out how they'd ever make any money), but these are nonetheless big mistakes.
rando444 10y ago
I doubt few if any of the people that we think of as icons today had the fortune of being immediately accepted. Elvis was rejected by nearly everone, JK Rowling's Harry Potter was rejected by a slew of publishers.. basically everyone who is currently famous has these stories, and often many of them. The lesson though, is that the key to success is perseverance.
- ArkyBeagle 10y ago
  Elvis wasn't widely rejected. it was just a couple of people, and all within Sun. He was still at Sun, and Mr. Sam had dog eared his file. But Mr. Sam wanted crossover over the color line in music. Almost nobody hits their first one out of the park. Once "Blue Moon" hit, Elvis was on rails.
ArkyBeagle 10y ago
The Beatles were a dead letter[1] by around 1980. The had a significant renaissance in the '90s - kids re-buying their parents' records. If you are my age, the Beatles were "the band Paul played in before Wings." [1] except in certain radio markets in the US. At the time, you had Brill building songwriters feeding generic groups organized by producer. It looked like a more robust "supply chain" than the business model used by the Beatles. That world was quite different - writing, singing, playing, recording were all industrial specialties. That model lived on in Muscle Shoals really until about 1980 or so. You ignore Muscle Shoals at its peak at your peril. Brian Epstein was a brilliant marketer. His plan worked. He knew how to make 'em wait. The individual Beatles have tried to credit him but I don't think they understand it, really.
- apathy 10y ago
  Wow, I just learned a lot about Muscle Shoals. Thanks. Didn't realize that the Black Keys recorded Brothers there, let alone the history of the place. I just had no idea!
  - ArkyBeagle 10y ago
    There is a film by that title - "Muscle Shoals" - too. I think I saw it on Netflix. It'll drop yer jaw how much stuff was done there. The players? Just local country boys who learned on the job.

by apathy 10y ago

drzaiusapelord 10y ago

Isn't this common in publishing and in music? Every big hit seems to have been turned down several times. A lot of publishing houses aren't the arbiters of taste but instead have goals and metrics for certain types of work and only shop for them. You may have a great historical novel on your hands, but if the agents are only looking at sci-fi and YA stuff, then you might get turned down until you find a publisher willing to take a chance on something the market isn't necessarily asking for. Also guitar groups were on their way for a while. The charts in the early 1960s were pop bands like the Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder, Andy Williams, The Sensations, Ray Charles, etc. Obviously, rock became a powerful force by the mid 1960s but that was difficult to predict. I don't think anyone saw the British Invasion, Dylan, psychedelic rock, and the hippie counter-culture coming.

apathy 10y ago
Right, but when your job is to pick winners, this is a problem. Netflix has been doing a spectacular job of this lately, essentially turning themselves into a must-have "channel". HBO, too, by going a la carte. Contrast with Blockbuster's decision not to buy Netflix. It may have been understandable, and hindsight is 20:20 (I left Google because I couldn't figure out how they'd ever make any money), but these are nonetheless big mistakes.

rando444 10y ago

I doubt few if any of the people that we think of as icons today had the fortune of being immediately accepted. Elvis was rejected by nearly everone, JK Rowling's Harry Potter was rejected by a slew of publishers.. basically everyone who is currently famous has these stories, and often many of them. The lesson though, is that the key to success is perseverance.

ArkyBeagle 10y ago
Elvis wasn't widely rejected. it was just a couple of people, and all within Sun. He was still at Sun, and Mr. Sam had dog eared his file. But Mr. Sam wanted crossover over the color line in music. Almost nobody hits their first one out of the park. Once "Blue Moon" hit, Elvis was on rails.

ArkyBeagle 10y ago

The Beatles were a dead letter[1] by around 1980. The had a significant renaissance in the '90s - kids re-buying their parents' records. If you are my age, the Beatles were "the band Paul played in before Wings." [1] except in certain radio markets in the US. At the time, you had Brill building songwriters feeding generic groups organized by producer. It looked like a more robust "supply chain" than the business model used by the Beatles. That world was quite different - writing, singing, playing, recording were all industrial specialties. That model lived on in Muscle Shoals really until about 1980 or so. You ignore Muscle Shoals at its peak at your peril. Brian Epstein was a brilliant marketer. His plan worked. He knew how to make 'em wait. The individual Beatles have tried to credit him but I don't think they understand it, really.

apathy 10y ago
Wow, I just learned a lot about Muscle Shoals. Thanks. Didn't realize that the Black Keys recorded Brothers there, let alone the history of the place. I just had no idea!
- ArkyBeagle 10y ago
  There is a film by that title - "Muscle Shoals" - too. I think I saw it on Netflix. It'll drop yer jaw how much stuff was done there. The players? Just local country boys who learned on the job.