Was there ever a more classic example of record label stupidity than Wilco’s record label rejecting the band’s best and most successful album, dismissing them from the label, giving the rights away to the band for free and then buying the album back via a subsidiary.
I’d be interested to know …
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I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to the record label stupidity question, but I do know that I’ll never tire of listening to “Jesus Etc”. See also Wilco doing “War On War” also on Letterman.
Agreed
Decca’s failure to sign the Beatles ranks up there in the stupidity stakes, I’d say.
Label boss Dick Rowe (who always gets the blame for this) was on holiday at the time and his assistant Mike Smith auditioned two bands on the same day: Brian Poole & the Tremeloes and The Beatles.
Smith liked them both but budget only allowed him to sign one (“guitar bands were on the way out” after all).
He phoned Rowe explaining his dilemma. “Where are they from?” asked Rowe.
“One is from Dagenham and the other from Liverpool” replied Smith.
“Oh, sign the band from Dagenham” said Rowe. “It’ll be cheaper to bring them in to record”.
I reckon it was a miracle The Fabs not being signed to Decca.
Had they been, NO George Martin, what then?
Decca always seemed a very naff label, as did Pye.
But Pye International now, that was different. That’s where all the Chess stuff was.
Truly cringeworthy!
I wonder how many other stories of this kind there are, where the wound still hurts. Like publishing houses who turned down Rowling.
A few years later when the Fabs were at their peak George Harrison was reminded of this and the the interviewer said “I bet Dick Rowe is kicking himself now”.
“I hope he kicks himself to death” quipped George, clearly not holding a grudge at all.
The Dick Rowe episode was lampooned in The Rutles, with Dan Ackroyd playing “Brian Thigh”