Ongoing History Daily: Missing the boat on David Bowie

On January 1, 1962, The Beatles auditioned for a record deal with Decca Records. They were rejected because the label believed that “guitar groups were on their way out.” That turned out to be one of the dumbest decisions in the history of music. Here’s another.

In 1965, a young London singer named Davy Jones auditioned for a spot on the BBC as part of his group called The Manish Boys. They were told that the vocalist was “devoid of personality,” “amateur sounding,” and “not particularly exciting.”

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, Davy Jones would later rename himself “David Bowie” and we all know what eventually happened to him. Hey, sometimes failure makes you stronger.