Why did The Beatles turn down Bowie?
In 1968 Apple music advertised for ‘new talent’. Beatles fanboy David Bowie sent in an audition tape
In 1964 David Jones, a young Beatles fan, makes his first TV appearance. With astounding chutzpah, the 17-year-old promotes the (fictitious) Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Long-haired Men.
The future David Bowie shows the self-possession that would characterise his career. He also appears to have come to studio directly from the set of the recently released A Hard Day’s Night.
Part of this homage was self-serving. Put bluntly, Jones/Bowie wanted to be famous and and in 1960s jumping on The Beatles express was the fast route to that destination.
King Bee
In 1964 Davie Jones & the King Bees released Liza Jane, the first of a run of unsuccessful singles. Over the next four years, Bowie remained on the fringes of the record industry, unable to establish a defined musical style needed for the success he craved.
Nothing quite convinced though his better efforts showed that he was still listening to the Fab Four. As Pete Doggett suggests:
As early as 1965, Bowie sounded as if he was learning how to write songs by listening to With The Beatles.
He also took note of The Beatles dress code. This was fast-changing and easy to misread — the album cover for David Bowie (1967) for example, looked distinctly old fashioned next to Sergeant Pepper released weeks after.
Apple audition
Four years after his recording debut, the young man from Brixton/Bromley had still limited progress. Despite a name change and several changes of musical style he remained a fringe figure. Convinced that Deram (Decca) was mismanaging his career, Bowie was looking for a new label.
In 1968 The Beatles returned from India and and announced the formation of Apple Records, a new label for ‘creatives’. Bowie immediately instructed his then manager, Kenneth Pitt, to submit an audition tape.
Unfortunately, however, Apple was
small label initially besieged by numerous musicians, managers, agents, artists, and hucksters…
A further complication was that the label would only recruit new talent with the agreement of all four (endlessly squabbling) Beatles.
In effect this meant that only pals — or pals of pals — of the Fab Four had a realistic chance of signing for Apple. Pitt was not impressed:
Had David not been keen on recording for Apple I would not have tolerated the deplorable organisation, sheer amateurism and downright rudeness that confronted us during the three months it took Apple to give us a decision. source
We regret to inform you..
When the decision finally came, it was not good news:
Apple Records is not interested in signing David Bowie. The reason is that we don’t feel he’s what we’re looking for at the moment.
Did any of The Beatles listen to Bowie’s audition tape? None remembered having done so. Even if they had given it their full attention, they were famously hard to impress. George Harrison had sat stony-faced through the first Crosby, Stills and Young album, which would go gold on its release.
Bowie’s early efforts were never going to race up the charts. His songs showed promise but were not distinctive in a crowded field. And with James Taylor already signed, Apple were reluctant to sign another long haired singer-songwriter.
Stung by this rejection, Bowie signed for Phillips. There he produced his first UK number one single, Space Oddity in 1969. But it would be take another three years — and a major reinvention — before the self-styled spokesman for the long haired would establish himself as a major star.
