HMV - Oxford Street, London, UK - Beatlemania! on Waymarking.com

The Independent website, in an article dated 15th January 2013, tells us:

 HMV's flagship London store famously played its part in helping The Beatles land their record deal, setting them on the path to becoming the biggest band in the world.

In early February 1962 the group had been rejected by Decca Records after recording a 15-track demo for the label on New Year's Day.

One of the cited reasons was famously that "guitar groups are on the way out", but it led the group's newly appointed manager Brian Epstein to fume that they would one day "be bigger than Elvis Presley" at a subsequent meeting with label executives.

Undeterred, Epstein continued to tout the group, now armed with his Decca tape, recorded after a draining ten-hour van journey to London, lengthened due to roadie Neil Aspinall getting lost.

It was Epstein's visit to the HMV shop in Oxford Street which set their eventual deal in motion.

Epstein called in to see a friend he had made on a retail management course, who suggested his tapes should be transferred to discs - to make it easier to hawk the songs around.

The shop engineer was so impressed that he called down a music publisher from a top floor office of the building, and he in turn, made a call to the secretary of producer and Parlophone executive George Martin, now Sir George.

A few days later on February 13, Epstein visited the record label HQ within EMI's Manchester Square office in London, at which Sir George heard the disc and spotted some potential.

Three months later manager and exec met again and unusually a contract was drawn up before even meeting the band, apparently to make the process quicker if he gave a deal the go-ahead at a later audition.

When the eventual session at Abbey Road Studios took place, the band recorded four tracks - "Besame Mucho" and three original songs, "PS I Love You", "Ask Me Why" and "Love Me Do". The latter caught the ear of the engineer so much that he summoned the boss to sit in on the session.

Sir George eventually opted to sign them after deciding he had "nothing to lose", although the contract left them with a piffling royalty which was heavily weighted in favour of enriching the label rather than the band, which in later years left them embittered and much more protective of their output.

By September 4, they were back at Abbey Road to record their first single "Love Me Do".

The HMV website tells us about HMV:

On July 20th 1921, presided over by composer Sir Edward Elgar, the very first hmv store was opened by The Gramophone Company, later to become EMI, at 363 Oxford Street, London.

In the 92 years that have passed since then, a lot has happened. Back then, hmv not only sold records but also the gramophones to play them on, and buying an ‘album’ literally meant carting home a boxed set of 78-rpm discs. We even had our own recording studio on the second floor!

History in the making…

The original store was destroyed by fire on Boxing Day in 1937 and had to be completely rebuilt by architect Joseph Emberton, meaning a temporary move to Bond Street until the store reopened in 1939. During WWII, 363’s basement was even designated as an official air-raid shelter, with Londoners huddling beneath the racks of vinyl to escape the bombs.

In another interesting turn in 363’s history, the store was visited in February 1962 by a young entrepreneur from Liverpool named Brian Epstein, who wanted to use the store’s recording facilities to cut a demo with a band he was managing – a little-known act named The Beatles. As the story goes, the tracks were heard by publishing company Ardmore & Beechwood, based in the same building, who put the young Epstein in touch with Parlophone’s George Martin and…well, you know the rest.

Old dog, new tricks…

363 Oxford Street was the home of many innovations – it was the first store to feature our famous ‘listening posts’, as well as self-service record counters and dedicated customer service from product specialists. 1986 saw us move our flagship store further up Oxford Street to No. 150, where it’s been ever since…until now that is. On Friday 18th October, hmv officially moved back home to 363 where, fittingly, Sir Paul McCartney met fans and signed autographs to mark the occasion.

After a difficult start to the year, it’s been amazing to re-open in the location that helped make hmv one of the best-known and best-loved names on the high street. The landscape has changed a lot over the last century, both in the entertainment industry and on the high street, but it feels good to…as some band or other once said…get back to where we once belonged.