Why Did George Harrison Turn Down CSN For An Apple Deal?
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I heard recently in a Howard Stern interview with Paul that George basically turned down Crosby, Stills, and Nash for a recording deal on Apple Records. Since they are more talented than most who appeared on Apple (even their first album was quite strong), I'm a bit surprised at this lapse in reasoning. Certainly CSN on Apple would have been a real coup for the company and I believe Steven Stills did appear as a musician on at least one Apple album. Thanks for any insight.
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Also, David Crosby was a friend of the band.
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Erik in NJ:
I heard recently in a Howard Stern interview with Paul that George basically turned down Crosby, Stills, and Nash for a recording deal on Apple Records. Since they are more talented than most who appeared on Apple (even their first album was quite strong), I'm a bit surprised at this lapse in reasoning. Certainly CSN on Apple would have been a real coup for the company and I believe Steven Stills did appear as a musician on at least one Apple album. Thanks for any insight.
I found this link..http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/crosby-stills-nash-on-apple-records.55507/ Apparently George liked the music of CSN, but was miffed because Steven Stills wanted Paul to produce the album. Paul was too busy to produce it anyway. John nixed the deal by saying their music was "twee nonsense". He also said the same thing about the band Yes.
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Great link JohnnyL, thanks! I got a bit of a laugh thinking that John saw talent in Yoko and she actually recorded on Apple, but CSN and Yes he considered to be "twee nonsense"
: In the Stern interview Paul simply responded to the question "good ol' George" and laughed. 
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Why did Decca turn the Beatles down? They didn't think they would succeed. It's easy to look back and say, "Wow! They messed up!" But at the time it seemed like the right thing to do. The Beatles really did not seem interested in making business decisions that were money makers. That's why Apple suffered so much financial loss. It wasn't just George making decisions, Paul, John and Ringo did too, and it failed.
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Erik in NJ:
I heard recently in a Howard Stern interview with Paul that George basically turned down Crosby, Stills, and Nash for a recording deal on Apple Records. Since they are more talented than most who appeared on Apple (even their first album was quite strong), I'm a bit surprised at this lapse in reasoning. Certainly CSN on Apple would have been a real coup for the company and I believe Steven Stills did appear as a musician on at least one Apple album. Thanks for any insight.
I remembered that! Paul was on the show days later (to promote NEW) said something like "it's that something." But Hey! Those are the decisions that are made. Simon & Garfunkle didn't think so of CSN&Y. Maybe the audition was awful, was not an album. Remember, the Beatles lost to a record deal with Decca---which now today they're with Decca's parent company UNIVERSAL, which Buddy Holly is with.
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http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Graham%20Nash%20Interview%2010%2F01%2F13&sm=3 Graham Nash Interview 10/01/13Erik in NJ:
I heard recently in a Howard Stern interview with Paul that George basically turned down Crosby, Stills, and Nash for a recording deal on Apple Records. Since they are more talented than most who appeared on Apple (even their first album was quite strong), I'm a bit surprised at this lapse in reasoning. Certainly CSN on Apple would have been a real coup for the company and I believe Steven Stills did appear as a musician on at least one Apple album. Thanks for any insight.
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jimmix:
Erik in NJ:
I heard recently in a Howard Stern interview with Paul that George basically turned down Crosby, Stills, and Nash for a recording deal on Apple Records. Since they are more talented than most who appeared on Apple (even their first album was quite strong), I'm a bit surprised at this lapse in reasoning. Certainly CSN on Apple would have been a real coup for the company and I believe Steven Stills did appear as a musician on at least one Apple album. Thanks for any insight.
I remembered that! Paul was on the show days later (to promote NEW) said something like "it's that something." But Hey! Those are the decisions that are made. Simon & Garfunkle didn't think so of CSN&Y. Maybe the audition was awful, was not an album. Remember, the Beatles lost to a record deal with Decca---which now today they're with Decca's parent company UNIVERSAL, which Buddy Holly is with.
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howard stern...attempting to subtlely manipulate a beatle's true thoughts and feelings and motives for writing a song...priceless...
armchair quarterbacks used to be a dime a dozen...now, they're a nickel a gross... am still waiting for howard's album to come out! 
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It was because CS+N 's drummer was hopeless ...
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RMartinez:
Why did Decca turn the Beatles down? They didn't think they would succeed. It's easy to look back and say, "Wow! They messed up!" But at the time it seemed like the right thing to do. The Beatles really did not seem interested in making business decisions that were money makers. That's why Apple suffered so much financial loss. It wasn't just George making decisions, Paul, John and Ringo did too, and it failed.
James Taylor was a HUGE act in the early 70s. I'm surprised Apple didnt get a windfall just from his record sales.
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He was pretty popular with a handful of hits--I'm not sure I would say he was "huge." He apparently left Apple after that first record which in and of itself was nothing to write home about.
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Erik in NJ:
He was pretty popular with a handful of hits--I'm not sure I would say he was "huge." He apparently left Apple after that first record which in and of itself was nothing to write home about.
I was reading about James Taylor and Apple Records. Apparently at that time Allen Klein was "downsizing" Apple and Peter Asher encouraged him to switch record companies for the sake of his career.
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Obviously being signed to Apple was no guarantee of success unless you in The Beatles!
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I listened to Mary Hopkin the other day for the first time. Not sure what the Beatles saw in her besides a pretty blonde--I found her albums very difficult to listen to and turned them off! Dropping CSN and Yes for some of the drivel that was recorded on Apple was just plain stupid!
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Erik in NJ:
I listened to Mary Hopkin the other day for the first time. Not sure what the Beatles saw in her besides a pretty blonde--I found her albums very difficult to listen to and turned them off! Dropping CSN and Yes for some of the drivel that was recorded on Apple was just plain stupid!
When I was 13 and Those Were The Days came out, we played it incessantly. I remember being at a slumber party and playing it many times. It was a huge hit! The only other song of hers that was big was Goodbye (written by Paul)
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Thanks for the info! So she made it a hit back then?! I remember the song well, it's so popular I thought it was just sort of a de facto standard and part of the Great American Songbook. I'll take a listen to Goodbye.
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I can't stand her voice either.
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Erik in NJ:
Thanks for the info! So she made it a hit back then?! I remember the song well, it's so popular I thought it was just sort of a de facto standard and part of the Great American Songbook. I'll take a listen to Goodbye.
A #1 in the U.S. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Those_Were_the_Days_(song) P.S. It was only Paul who liked the pretty blond and she was "just 17, you know what I mean."
