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The Beatles in Mono according to Kevin
Stereophile
|March 2025
It's almost too easy to make Dave Dexter Jr. the villain in the story of the Beatles' fumbled introduction to America.
"But it is the wildest, most incredible music story of all time and I'm at least mildly flattered that I played a miniscule part in it.
I'm even more pleased that it's all behind me."
-DAVE DEXTER JR. FROM HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY, PLAYBACK
A devoted denigrator of rock'n'roll who thought it was a passing fad meant for the kiddies, and who also thought John Lennon played "lousy harmonica," he was just one of the many older music fans who were sure that Elvis Presley's hips had been a corrupting influence on America's youth, not to mention on good music.
The head of International A&R at Capitol Records, then owned by the UK's EMI, Dexter was no fan of British acts in general. He also turned down Manfred Mann, The Animals, The Yardbirds, and The Hollies. His tastes ran to jazz and Capitol's big pre-rock'n'roll pop singers including Frank Sinatra and Peggy Lee, though he was eventually banned from Sinatra's recording sessions for irritating the singer. With his flattop buzz haircut, overweening ego, and I-know-better attitude, Dexter is most famous for being the fuddy-duddy who turned down the Beatles' first four singles. He was finally ordered to release "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in December 1963. He was demoted in 1966 and has forever after been mocked and despised for his tin ears and bewildering blunders-and for writing a nasty piece in Billboard following Lennon's murder in 1980, which carried a deck reading, "Lennon's Ego & Intransigence Irritated Those Who Knew Him." Billboard received so much flak that the publication eventually apologized.
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