Rock Shrine No. 36 – EMI House
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You've all seen the photo of The Beatles looking down from the balcony. It happened on the first floor (second floor for Americans) of EMI House, the buildng that used to stand here. When I worked here in the 70s we used to amuse ourselves by standing where they had. From this vantage point I watched Marc Bolan get into the front seat of his chauffered white Rolls Royce limo. He always sat in the front seat. Once I turned around and saw Freddie Mercury for the first time, thinking, "Who's that strange looking guy?" The Beach Boys, Pink Floyd, Cockney Rebel, Cliff Richard, The Sex Pistols, Roy Harper, ELO…If your favourite band was on EMI or Capitol they visited here.
The front door.
Four smiles that changed the world.
Pink Floyd play at being pop stars.
Maybe if he hangs out long enough someone will sign him.
When Generation X (Billy Idol) signed to Chrysalis, we celebrated by taking a photo outside EMI. (What a punkish jape!) That's me third from the left.
The building was pulled down a few years ago; its replacement being designed to fit in with the rest of the Square. Architecture fans will want to go next door to The Wallace Collection, which features a stunning atrium designed by Rick Mathur.
EMI, 20 Manchester Square, London W1U
Comments (11)
groovy
i didn't know we numbered our floors differently..haha
Nice, thank you for the info!
Hey, you're always the tallest one, aren't you? :)
"Maybe if he hangs out long enough someone will sign him" heheheh hmmm, interesting tactic. I wonder what would happen if I tried the same with Domino Records. They might hire me...or call the police, yikes! Oh well, only one way to find out ;)
#36? I'm guessing there's a 1-35. Entertaining and informative. Dig. Third from the left? Too cool.
Other than the Capitol building, folks are not as label-centric (on the pop level) over here..Tis a shame..Great as always. I love the shrines!
Love the Bowie pic, and I think that would totally work for Anna to do that. Dream big! :)
Sorry it's gone. I would've liked to hang over that balcony meself.
Lyrikhan - Numbering floors is the least of what we do differently!
Anna - Being tall is very useful at standing only concerts. Loitering outside Domino? There are laws for people like you, you know.
Callisto - Yes there is 1 - 35. My gammy brain forgot to add the links. I'll get it right on Shrine 36.
Cody - I tjink it's a hangover from the days when there were only 4 big labels in London. (Just like now!) EMI House got famous only because of The Beatles.
Dale - Don't encourage her! Alex will never recover.
Dermahrk - Yes, it seemed vandalism on a big scale.
BTW, in the Gen X photo, the guy standing third from the right is A&R genius Chris Briggs. His big claim is signing Def Leppard and pairing them with Mutt Lange. These days he works on Crowded House and the Finns, among others.
Which Alex, Turner or Kapranos? ;)
Precisely. :-p
I'm assuming the Brill Building, off Times Square, NYC, is somewhere in the top 35.
Columbia Records used to have a studio on 30th St., NYC. Highway 61 Revisited was recorded there, as was Kind of Blue. It was housed inside a former Armenian Greek Orthodox church. The building was torn down long ago and replaced with a dull block of condos.
Buzz - I haven't got to the US yet, but both those buildings are on my list. The golden rule in my Rock Shrine odyssey is that I never go more than 3 or 4 blocks out of my way - this is fun, not a bloody job! It's a testament to how small Lopndon was/is that, with the stuff I haven't published yet, I can capture 45 of these places.