Today in Pop Culture History: The Dark Side of iTunes

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28 October 1961: A customer who has been lost to history, though I'd like to think he had a lot in common with this guy:

walked into the London record shop owned by Brian Epstein, and asked for the record "My Bonnie" by The Silver Beatles.  Epstein had never heard of the group. He checked them out at The Cavern Club, and signed the, ahem, fab three (plus Pete Best) within days, renaming them The Beatles.

Best looks this disgruntled in every picture I found, as if he could already see the Ringo on the wall.

If this event had happened in 2011, the dude would have just downloaded the Silver Beatles single, and we would have lost, among other things, the clean simplicity of this album.

Now imagine including "Silver." Ruins everything, right?

In honor of the portentous customer with excellent taste, stop by your local record shop today and buy something. If you want to be totally insufferable about it, you could ask the proprietor for a copy of "My Bonnie." I would love you forever if you did.