Supposed the Paul and Ringo decide to re-form the Beatles and tour the world as The Beatles and maybre even record a new album.
Who would you choose to replace George and John?
To make this a bit controlled I’ll set some rules.
I propose, just to get the ball rolling:
John: Greg Lake (ELP)
George: Brian May (Queen)
I’m not convinced by my own selections, but it’s a start.
Easy.
George: Pete Townsend
John: Roger Daltrey
In McCartney, you have a bassist almost as good as John Entwistle. Ringo is no Keith Moon, but he can keep up.
<shakes head sadly>
I think Tom Petty for Harrison. Not sure about Lennon.
At one point I might have drawn from Badfinger (too obvious?) or perhaps Trapeze. Now, still viable… Eric Clapton and maybe John Fogarty. Gotta give this’un some more think…
Another vote for the Whotles here.
John: Robert Plant (or Neil Young, as Leaffan suggested)
George: Jeff Lynne
Ya know, I got no problem with this either.
Cheech and Chong.
So, we can’t just go with Julian and Dhani then?
Partly, but also because it limits the pool of candidates.
Frampton and Rundgen
For years I’ve been saying “Hmmm… so there’s an iconic band with a dead bassist and drummer… and another one that, well, that’s all they got left.”
First time I said that to my kids, they figured it out. And we decided to merge the bands (imagine Daltry belting out Lennon classics like “I’m Down” or even “Mistaaaaaah Mooooonlight…”).
And oh, yeah, we came up with a name for the hybrid band:
… Ladies and gentlemen, riiight here on our stage… The WHOTLES.
Paul: Billy Ray Cyrus
John: Pat DiNizio (Smithereens)
As bitchin’ as The Whotles would be, how long till they kill each other? I have this image of Townswend heading towards Ringo, eyes popping out and screaming “play more, bigger!!!” and clubbing him with his guitar.
Wasn’t it Saturday Night Live who used to have a group called, “And The Pips” who sang without Gladys Knight?
Without John and George, any attempt to add a couple guys to go on tour would simply be “And The Pips” as far as I am concerned.
Paul and Ringo are probably nice enough guys and certainly have talent, but if I had to rank them on a scale of 1-4 for talent within the Beatles, Paul would be 3 and Ringo 4. If you are missing numbers 1 and 2, there isn’t much to salvage.
Can we replace Ringo too?
No.
Okay, add in Joe Cocker if you must. But no.
Not Whotles. Wheatles.