For what it is worth, here is what John Lennon had to say about this subject, from the Playboy interviews he did shortly before his death:
“Ringo was a star in his own right in Liverpool before we even met. He was a professional drummer who sang and performed and had Ringo Star-time and he was in one of the top groups in Britain but especially in Liverpool before we even had a drummer. So Ringo’s talent would have come out one way or the other as something or other. I don’t know what he would have ended up as, but whatever that spark is in Ringo that we all know but can’t put our finger on – whether it is acting, drumming or singing I don’t know – there is something in him that is projectable and he would have surfaced with or without the Beatles.”
And, of course, hindsight is always 20/20. It’s not like the Beatles said to Ringo: “Hey, we’re going to change the face of popular music and we need a drummer.” Indeed, if The Beatles had had a hit or two and then faded into obscurity, (like British acts before them-eg: Cliff Richard & The Shadows) this post wouldn’t exist.
In The Beatles Anthology video, there is a quote from John saying that Ringo was the best drummer in town and had quite a following. He was playing with Rory Storm & The Hurricane at the time they offered him the Beatle gig. But he’d have to chane his hair style (something Best wouldn’t do) and shave off his goatee.
Considering this, I guess we could say that Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr were all very lucky. Or it’s just Karma and Kismet. Right place, right time.
RE: The Neil Peart Story: I would then assume that RUSH were the lucky one’s. BTW: Peart is (my opinion only) one of the best drummers around and has a style that is, sometimes, incredibley hard to duplicate.
I disagree that Pete Best was “unlucky”. He wasn’t kicked out of the Beatles just as they were about to hit it big because of his bad luck. He was kicked out because he was a jerk, he didn’t fit in with the others, and he didn’t like the bands new look (ie, the “beatles haircut” given by Stu’s german girlfriend, the suits instead of leather jackets, etc), and because he wasn’t a very talented drummer.
The Beatles picked Ringo because he was a reliable and talented musician. As has been mentioned, he was considered the top drummer in Liverpool. They knew him and liked him and they knew he wouldn’t be a pain in the ass like Pete Best was. He was J, P & G’s first choice for drummer.
Without giving an inch on my contention that Ringo was mighty lucky, I MUST acknowledge that Ringo was also taking a gamble by joining the Beatles.
He had no way of knowing how big the Beatles would become. Until they signed with George Martin, they’d been just one of a hundred bands playing Chuck Berry and Little Richard covers in Liverpool bars and nightclubs. And even AFTER they signed with George Martin, it wasn’t as if they were wealthy (Brian Epstein was no great shakes as a manager, and the contract he got the boys wasn’t all that lucrative).
Ringo wasn’t exactly a huge star pre-Beatles, but he WAS the drummer of a band that had been considerably more popular than the Beatles. He gave that up to join a promising but unproven band. So, while I STILL say he was mighty lucky, I also give him full credit for leaving a safe, steady, well-paying gig and taking chance on a band whose success was FAR from a sure thing at the time.
I don’ t think it was luck at all. The fact is, that area of the world was a storm of musical invention and energy, and the four best musicians of the entire movement joined together and changed the world.
Ringo also had more influence on the Beatle’s style than he gets credit for. John and Paul constantly played off of his irreverent side when working on new songs (like “A Hard Day’s Night” or “Eight Days a Week” which were both Ringo phrases). And his innovative drumming helped move the band in new directions.
I’m firmly of the belief that it was just an amazing, synergistic combination between the four of them and George Martin that resulted in the Beatles. After they broke up, not one of them ever came up with a great album (Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass” is probably the closest).
They were greater than the sum of their parts. Ringo’s a part of that.
One could argue that McCartney and Lennon were lucky to have hooked up with each other. Each was a prodigious talent, but together they created something truly revolutionary. I doubt either would have been so successful on his own.
I’ve heard this same phrase used to describe Art Garfunkle.
That is just nuts. Garfunkel might not have been the composer that Paul Simon was, but he was an outstanding vocalist and loaded with talent. I think that his vocal talents exceeded those of Paul, and he would probably be among my top five male singers of all time.
Nor was he a talented singer. Ringo was not the best singer, but he stayed in tune. Try listening to “Best of the Beatles,” an album that came out when the Beatles were popular. The “Best” is Pete Best, and you can clearly hear that he’s no singer. Not even close.
no way, man! i think i’m pretty much alone in this belief, but u2’s rhythm section is amazing. bono and edge get all the credit (and they are fine songwriters), but adam and larry are incredible at what they do. listen to with or without you. all the haunting guitar effects would be nothing if they didn’t have that beat and that bassline behind them.
actually… do you mean something different?
adam clayton was (i think) the one who stuck the notice up at his high school looking for musicians to form a band. if either bono or the edge showed up, i’d consider myself lucky. to end up with both is amazingly fortunate.
so, i guess he’s lucky, but still a very talented musician.
Ringo is vastly underrated as a musician. As a guitarist acquaintance of mine once said: “You could set a goddamn metronome by Ringo.” He may have gotten a break when the Beatles fired Pete Best, but he made the most of it.
I’ve always liked Ringo because he seems like such an affable, down-to-earth guy. I think he is one of the few stars who has refused to let fame go to his head.
Charlie Watts & Adam Clayton are also vastly underrated as musicians.
As my nominations for the luckiest people on the planet, I would nominate Mariah Carey, Britney Spears & Christina Aguilera. Without those fantastic bodies, they would be doing karoke and probably doing that poorly.
Ringo is vastly underrated as a musician. As a guitarist acquaintance of mine once said: “You could set a goddamn metronome by Ringo.” He may have gotten a break when the Beatles fired Pete Best, but he made the most of it.
I’ve always liked Ringo because he seems like such an affable, down-to-earth guy. I think he is one of the few stars who has refused to let fame go to his head.
Charlie Watts & Adam Clayton are also vastly underrated as musicians.
As my nominations for the luckiest people on the planet, I would nominate Mariah Carey, Britney Spears & Christina Aguilera. Without those fantastic bodies, they would be doing karoke and probably doing that poorly.
Ringo often gets this sort of disrespect from people that don’t think about what they’re saying. Just this Monday, Jay Leno showed a newspaper story during his Headlines segment. It came out around the time of George’s death. I’ll probably mess up the exact wording, but it was something like: