10 Reasons Ringo Starr Was The Most Important Beatle
If you want to learn how much someone doesn't know about music, engage them in a conversation that weighs in on the importance of Ringo Starr to the Beatles. If the person casts Ringo as the bit player in the Beatles, you know he is missing the big picture and only assessing the vocal and songwriting prowess of the other three against "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden."
And there's always that business about how Ringo couldn't play drums (we'll address that later).
People love to ape tired argument gambits like "He's the luckiest guy in show business," "He was the guy who was along for the ride," or "Ringo wasn't even the best drummer in the Beatles," that nasty quote attributed to John Lennon that everyone from Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn to Snopes has proved was uttered by a forgotten British comedian in 1983, three years after John ceased to exist. The Beatles lucked out by having Ringo as their timekeeper, and there were enough times Ringo actually saved them from losing the plot completely. I know. I've compiled them. All 10, in fact!
1. Ringo was highly regarded as a professional musician by the beatless Beatles.
Don't believe the Beatles were lucky to have Ringo? Consider how John extolled Ringo's virtues from their earliest days in his 1980 Playboy interview: "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 Starr-time, and he was in one of the top groups in Britain, but especially in Liverpool, before we even had a drummer." And in 2008, Paul seconded that motion to Larry King, saying, "We were big fans of his."
By: Serene Dominic
Source: Phoenix New Times
