Re: Battle of .... Here's one. Why did the Beatles let Ringo sing "Act Naturally"? Was he threatening to leave? If he did leave, would anyone have noticed? Also, does anyone doubt that Beatles are dying in descending order of talent, and that with John going in 1981 and George Harrison dying in 2003 (or 02, whatever), if you continue the death fibonacci sequence out, Paul McCartney will be dead by next Thursday and Ringo will live until 2037? Seems pretty obvious.
Re: Battle of .... I don't think it's a crime against music to acknowledge that Ringo Starr got pretty damn lucky. I mean how bad did Pete Best have to be? Ringo's really good but wasn't any sort of genius. He had the great, great fortune however of playing along side geniuses. He's like Didier Deschamps or Dunga without the armband. I do, however, frequently hear some drum parts and think "Abbey Road" or "The White Album." He had those great, lazy, open-spaced, stutter fills. Which were pretty unique, I grant you. But even though I don't even know Radiohead's drummer's name, I know he's a monster on OK Computer without being Keith Moon or Stewart Copeland about it. (Moon and Copeland were monstrous in a Godzilla sort of way; Radiohead dude is monstrous in an evil scientist kind of way.) I can listen to that record very closely and always hear something different and interesting and his drums are very much part of that. I think Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is like that too. No, I don't play drums.
Re: Battle of .... see...all you had to do was say something and viola, a thread without battle of the bands in it. How hard was that?
Re: Battle of .... I always found Copeland's drumming to be quite restrained and tasteful. I understand how Moon would get labelled a Godzilla drummer, along with Neil Peart, but Copeland?
Re: Battle of .... Did you ever see Stewart Copeland's drum kit? All he was missing was a few timpani, an empty water heater and a skeleton. Granted, he wasn't a "mad basher" like Moon or Peart or Bonham, but he was very, shall we say, "busy." He loved (LOVED) those octo-drums or whatever they were called -- the tuned set of eight or so heads that would sound like a percussive scale (something Art Blakey could achieve by working his elbow over his tom, I might add). And he had all these little tingly things and whatnot. So maybe a monster of a different ilk. But many tentacled, to say the least. (I quite like him, don't get me wrong.). I can certainly get behind this.
Re: Battle of .... I'm pretty sure you're referring to roto-toms. As for Ringo, he's actually somewhat underrated, which is most likely due to his awful singing. His drumming was more about doing what best fit the song rather than trying to drive the song himself. Besides, in the worst-classic-rock-drummer-ever stakes, Nick Mason easily has him beat.
I'd have to vote for Danny Carey of Tool as an incredible drummer that might not be on some of y'alls radars. Ringo is my favorite beatle.
Not to bum the Ringo fans of the world, but "Ole' Ring" like John would sometimes call him didn't drum on every single Beatles track... if you watch the anthology, they even mentioned it as one of the causes why he did quit the group for a few weeks and left for India (even in the 60's rock stars were rock stars) For example "Back in the USSR" has paul drumming... bet most casual beatles fans don't know that one. Though on the whole Paul maybe played the drums on only 2-5 Beatle songs.
Paul has claimed to have re-recorded tracks on many Beatles songs, with him playing < fill in the blank instrument >. Any song on the White album has to be viewed skeptically as a "Beatles" song as they were mostly solo projects that George Martin converted to a group format.
actually it was only two. back in the ussr and ballad of john and yoko. john and paul were the only two beatles to play on that. john couldn't wait for george and ringo to get back from vacation so he and paul played every instrument. as a thank you to paul for helping out, john gave paul a songwriting credit on give peace a chance, which paul had nothing to do with. trivia: who else played the drum kit on a beatles record?