Rock and roll hasn’t always been about partying 24/7. Sometimes people want to appreciate the music for what it is, and even if the rest of the world would rather let go and vibe out to whatever song is playing, there’s always been those that get a kick out of singing someone nail a drum part or manage to hit every single note right on the money when a solo comes around.
In a world where people sit back and listen to the music, though, Ringo Starr was a stickler for hearing the music exactly the way that nature intended.
Then again, “as nature intended” meant something completely different once The Beatles took over the studio. Revolver may be one of the finest albums that the band ever made, but it’s not like a song like ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ could be played from back to front using the same basic techniques that the Fab Four were used to when they were churning out Please Please Me in that marathon session in 1963.
Starr may have helped pioneer new drum techniques that wouldn’t exist outside of the studio, but he was always looking to have a typical technique that wouldn’t be out of place on the bandstand. He knew that what mattered to him was being able to play a song right, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t still listen out for when the vocals were sounding perfect on the final tape.
In fact, before Starr even got the gig drumming for the Fabs, he was already a casual fan of theirs. During their many residencies in both Hamburg and playing in Liverpool, Starr would casually hang around and listen to what the band was playing when he was off. Anyone who has been playing for hours on end would probably spend the rest of their time resting and recuperating, but Starr was more than willing to give them the time of day, especially when their harmonies sounded that good.
But their knowledge of harmony wasn’t something they got from their musical ancestors. The British invasion did help launch a thousand bands, but the harmonies came from them drawing on American music first. Outside of the Chuck Berry and Little Richard licks they got under their fingers, the rest of the band was looking to imitate everyone from the Everly Brothers to Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. In Starr’s case, though, no one outshone what The Coasters were doing.
When seeing the group for the first time, Starr remembered being absolutely shellshocked at seeing his favourite act in the flesh, saying, “We went out to see The Coasters, who were heroes with ‘Yakety Yak.’ People were dancing to them in the club, and I just couldn’t understand it. These were rock ’n’ roll gods to me, and people were dancing! I was just so disgusted. But The Coasters were great, and it was a thrill to see American artists. We’d never seen them before like this, in America.”
It might have been uncomfortable for someone who just wanted to listen, but Starr was already in for a rude awakening when Beatlemania took hold of them. What was once a nice night out in a club was about to become a thing of the past, and even if he did show his face in public, it wasn’t long before he would have crowds of people chasing after him trying to monitor every single move he made.
That line of work was a bit more isolating than what the band had bargained for, but it wasn’t that out of the ordinary if you think about it. Everyone from The Coasters to Elvis Presley had been responsible for getting people in tune with danceable rock and roll, so when The Beatles combined all those styles under one roof, it was only a matter of time before all hell broke loose for them.
