(Credits: Far Out / Bradford Timeline)
Sun 19 October 2025 20:56, UK
Even an artist as big as Ringo Starr has had moments where he felt starstruck.
All of The Beatles had started out as humble fans of music before they started rubbing elbows with their idols, and to this day, Starr never ceases to find it thrilling playing with the biggest names in music. But even with everyone he’s been able to work with in the All-Starr Band, the drumming legend isn’t prone to a few interactions where he was left a little bit disappointed by the end of things.
But to anyone who thinks any less of him, let’s get one thing straight: The Beatles would have been NOTHING without Starr. As much as people rag on him for being the least talented member and that he was easily replaceable, all it takes is one listen to the Pete Best versions of their early songs to know something was missing. Starr brought that little bit of swagger into the group, and even if he wasn’t the most prolific songwriter in the world, the chemistry he had with the rest of the Fabs was undeniable.
And that’s the one element that usually goes unnoticed by the general public as well. Starr could have easily kept on making the best music that he could and hoping that everyone liked it, but the fact that he could adapt and get along so well with every one of the band members is the reason why they all wanted to have him back on their solo records every now and again.
When the band was slowly becoming the biggest thing in America, though, not everyone was exactly a fan. There were already adults with too many sticks up their asses to understand the appeal of the group, but when seeing how quickly they were becoming the biggest band in the world, it was enough to have people like Elvis Presley break out into a cold sweat. He was the biggest name in the world, but one superstar was going to be no match for four charismatic musicians at once.
Then again, Presley did know how to keep things formal most of the time. The band were able to meet Presley on his home turf in Graceland, and Paul McCartney even remembered teaching the rock legend a few tricks about playing the bass, but when Starr looked back on the whole ordeal, he couldn’t help but feel just a little bit bummed at how much Presley seemed to carry a bit of resentment towards them.
Starr had grown up listening to this kind of American music, so to see Presley wanting to find a way to best them at every opportunity was going to be disheartening, saying, “The saddest part is that, years and years later, we found out that he tried to have us banished from America, because he was very big with the FBI. That’s very sad to me, that he felt so threatened that he thought, like a lot of people, that we were bad for American youth. This is Mr. Hips, the man, and he felt we were a danger.”
Sure, the times were changing, and Presley was bound to get lost in the lurch, but if he had only put his energy into making the best music he could, he wouldn’t have had to worry about a couple of kids from England. His comeback special in the late 1960s was there to remind everyone of the insane power he had over every single audience, but that sense of competition wasn’t how Starr approached music.
As far as he was concerned, there was more than enough room for all of the greatest artists of all time to have a spot in the musical hierarchy, but Presley wasn’t in it for that anymore. He had known what it was like being the greatest artist in the world, and when someone gets that kind of contact high, they’re going to be chasing after it for the rest of their lives.
Related Topics