(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still / Apple Corps)
Fri 13 March 2026 20:00, UK
It’s impossible for anyone to downplay the impact of The Beatles on popular music.
Even if none of them did anything with their solo careers, what they created during that short decade together is still the blueprint for how every other rock and roll band would be conducting themselves for decades to come, whether it was them going outside of their comfort zones or challenging their audience with something a bit more cerebral. But even with all of the great moments between them, Rick Rubin felt that some band members were much more important than others whenever they were in the studio.
Then again, it’s hard to think of any of the members not being able to work with each other. As much as people love to talk about the impact that John Lennon and Paul McCartney had on the group, it’s called ‘The Fab Four’ for a reason. None of them were dispensible, and even if the band carried on with Pete Best behind the kit, chances are they wouldn’t have had the same kind of energy that they would have when Ringo Starr took a turn behind the kit.
But when it comes to Rubin’s own taste in music, he liked people who were taking a lot more chances with their music. Some of the greatest bands he ever worked with were about making something that was a bit more abnormal than what had come before, and since his own taste in music could be a touch abrasive, you would think that he would gravitate perfectly to someone like John Lennon when listening to his music.
After all, Lennon was a bit of a maverick even when he was in The Beatles, and he was never afraid to make a song sound weird just for the hell of it. But even with the strange detours that Lennon went down and George Harrison’s keen ear for capturing perfection on all of his songs for the group, Rubin felt that there was no way the band could have got off the ground were it not for McCartney.
Having received a firsthand lesson working with Macca on their own documentary series, Rubin felt that he had a much greater understanding of how important he was to The Beatles staying the course throughout their career, saying, “He was the craftsman in the Beatles. He was the record maker in the Beatles. Everyone brought something really special to the Beatles. That said, Paul, in many ways, was the glue that allowed it to be what it could be.”
Granted, we know the score here. Anyone who clicks on any article about The Beatles doesn’t need me to explain why McCartney was a master songwriter. He was one of the finest melody writers of all time, and considering his music still sounds fairly decent in his later years, he seems to still be searching for the right kind of tune to knock everyone on their ass whenever he plays it to them for the first time.
But Rubin’s remark about him being the glue is a lot more evident when you look at other people’s songs. You have to remember that Macca became the bass player almost by default, but when you hear him serving the song in his bandmates’ tunes, he always plays the perfect counterpoint to what they’re doing, whether that’s the perfect bouncy bassline on Lennon’s ‘Dear Prudence’ or creating one of the most underrated masterpieces of their catalogue when looking at the bass of Harrison’s ‘Something’.
And given the fact that Starr had talked about always getting the phone call from McCartney when he and Lennon were hanging out, the fact that McCartney managed to get as much material out of his bandmates as he could was more than just being a musician. It was him expressing his love for them as a friend that couldn’t get enough of jamming with his bandmates whenever he got the chance.
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