Here's what a contemporary drummer of Pete's said when he was asked in an interview what he thought of Pete's drumming: *"He was a genius. You could sit Pete Best on a drum kit and ask him to play for 19 hours and he'd put his head down and do it. He'd drum like a dream with real style and stamina all night long, and that really was The Beatles' sound, forget the guitars. I was amazed when they replaced him. I even thought about learning guitar so he could be the drummer in my band. The Beatles didn't hate Pete Best, but they didn't want to be outshone by their drummer. Ringo was a good drummer but he was more ordinary."* - Chris Curtis, drummer for The Searchers, a great Liverpool band who scored a 1964 Top 3 Hit in the US charts with their classic, "Love Potion # 9". Chris saw Pete Best play many times in both Hamburg and Liverpool during Pete's two years as The Beatles' drummer.
I'm not saying Pete isn't a great guy, I'm not saying he didn't get screwed over, but you'll never sell me Pete over Ringo in a million years. Pete was an adequate drummer, nothing more, and he never improved. Tony Sheridan said, "Pete was a crap drummer, you can take my word for it. He was just not competent, and there were discrepancies between his feet and his hands. He didn’t care. He exuded a feeling of “I’m not an interesting person, so don’t even bother.” This is not a good attribute on stage: if you’re going to play drums you have to do your best. He needed a shot of vitality; I used to scream at him." And John Lennon himself said, "He never improved and there was always this myth being built up over the years that he was great and Paul was jealous of him because he was pretty and all that crap. The only reason he got in the group in the first place was because the only way we could get to Hamburg was he had to have a drummer. We knew of this guy. He was living in his mother’s house that had a club in it, and he had a drum kit so we dragged him, auditioned him, and he could keep one beat going for long enough so we took him to Germany.”
@@gringo557 Sheridan was a prick who challenged Pete to a fight on stage. Pete put his drum sticks down and went outside, where he pummeled Sheridan. It humiliated the older (early 20s) Sheridan (Pete was still a teenager), and he's bad-mouthed Pete ever since. So I suggest you take *anything* he says with a giant grain of salt. Plus, just go listen to the song they recorded together, "My Bonnie"--Pete's great on it--certainly not the "crap drummer" that Sheridan claims he was. As for Lennon, he only said those things to defend the decision to replace Pete with Ringo, and hide the real reasons that he and Paul and George were extremely jealous of Pete's good looks and immense popularity with the fans and press. You should instead listen to Lennon when he said The Beatles were at their best during Pete's two years as their drummer, that no band could touch them, but it wasn't recorded so the world doesn't know. Once we got a record deal (when Ringo joined) we deteriorated as a live band but instead became proficient technicians in the studio.
George Martin wasn't having him either (Love Me Do with Pete on drums). Whatever his drumming skills he didn't fit in with the band at all, musically or personality-wise. What say you stay in the Pete Best fan club and I'll stay where I am in the Ringo Starr fan club.
Wow. Such talented guys. 😮 😍
Here's what a contemporary drummer of Pete's said when he was asked in an interview what he thought of Pete's drumming: *"He was a genius. You could sit Pete Best on a drum kit and ask him to play for 19 hours and he'd put his head down and do it. He'd drum like a dream with real style and stamina all night long, and that really was The Beatles' sound, forget the guitars. I was amazed when they replaced him. I even thought about learning guitar so he could be the drummer in my band. The Beatles didn't hate Pete Best, but they didn't want to be outshone by their drummer. Ringo was a good drummer but he was more ordinary."* - Chris Curtis, drummer for The Searchers, a great Liverpool band who scored a 1964 Top 3 Hit in the US charts with their classic, "Love Potion # 9". Chris saw Pete Best play many times in both Hamburg and Liverpool during Pete's two years as The Beatles' drummer.
I'm not saying Pete isn't a great guy, I'm not saying he didn't get screwed over, but you'll never sell me Pete over Ringo in a million years. Pete was an adequate drummer, nothing more, and he never improved. Tony Sheridan said, "Pete was a crap drummer, you can take my word for it. He was just not competent, and there were discrepancies between his feet and his hands. He didn’t care. He exuded a feeling of “I’m not an interesting person, so don’t even bother.” This is not a good attribute on stage: if you’re going to play drums you have to do your best. He needed a shot of vitality; I used to scream at him." And John Lennon himself said, "He never improved and there was always this myth being built up over the years that he was great and Paul was jealous of him because he was pretty and all that crap. The only reason he got in the group in the first place was because the only way we could get to Hamburg was he had to have a drummer. We knew of this guy. He was living in his mother’s house that had a club in it, and he had a drum kit so we dragged him, auditioned him, and he could keep one beat going for long enough so we took him to Germany.”
@@gringo557 Sheridan was a prick who challenged Pete to a fight on stage. Pete put his drum sticks down and went outside, where he pummeled Sheridan. It humiliated the older (early 20s) Sheridan (Pete was still a teenager), and he's bad-mouthed Pete ever since. So I suggest you take *anything* he says with a giant grain of salt. Plus, just go listen to the song they recorded together, "My Bonnie"--Pete's great on it--certainly not the "crap drummer" that Sheridan claims he was.
As for Lennon, he only said those things to defend the decision to replace Pete with Ringo, and hide the real reasons that he and Paul and George were extremely jealous of Pete's good looks and immense popularity with the fans and press. You should instead listen to Lennon when he said The Beatles were at their best during Pete's two years as their drummer, that no band could touch them, but it wasn't recorded so the world doesn't know. Once we got a record deal (when Ringo joined) we deteriorated as a live band but instead became proficient technicians in the studio.
George Martin wasn't having him either (Love Me Do with Pete on drums). Whatever his drumming skills he didn't fit in with the band at all, musically or personality-wise. What say you stay in the Pete Best fan club and I'll stay where I am in the Ringo Starr fan club.