A missed audition

[Dave W]

with the Beatles.

What if the unknown drummer had made it and beat out Pete Best?

[uwe]

We wouldn't have had this and that would have been a sad thing:




I always liked Ringo's limited range voice (his laconic rendition of a With a little help from my friends still has more charm than Cocker's OTT version though Cocker made it a different song and then his own). And his contribution as a drummer to The Beatles sound is underrated, never mind how Paul probably knew more chops. As the writer of Good Night, Sleep Tight, the inimitable Herr Lennon, once snidely remarked when he heard that Ringo had won a "best drummer"-award: "He wasn't even the best drummer within The Beatles."

Doesn't matter to me. I like Ringo's drumming. What he does on Come Together is ingenious and totally original.

[Dave W]

I like Ringo, no matter what anyone else says. Still, history could have been different if the unknown drummer had showed up. Then Ringo might only be known as the star of Caveman. 

[uwe]

I think Paul and John's songwriting would have led them somewhere with or without Ringo and George. That is not belittling their contribution, but what came out of the other two just demanded to be heard.

I'm a great fan of Harrison's tone, you hear him, you know it's him, and he has an idiosyncratic slide style totally removed from the blues origins.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

George's solo stuff and the Wilburys is more palatable for me than most of the Beatles' catalog.