The 1950s singer Ringo Starr always felt sorry for
Any other rock and roll star would have done whatever they could to get anywhere near what Ringo Starr had.
He might not have been the most ambitious member of The Beatles when he first started making his own solo music, but he was more than happy to do the best that he could when hanging out with his friends every time he made a new record. But even when he had the time of his life making some of his early records, there was always a melancholy feeling listening to some of his early solo records.
It almost breaks your heart a little bit hearing him sing a song like ‘Early 1970’ and hear him talk about wanting to play with his old mates again, even if deep down he knew that was never going to happen. There was no one who wanted to get the band back together more than Starr, but the bridges had been burned far too often for any of them to kiss and make up for one more record.
But Starr was always the one most willing to hang out with his old mates whenever he jammed on their records. Despite waking up one day and having some of the biggest hits of the Fab Four’s solo careers in the early 1970s, Starr loved the idea of being in a band, which probably explains why every one of his records since then has had every single big name that he could think of in the mix.
Because, really, the chemistry between all of them is what Starr missed most of all. It’s only natural for the drummer to try and find the groove with the bassist beside them, but even if he played with George Harrison at the Concert for Bangladesh or laid down the drums for John Lennon on Plastic Ono Band, there was a feeling in the air that he didn’t get from listening to his favourite rock and roll stars beforehand.
If you really think about it, there wasn’t any group that was known for purely being a rock and roll band before The Beatles. There had been lower tiers of bands like The Shadows, but it was usually James Brown and the Fabulous Flames or Buddy Holly and the Crickets instead of having everyone in a row together. And while Elvis Presley could hog all the spotlight he wanted, Starr couldn’t help but feel bad for ‘The King of Rock and Roll’ by the time The Beatles came around.
The drummer had the luxury of sharing his fame with his bandmates, but he knew Presley wasn’t going to have that kind of cushion for his songs, saying, “I always give credit that there was four of us… and we all came from the same city. We would look at each other, [and] if one of us would be freaking out or being a big shot, three other people would go, “Excuse me”… and that kept us [in check]. You know, it’s interesting, ’cause the time we met Elvis, I really thought, ‘How sad, he’s on his own.’ He had all those people around, but he was on his own. I had three great mates.”
And that’s half the reason why Presley became the first official flameout in rock and roll history. While the music biopic has almost become a cliche at this point, Presley was the one person that lived every one of those mistakes that they talk about in movies, whether that was surrounding himself with yes men that did everything he asked or letting the fame get the better of him and ruin his relationships.
That’s not to say that The Beatles’ careers were absolutely squeaky-clean by any stretch, but when you look at them all together, having fans gawk at four Elvis Presleys at once was a much better way to deal with fame. Beatlemania would have been enough to kill any other solo artist, but even at the height of their fame, the fact that they could find a spot in a hotel and settle themselves down was the only way to keep themselves sane.
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