Ringo Starr: The drummer Dave Grohl called “the king of feel”
There aren’t many drummers that can hope to scale the same heights as Dave Grohl. Even though he comes off as one of the most engaging musicians of all time whenever he’s in front of a microphone, Grohl has the same pedigree that most artists would kill for behind the kit, being the leading man behind Nirvana and contributing to artists as diverse as Tenacious D and Nine Inch Nails. Although Grohl spent most of his time in front of the stage in Foo Fighters, he claims that everything he knows comes from those behind the drums.
When Grohl was starting his musical development, though, he never had use for the traditional way of learning. While growing up in Virginia, Grohl would say that he got most of his dexterity by playing on his pillows while listening to bands like Rush, developing the massive thunderous strength he would later use to create songs like ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’.
Looking back on his influences, Grohl would eventually say that Rush’s Neil Peart and Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham were each foundational in his life as a musician, teaching him the power of striking the drum with all the strength he could muster. Then again, there is always more to playing the drums than just playing with force.
As Grohl began to understand the mechanics of working with a song, he started to play the drums according to what the song needed. When working on a track like ‘Something in the Way’ for instance, Grohl knew to keep the drums incredibly sparse in the mix, thinking that anything more would have taken away from the delicate composition that Kurt Cobain had written.
While Bonham and Peart had their moments of playing softly, Grohl admitted that his need to serve the song came from Ringo Starr. Despite not being everyone’s favourite Beatle, Starr became one of the best examples of serving the song, playing the drums fluidly and complimenting what the other instruments were playing on tracks like ‘Come Together’ and ‘Ticket to Ride’.
When talking about the best to pick up two sticks, Grohl would go on to say that Starr deserves to be in a class by himself, telling the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, “Define the greatest drummer in the world. Is it someone who’s technically proficient, or is it someone that sits in the song with their own feel? Ringo was the king of feel”.
Looking back to some of Starr’s finest performances, most of his tracks tend to be pretty simple compared to what the rest of the band were doing. Although most technicians may turn their nose up to playing something so fundamental, the basic act of keeping time on tracks like ‘All You Need is Love’ helped make them digestible for audiences worldwide, with Starr laying down the perfect pulse to every song.
While Grohl had played more than his fair share of intricate drum parts in his lifetime, even he admitted that the art of playing slow and straightforward is a sign of a great percussionist. When talking about the basic tom-tom groove of ‘Come Together’, for instance, Grohl explained, “If you can just play this (plays basic drumbeat) and have people dancing, you’re a fucking badass”. Even though it’s easy to paint Starr as one of the least imaginative members of The Beatles, his drums have become the heartbeat of rock and roll.
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