Despite being a vital member of The Beatles, Ringo Starr is rarely afforded the same respect as his fellow bandmates. Since the early success of the group, Starr has regularly been the butt of jokes surrounding the band, and drummers in general. For instance, the late prophet Bill Hicks once said, “Man, the Beatles were so high, they let Ringo sing a couple of tunes”. This reputation is pretty unfair, though, as Starr has repeatedly proven himself to be an above-average songwriter, not least in the mind of Paul McCartney.
Admittedly, if you were in a band with the songwriting titans that were John Lennon and Paul McCartney, your efforts – no matter how endearing – would seem pretty lacklustre in comparison. Hence why Starr’s contributions to The Beatles are far too often overlooked, nevertheless, tracks like ‘Octopus’s Garden’ remain fan favourites, and Starr’s post-Beatles solo career is undeniably impressive.
One person who never doubted the talents of Ringo Starr is his former bandmate Paul McCartney. As the two surviving members of the Fab Four, the pair clearly still have a great deal of love and appreciation for each other; Macca even appeared as a guest musician on Starr’s 2019 record What’s My Name. For McCartney, the vast underappreciation for Ringo Starr is a cause of particular annoyance, something that came to light after Beatles manager Brian Epstein was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.
On one hand, inducting a band manager into the Rock and Roll Hame of Fame seems a pretty strange move. However, The Beatles are the most influential group of all time, so you would expect that everybody connected to the group is worthy of recognition. Lennon, Harrison, McCartney and even producer George Martin have been in the Hall of Fame for years but, hang on, where is Ringo Starr? The drummer had been inducted in 1988 as a member of The Beatles, but he was the only member without a place in the hall in his own right.
This caused annoyance to McCartney, who recounted to Jimmy Fallon, “I was talking to a friend and he said ‘Brian Epstein is getting inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.’ I said ‘That’s great, because he’s the Beatles manager,’” before explaining, “He says, ‘Yeah, but Ringo’s not in yet.’ I said, ‘Whoa. Wait a minute. We can’t have that…’ Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, you got to put Ringo in”.
Within the same conversation, Macca revealed his all-time favourite Starr tracks, showing the extent of his appreciation for the drummer. Picking out the 1972 single ‘Back Off Boogaloo’ and 1971’s ‘It Don’t Come Easy’ as his favourite efforts penned by Starr, it seems as though the legendary bassist still holds an appreciation for the drummer’s early solo work.
Ringo Starr was eventually inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015, thanks largely to the support of Paul McCartney. After the induction was announced, Starr rejoiced, “Finally, the four of us are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame even though we were the biggest pop group in the land”.
