Listened through the pod today and thought it was interesting to see how everyone took different things away from the same exchanges and scenes. After binging the entire doc in a single day my main takeaway is that it’s just awesome to watch master’s of their craft get deep in their process. It’s hard to appreciate enough how hard what they were trying to do was and how easy they made it look.
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My main takeaway from the doc was just that Ringo always seemed to “get it” in terms of what the song needed drum wise. The other three never tried to change what he was playing or even try to correct him, it was always the right choice the first time.
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Ringo may be the best/most underrated drummer in history. He’s absolutely worshiped by other drummers.
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I think the only fact you can take away is how insanely good musicians they were.
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I’ve been teaching myself drums for the last year and a half and watching Ringo has given me new perspective on how effective “simple” drumming could be.
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4 drums, that’s all Ringo Starr needed.
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As a lefty who’s trying right handed drumming, I couldn’t imagine leading with my left hand. I’d get lost so easily.
A long time ago, on a message board I frequented, two posters were arguing about Rush and whether they should be in the Rock and Roll HOF. One guy was a huge Neil Peart fan and his point was that he was so good technically, that other drummers were in awe of what he could do.
The other guy gave a response so vicious that I saved it in my gmail and think of it occasionally still (15 years later), whenever people talk about drummers and what their purpose should be within a rock and roll band.
I share it with you now because the Ringo discussion made me think of it again…
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People with formal training as musicians often “get” rock 'n roll the least. Neil Peart might very well be the God’s balls as a drummer, but for the most part, it’s showy drumsmanship for the sake of showy drumsmanship which doesn’t make the music any better.
I used to tweak my drummer buddy and tell him Charlie Watts was better. You know why? He isn’t flashy, he is rarely the centerpiece of his band, and he isn’t loved by technical drummers for being some drum diety like Peart (though he is jazz-trained, the hardest drumming there is).
But you know what he does do extraordinarily effectively? He moves the beat and incorporates himself perfectly within the framework of his band, which is a great one.
Music, particularly rock, is a helluva lot more than technical brilliance.
Great rock ‘n roll music hits my brain, my soul, my body and my ass. Depending on the song, the Rolling Stones make me think, make me laugh, make me cringe, make want to enjoy a drink (or way back when, a smoke), make me want to do something illegal, make me want to rock out, make me want to air guitar like a moron in my living room, and sometimes, makes me want to fuck. Watts’ simple brilliance is part of that whole.
Rush? They make me want to go bust out Dungeons & Dragons or something. In their way, they’re intellectual, I mean, they make smarter music than Loverboy. But it’s more like they strive for intellectualism, and come off as hacks because their intellectual statements are lame. At least Loverboy knows what they are, a dumb band making dumb music.
And I defy anyone to tell me that anyone has ever fucked to Rush. They are like the anti-Viagra. Getty Lee is like Helen of Troy, his voice could launch 1,000 limp dicks.
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Would 100% watch a documentary on these folks.
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I love to imagine the internal debate this man had as to imagine two people having sex to Tom Sawyer at some point in history.
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As someone who has spent the last 12 years of my life teaching myself the drums there are few better examples of serving the song than Ringo.
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Early on in my drumming career I was in awe of Neil Peart and Rush in general but never found their music enjoyable to listen to. As I’ve progressed as a musician I’ve grown to respect guys like Ringo, Charlie Watts, and Larry Mullen Jr. a lot more. There’s a lot to be said for guys who are willing to pull their own part back to serve the song.
Canada fucks to Rush. You could hear Windsor from across the river in Detroit. Probably still can, but I haven’t been home in a while to check. Maybe it was Loverboy or Ann Murray?
Tom Sawyer drum solo, not good? not rock and roll? Why? Synth?
Oh and PS, the guys that listened to Rush and played D&D are the dudes that bought the Stones publishing rights, per yesterday’s pod (this probably didn’t happen but “Start Me Up” has sold every thing from Chevy cars to Cheez Its (probably not))
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I’m going to take the bait as I’m sure the person who wrote that post intended but christ what a load of horseshit lol. This guy just sounds like a person who’s trying to justify why they like the Stones more than Rush by saying “I get rock 'n roll while you simpletons think you get it but are just getting tricked by this technical drummer!” while he completely ignore the huge difference in roles Watts and Peart play in their bands. I just fucking hate these WELL ACTUALLY people who see something or someone getting acclaim (Peart) and need to go out of their way to bring it down because they “see” the truth.
Also, comparing Rush to Dungeons & Dragons isn’t some huge dig when a large amount of their lyrics are fantasy/science fiction themed (all written by Peart btw). No shit you think about that when you listen to them. Fuck that guy.
Edit: Ya I think I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning lol.
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Endorsing every word of this.
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Enjoyed the pod. Similar thoughts regarding the amount of time watching all these people work, interact, create, etc. and not staring at phones. But what really stuck with me was how much they smoked.
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the biggest revelation is that it is a miracle that only George died of lung cancer.
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The only thing the pod needed was a power ranking of the outfits these guys wore. Some absolutely stellar threads over the course of the doc.
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A few thoughts after a rewatch of Get Back and listening to the pod. About the Yoko conversation do we know whether her presence all the time was due more to her or John? At the end of the day it doesn’t matter because her presence alone was having an impact regardless of the reason, but if it was John insisting she be around all the time then she doesn’t deserve any criticism in my opinion. I feel like the general consensus is she was the one who needed to be around, hence the blame, but is there evidence for that? (I haven’t read enough to know).
It’s been talked about a lot but Billy Preston really deserves all the credit for getting everyone back in sync. I doubt the rooftop show happens or they even finish recording if he doesn’t show up. And speaking of Preston…Michael Lindsay-Hogg really couldn’t get one camera on him during the rooftop concert? (Or it’s Jackson’s editing?). The only time he gets a real look is during the last performance of Don’t Let Me Down when the whole band looks over to him during his solo and the cameras finally pan over to him.
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I’ve seen it said elsewhere but all four of them got in sync the second Billy started working with them. They clearly appreciated him as a musician and probably didn’t want to rope him into all the internal stuff they had going on. They wanted to be on their best behavior and play some music once he was there.