The Beatles’ transformation into the rock and roll icons they are today was the result of the efforts of each individual member. Ringo Starr and George Harrison contributed their signature touches to everything. They made their songs into timeless masterpieces. However, the band’s early success stemmed from the songwriting duo of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Despite his initial suspicions, McCartney saw one particular performance as the turning point in the band’s development.
Nonetheless, John Lennon was destined to play rock and roll before McCartney began to put together a band. Lennon became enamoured with rock and roll after hearing the sounds of everyone from Little Richard to Chuck Berry. He created a makeshift guitar vocabulary out of the banjo chords his mother had shown him.
When McCartney showed up at one of Lennon’s upstart group, The Quarrymen’s, gigs, Lennon realised that the new kid had something bigger than he had ever imagined. Following the addition of McCartney’s childhood friend George Harrison on lead guitar, the band recorded various demos wherever they could. They went through several drummers during this period.
During their first trip to Hamburg, Germany, the band honed their skills by performing until the early hours of the morning. They also invented new ways to entertain both their audience and themselves onstage. Although the band lost bassist Stu Sutcliffe when he decided to stay in Germany, McCartney would play bass for the rest of their career.
However, as the band began to hone their skills, Pete Best began to stand out as a hindrance to their early years. While there was nothing inherently wrong with Best’s playing. Ringo Starr would give the band new life whenever he sat in with them at their Liverpool shows.
Coming from the band Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Starr was regarded as a musical veteran by the band. McCartney remarked that he appeared to be a proper grown-up musician in comparison to the rest of the band. Starr, initially a fill-in for the Fab Four onstage, played a key role in sparking the magic, as McCartney recalled.
The band worried that they wouldn’t be able to pull off their English version of Ray Charles’ classic, ‘What’d I Say,’ with a new drummer. Starr would make the signature swing look effortless, causing the rest of the band to reconsider Best’s position.
It’s kind of a hard drum part to do, but Ringo nailed it,” McCartney said, referring to this song as the reason The Beatles magic really started. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Starr. “Fu*king hell, what is this?” was how I was feeling as I stared at John and George. And that was really how The Beatles got started.
Starr would later use that shuffle groove to create the foundation for the band’s hit single, “I Feel Fine”. So, he would get plenty of use out of it. However, The Beatles were practicing their craft for years at that point. The sheer magic produced by each member of the group cemented the moment they played this song.
