More Ringo!

One of the more tired punchlines is that Ringo Starr wasn't a good drummer (John Lennon himself made the joke that he wasn't even the best drummer in the Beatles). Lennon also played into the "drummers are stupid" meme when he said:

"The only reason we made it was because we were together, none of us would've made it by ourselves: I wasn't good-looking enough, Paul wasn't tough enough, George was too quiet and Ringo was the drummer.

Not only was he a good drummer, he was the PERFECT drummer for The Beatles. Not flashy, solid as a rock with the backbeat, and funny as fuck. So it's nice to see him getting some love on his 80th birthday:

Richard Starkey learned the power of precision and understatement, and how a well-placed fill or run can do quite a bit of heavy lifting. A close listen to the Beatles, with a focus on Starr's parts, reveals as much. 

"Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" is so spaced-out and atmospheric in no small part due to Starr's subtle drumming: waltzing rhythms on the verse, vibe-giving cymbal crashes, the door-knock beats leading into the choruses. "Come Together," in contrast, is tense and urgent due to rattlesnake-coiled drums and maracas, while melodic tambourine and easygoing beats gently nudge "Hey Jude" forward and help the song eventually take flight at the end. 

But while Starr's drumming and percussion style isn't flashy, it is lively and full of personality. That's certainly evident on the band's early work: His playing exudes joy — including and especially throughout a cover of the Shirelles' "Boys," on which he sings lead, and the lilting "Please Please Me." And this amiable approach also made him uniquely suited to keep up with the Beatles' rapid stylistic evolution. 

And of course his drums in Rain were fershizzle.