Pete Best sacking


How could they have got this so wrong? Oh yes, they had Pete Best as an advisor! If you listen to George Martin, he basically recommended they get rid of Best because he could not drum properly. That, and the fact that Best never jelled with the rest of the band (was always an outsider) whereas Ringo was a mate for years, is far more plausible than the film's contention that Best was a fantastic drummer who was booted out of the band because the boys were jealous of Best's attraction to girls.

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As in all things it depends who you ask. I found it interesting that in this version Lennon was portrayed as having really stuck up for Best, going so far as threatening to quit if they sacked him, whereas McCartney was portrayed as the jerk who just wanted him gone. You can tell Pete Best had more love for Lennon than for McCartney and I wonder how much of this account was true.

As for Pete Best's drumming, he was good. I wouldn't say he was better than Ringo, but he had a different style. His playing was energetic and he had a good fast snare fill, but he overused it, it was kind of his one trick. Ringo was more versatile and his fills were more unpredictable.

In the end, though, neither of them were good enough to be studio drummers, at least at first. They needed to bring in Andy White to record their first singles. Ringo, of course, became a much better drummer as time went on. Pete Best, I'm not so sure, never really heard much of his stuff after the Beatles. But by the time the 70s rolled around rock got bigger and so did drumming and the simple style of Beatles' drumming started to sound very quaint.

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Best was an advisor to this film! Conflict of interest?

Actually, there is a wealth of evidence from the other Beatles, musicians, studio engineers (incl. George Martin) and critics who have heard best's 60-odd drumming tracks with the band, as well as his/Ringo and Andy White's versions of 'Love me Do' as in the two sessions with Martin.

All of whom have stated that best was not that good.

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