The men who couldn’t become the Beatles: former drummer Pete Best
The BeatlesWhen it comes to the members, it is set as the four: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.
However, in fact, before the Beatles’ major debut, there were other members besides them!
So this time,former drummer Pete BestI will talk about
They were the most popular member.
The person most famous as the man who couldn’t become a Beatle.It is.
The Beatles’ drummer was Ringo Starr, but before he joined, the drummer was this Pete.
John went pro after starting in an amateur band, and while Paul and George followed him, they were left without a drummer.
So they invited Pete, the son of the manager of the Casbah Coffee Club where they often hung out and played in their amateur days, to be their drummer.
And then they began performing as a regular band at the Cavern Club.
Pete was just as handsome as he looked in the photos and was among the most popular members.
And I also accompanied him on the Hamburg tour I mentioned from his early days. In other words, we went through the toughest period of his professional career together.
Meanwhile, thanks to the efforts of their manager Brian Epstein, they finally passed the audition at Parlophone Records, secured a contract, and made it to the point of making their major debut.
Sudden dismissal!
However, just before that, the Beatles fired Pete! You’re thinking, “No way!” right?
I mean, there’s no way I’d get fired right when we finally made it through the toughest years of struggle together and were just about to make our major debut, right?
Here is the article from the local music paper, Mersey Beat, that reports the news. As a feature, it’s titled “The Beatles Change Their Drummer.”
I don’t really know the exact reason for that, either.
I could accept it if there were reasons like poor performance or bad relationships with the other members, but I just can’t find any clear reason.
The Beatles are a group shrouded in many mysteries, and this is one that stands out among them.
What is clear is that it was Brian who notified him of his dismissal.
They just said, “The other three people say they can’t do it with you,” without giving any specific reason.
Therefore, even now, why he was dismissed continues to spark various debates.
What is the reason for the dismissal?
People are merely making various guesses that this might be the reason; there is no definitive proof to confirm it.
1.
Lack of skill as a drummer
If anything is conceivable, this would be it first; otherwise, it wouldn’t count as a reason, would it?
However, this is exactly where the debate often heats up. After all, he was performing before his debut, so there aren’t many recordings left to verify it.
With just that, anyone with a background in music could make a judgment, but there’s only a limited amount available.
Moreover, even if you listen to the few available recordings, since it’s the drums, they don’t stand out as much as the vocals or guitar, so it’s hard to judge.
However, among them, one valuable audio source that could serve as a clue has been preserved.
And that is none other than their debut single, Love Me Do.
Actually, there’s a version of this song with three drummers.
Pete, Ringo, and Andy White.
White was brought in by George Martin, the session drummer and producer, for the recording.
Here is the audio source.
youtube.
com/watch?v=eWnklhOCVmc
How do you feel after comparing the listens? This is just my personal opinion, but by process of elimination, I don’t think Pete is the one.
On this point, Mark Lewisohn, a leading authority on Beatles studies, also states on page 474 of his book The Beatles: All These Years, Volume 2.
Above all, Pete’s skip beat was disastrous.
It caused an extraordinary disruption of tempo, making the Beatles’ performance sound unstable and amateurish.
Pete's drumming, which couldn’t keep time, made the three of them rush, and on top of that, he hesitated at the start of the instrumental break, committing the blunder of suddenly switching to a skip beat while charging straight ahead.
And the fact that Martin brought in White for the recording is the clearest evidence that he wasn’t satisfied with Pete’s skills.
However, Martin himself did not go so far as to say that Pete should be fired; he merely said that a session drummer would be provided.
2.
I didn’t get along well with the other members.
It's not that we ever had a bad relationship.
In particular, I was very close with George.
However, I also felt a bit out of place among the members.
Even before my debut, I would sometimes skip out on work.
It didn’t feel like they blended in with the members.
3.
I lacked a hungry spirit.
As you can tell from the fact that he frequently slacked off at work, while the other three had a hungry drive to become stars no matter what, he lacked that.
The other three would practice guitar or bass whenever they had free time and were desperately studying what kind of sound would be best, but he didn’t have that attitude at all.
4.
Apple had outstanding skills.
People often misunderstand this, but Ringo is a top-tier drummer, and in terms of skill, he was already surpassing the other three at the time of their debut.
This is also evident from Paul describing his impression when they first had a session together in Hamburg.
The three of them were so astonished when they first heard the perfect rhythm being laid down behind them that they couldn’t help but look at each other in surprise.
This is Paul talking about what happened then.
From around the 1-minute mark onward, they talk about the episode from that time.
youtube.
com/watch?v=oB4K_OhLFRA
5.
I didn’t stop the pompadour hairstyle.
I’m not sure if this is the reason, but while the other three had stopped wearing pompadours early on, he alone stubbornly refused to stop.
However, it is clear that this did not align with Brian’s strategy of promoting them as idols.
Pete After That
He belonged to several bands, but none of them took off, so he gave up on becoming a musician and got a job.
And he was labeled as “the man who couldn’t become a Beatle,” a stigma that tormented him for the rest of his life.
However, there are no “what-ifs” in history.Even if I had been lucky enough to debut, I wouldn’t have been able to keep up with the progress of the other three, and sooner or later I would have been forced to leave.I think so.
Firing Pete weighed heavily as a painful memory for the other three as well, and they ended up losing touch with one another.
However, after the breakup of the Beatles, George ended up meeting Pete in person, and George apologized.
Pete accepted it too, they reconciled, and after that they got along very well.
However, George later passed away from cancer.
Upon hearing the news of the death, Pete lamented in sorrow, saying he had lost his dearest friend.
Conclusion
Not giving Pete a clear reason at the time of his dismissal and failing to make a proper public announcement later caused significant confusion.
In the end, the truth is likely that it came down to Pete’s lack of skill.
For the Beatles as a band that also performed live, the fact that even one member could be replaced during recording due to insufficient skill can only be seen as a fatal flaw.
In the end, they decided to dismiss him as a consensus among the three Beatles and Brian.