Original Beatles drummer Pete Best to headline fantasy rock camp in Manhattan

nypost.com ^ | July 8, 2023 | Dean Balsamini

[lowbridge]

Original Beatles drummer Pete Best — best known for being replaced by Ringo Starr — believes the Fab Four wouldn’t have missed a beat if he had not been booted all those years ago.

“I still think it would have been The Beatles and I still think they would have been playing the same music and I still think the sound would have been very, very, very similar,” Best, 81, told The Post from his home in Liverpool.

“To this day I still don’t know why” he was dismissed, Best added.

Best — the Beatles’ drummer from 1960-1962 — is headlining a fantasy rock camp in Manhattan next week for some extra scratch.

Campers pay $6,000 for the privilege of jamming with him.

Best was dismissed just before the Liverpool lads achieved worldwide fame, and hasn’t spoken to his former bandmates since 1962.

“Some of the stories that came out. You scratched your head and wondered. Was I actually in that band for two years? Was I friends with them? Because it just didn’t make sense,” said Best, who admitted to having “many sleepless nights” since then.

Best has heard and read all sorts of theories as to what got him Beatle booted, including ‘hairstyles to being non-communicative to being a lousy drummer, jealousy. It goes on and on and on,’ he said. .

“There are more conspiracy theories about my dismissal than I could even remember,” he chuckled. “I laugh a little bit because of the fact that so much water has gone under the bridge since then.”

-snip

It hasn’t all been a hard day’s night for Best, who received “seven figures” for his work with the Beatles after the release of their 1995 compilation of their early recordings on “Anthology 1.”

[Libloather]

[Starboard]

Plus he can pick up some nice change doing Play with Pete the Former Beatle at rock camps and other nostalgic events.

[Bonemaker]

[Right_Wing_Madman]

That lack of professionalism, or dedication to one’s craft, was what probably got him sacked.

The Beatles played over 1,000 live performances in Hamburg and Germany from 1960 to 1964 and by the time they reached America in 1964 they were already polished and professional musicians. Pete Best just couldn't keep up.

[Michael.SF.]

George Martin and Pete Best were good friends prior to Martin's firing of him.

[Michael.SF.]

My thoughts as well.

[rlmorel]

Perhaps you’re thinking of Stuart Sutcliffe?

[SamAdams76]

I think Pete Best was the best Beatle of them all.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

I just can’t help but feel sorry for Pete.

I understand he's now rich - Paul and Ringo included some songs on which Best played on "Past Masters" and like all Beatles albums, it sold huge amounts, and Pete got paid.

[Michael.SF.]

You are correct.

1995. He reportedly received 9 Million dollars ($18 million in today's dollars)

[Right Brigade]

Yes,you are right.
That is exactly where I got confused.
Still kinda forgot about Pete though.

[drSteve78]

Most excellent!

[Starboard]

Best may have been OK as a club player in those early days when the music was simple and the crowds were full of drunks. Trust me, I know how easy that is. LOL But he wasn’t the guy for serious studio work and/or creative song writing.

Ringo wasn’t a great drummer but somehow just managed to fit in and play his parts. The Beatles were mostly about their great song writing talents and their vocal harmonies. John and Paul were the focal point of the band. All they needed was a solid drummer who didn’t compete with them.

[Right_Wing_Madman]

The Beatles were mostly about their great song writing talents and their vocal harmonies.

But the Beatles never would have gotten to that point (great song writing, vocal harmonies) without those thousands of hours performing in the German strip clubs and dive bars.

In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell writes, "By the time they had their first burst of success in 1964, in fact, they had performed live an estimated twelve hundred times. Do you know how extraordinary this is? Most bands today don’t perform twelve hundred times in their entire careers. The Hamburg crucible is one of the things that set the Beatles apart."

[KevinB]

Anyone who has seen interviews with Best can see that he is a bit of a dullard. He certainly didn’t have anywhere near the spark that the others and, eventually, Ringo had. Plus, Ringo was a much better drummer.

[Starboard]

But the Beatles never would have gotten to that point (great song writing, vocal harmonies) without those thousands of hours performing in the German strip clubs and dive bars.

*************

While I agree that tons of playing time can make you better I take issue with your premise. Consider the Beach Boys for example. They wrote great songs and their harmonies were incredible, but they didn’t play clubs and dive bars for years on end before they made it.

For some the intense playing time can be developmental, but for others it can lead to burn out.

Also, the Beatles were incredibly fortunate to have had George Martin to collaborate with. The significance of his contributions to their success cannot be understated.

[KevinB]

You are right about George Martin, though I think you meant to say that his contributions can’t be overstated. :-)

[AlaskaErik]

If someone had asked me who Pete Best was I wouldn’t have had the slightest idea. As for the Beatles, I personally can’t stand listening to their music.

[BillyBoy]

Syd Barrett had it worse, he was the co-founder and original lead singer and frontman of Pink Floyd, and got fired from the band RIGHT before they hit it big and became world famous l.

[meyer]

He may have been the best, but Ringo was the real Starr!