A case for Ringo Starr's induction in the Rock Hall

I "N"th the motion to get back to Ringo. There are enough threads to discuss John vs. Paul. Please cease and desist on your own without anyone having to report any posts.

Personally I have every Ringo solo album and find something to love on every single one of them.
I have no Pete Townshend solo albums though I did enjoy his 2 solo hits, and enjoyed seeing him solo once.

So it Ringo were being inducted as a solo artist, that coming ahead of Pete getting such a nod would make sense to my taste - as well as based on chart performance, number of releases, and level of fame.

 

As a Beatles fan, do I think Ringo should be inducted on musical grounds?

No.

He's only getting in because the other three are in (notice he's last?), and because he's alive and can add Starr-power to the induction event and force Paul to show up.

Rather see Steve Miller, T. Rex, Chubby Checker, or Deep Purple inducted instead of Ringo and Bill Withers, let alone Green Day.

Surprised Lou Reed wasn't in already solo. What a bunch of bull!

But that's why they call it the CRock OFame.

 

I didn't say "John is The Greatest". But your words are here (and in other threads) for all to see.

So yourself.

 

Again, Ringo is being inducted as a sideman. Your list (Steve Miller, T. Rex, Deep Purple etc) could not have replaced his induction.

 

Sideman? Ringo? Patently absurd. He's a band leader, last I recall, and only occasionally moonlights on friends' sessions.

Is he going to do a standup routine at his induction so he can get into the Comedy HOF?

 

No need. He deserves it based on AHDN, Help! and Caveman

 

Ringo is the most talented of the Beatles! Yea!

 

...turn left at Greenland...

 

The excellence award Ringo is getting to get into the RnRHOF is much akin to this:

 

No, he's being inducted for "musical excellence." This category replaced the sideman category, but its criteria are much different (and were posted upthread). The musical excellence criteria are vague, but it's easy to list a dozen artists who meet those criteria better than Ringo does (including, as I've noted, the other three Beatles). So the inevitable conclusion is that he's really getting inducted because the perception is that it's "unfair" to individually induct the other three Beatles but not him. As Cheepnik noted, it's basically the same reason children's soccer leagues don't keep score and let everybody "win."

 

Fine with me - I'm tired of being told I constantly slander a certain artist when that's not even vaguely true.

Back to Ringo: yep, he still doesn't merit HOF induction!

 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the HOF literally changed the criteria listed on the website mid-day yesterday. "Award for Musical Excellence" went from essentially a description of sidemen to the current vague criteria.

I think the criteria only "changed" after someone at the HOF realized how illogical a fit Ringo was based on the old criteria...

 

There are lots of acts in the HOF I don't feel merit induction. But when they put in an artist I appreciate, I enjoy the opportunity it provides to celebrate their work. If Paul & Ringo get together and sing/play something one more time on this occasion, all the better.

 

Oh thanks. I have less of a good feeling for his induction now that you explain it.

 

Ringo perhaps more influential on what we hear on the radio today than Lennon.

 

Taken from: http://web2.airmail.net/gshultz/bryant.html

1. Ringo was the first true rock drummer to be seen on TV. All the Rock & Roll drummers featured with Elvis, Bill Haley, Little Richard, Fats Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis were mostly R&B drummers that were making the transition from a swing drumming style of the 40's and 50's toward the louder and more "rocking" sound that is associated with "I Want To Hold Your Hand". They were dressed in tuxedos and suits and held the drumsticks in the "traditional" manner of military, orchestra, and jazz drummers. Ringo showed the world that power was needed to put the emphasis on the "rock" in Rock & Roll music, so he gripped both sticks like hammers and proceeded to build a foundation for rock music.
2. Ringo changed the way drummers hold their sticks by making popular the "matched" grip of holding drumsticks. Nearly all drummers in the Western World prior to Ringo held their sticks in what is termed the "traditional" grip, with the left hand stick held like a chopstick. This grip was originally developed by military drummers to accomodate the angle of the drum when strapped over the shoulder. Ringo's grip changes the odd left hand to match the right hand, so that both sticks are held like a flyswatter. Rock drummers along with marching band and orchestral percussionists now mostly play with a "matched" grip, and drum companies have developed straps and accessories to accomodate them.
   
3. Ringo started a trend of placing drummers on high risers so that they would be as visible as the other musicians. When Ringo appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, he immediately caught the attention of thousands of "drummers to be" by towering over the other three Beatles. Elvis's drummer was looking at a collection of backs.
   
4. These same "wannabe" drummers also noticed that Ringo was playing Ludwig drums and they immediately went out and bought thousands of these drumsets, thus establishing Ludwig as the definitive name in Rock & Roll drums at that time.
   
5. Ringo changed the sound of recorded drums. About the time of Rubber Soul (released Dec. 6,1965), the sound of the drumset started to become more distinct. Along with help from the engineers at Abbey Road studios, Ringo popularized a new sound for the drums by tuning them lower, deadening the tonal ring with muffling materials, and making them sound "closer" by putting a microphone on each drum.
   
6. Ringo has nearly perfect tempo. This allowed the Beatles to record a song 50 or 60 times, and then be able to edit together different parts of numerous takes of the same song for the best possible version. Today an electronic metronome is used for the same purpose, but the Beatles had to depend on Ringo to keep the tempo consistant throughout the dozens of takes of the songs that you know and love so well. Had he not had this ability, the Beatles recordings would sound completely different today.
   
7. Ringo's "feel" for the beat serves as a standard for pop-rock record producers and drummers alike. It is relaxed, but never dragging. Solid, yet always breathing. And yes, there is a great amount of musical taste in his decisions of what to play and when to play it. In most recording sessions, the drummer's performance acts as a barometer for the rest of the musicians. The stylistic direction, dynamics, and emotions are filtered through the drummer. He is the catcher to whom the pitcher/songwriter is throwing. If the drumming doesn't feel good, the performance of any additional musicians is doomed from the start. The Beatles rarely if ever had this problem with Ringo.
   
8. Ringo hated drum solos, which should win points with quite a few people. He only took one solo while with the Beatles. His eight measure solo appears during "The End" on the "B" side of Abbey Road. Some might say that it is not a great display of technical virtuosity, but they would be at least partially mistaken. You can set an electronic metronome to a perfect 126 beats per minute, then play it along with Ringo's solo and the two will stay exactly together.
   
9. Ringo's ability to play odd time signatures helped to push popular songwriting into uncharted areas. Two examples are "All you Need is Love" in 7/4 time, and "Here Comes the Sun" with repeating 11/8, 4/4, and 7/8 passages in the chorus.
   
10. Ringo's proficiency in many differen styles such as two beat swing ("When I'm Sixty-Four"), ballads ("Something"), R&B ("Leave My Kitten Alone" and "Taxman") and country (the Rubber Soul album) helped the Beatles to explore many musical directions with ease. His pre-Beatle experience as a versatile and hard working nightclub musician served him well.
    
11. The idea that Ringo was a lucky Johnny-on-the-spot-with-a-showbiz-stage-name is wrong. In fact, when Beatle producer George Martin expressed his unhappiness after the first session with original drummer Pete Best, the decision was made by Paul, George, and John to hire who they considered to be the best drummer in Liverpool - Ringo Starr. His personality was a bonus.
    
12. The rumors that Ringo did not play on many of the Beatle songs because he was not good enough are also false. In fact, he played on every released Beatles recording (not including Anthology 1) that include drums except for the following: "Back In The USSR" and "Dear Prudence", on which Paul played drums due to Ringo temporarily quitting the band, "The Ballad of John and Yoko", again featuring Paul on drums because Ringo was off making a movie, and a 1962 release of "Love Me Do" featuring session drummer Andy White.
    
13. When the Beatles broke up and they were all trying to get away from each other, John Lennon chose Ringo to play drums on his first solo record. As John once said, "If I get a thing going Ringo knows where to go, just like that.." A great songwriter could ask no more of a drummer. Except maybe to smile and bob his head.

 

That's all stuff about him being the drummer in The Beatles. He's already in for that.

 

Exactly. Besides one hit I enjoyed in his solo years, 'It don't come Easy'....I best remember him for being Thomas the Train.

Maybe a mention in the Rails 'Tunnel of Fame' or somesuch.

 

This is the reason he's getting in - so he and Paul will show up to the induction ceremony and be on the spot to play. Macca's always game.

Next year Yoko will be inducted and they'll have to show up for that, too.

Pete Best. Jimmy Nicol. Julian, Sean, Zak, Dhani, they're all next.

 

I'm not convinced he belongs in, but he had a string of hits, some bigger than It Don't Come Easy, altho that does seem to be the one that has lasted.

 

Basically they're giving a vaguely 'lifetime achievement' type of thing award to Ring. I guess that's not so terrible, given the true horrors going on in this world.

This is a much cooler award, tho:

 

Here Hear !!

Hey look....it's even got a choo-choo train wheel in the middle of that Starr !!!!!

Looks kinda like this one...if a bit askewed.

 

Continuing my point that he's in as an individual not so much as a 'solo artist' but as an incredibly influential drummer (beyond his mere band membership).

Then again, some of ya'll probably think of Phil Collins only as a pop star.

Makes more sense than Green Day.

 

Agreed. I think you have to figure that if a band is in the HOF a lot of it has to do with some of the greatness of each individual member. The Beatles are in because they were a great band consisting of great songwriters, players, etc.. who had a lot of influence.

 

Where does this absurdity end? Should we re-induct each member of Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, The Who, The Band, Buffalo Springfield, etc., as individual, "influential" musicians as well?

I often end up defending the R&RHOF induction choices, but in this case I think they basically invented a vague, bogus award to give a surviving Beatle, so that he (and maybe the other) would show up.