Former Beatle Pete Best interview, Ireland 1996
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- čas přidán 9. 08. 2020
- Pat Kenny chats to ex-Beatles drummer Pete Best about his time with the band.
In August 1960 Pete Best joined Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison and became the drummer for The Beatles. A short time later they were off to Germany. Pete Best tells Pat Kenny about the wild time the band spent in Hamburg.
When we got there we were like school kids... you know... looking at sweets in the window. The neon lights appeared on the reeperbahn, the strip clubs, the prostitutes and the hookers... 24 hour bars and it was like wow... dreams have come true.
Returning from Germany the band played a number of shows including at the Casbah, a club owned by Pete’s mother. The band mainly performed covers at this stage and it wasn’t until mid 1961 that they began to play their own songs.
In August 1962, with Brian Epstein now on board as manager of the band, Pete Best was kicked out of the band and replaced by Ringo Starr.
This episode of ‘Kenny Live’ was broadcast on 13 January 1996. - Hudba
Pete should be an example to a lot of us who feel they fail but can discover that life goes on and early struggles make you a survivor later in life.
He makes a good living answering the same questions. He is forever linked to the best (no pun intended).. Good luck to him...
He also made a killing on the Beatles box set released in 1995 that featured songs with his drumming. He made a few million in royalties
@@MrShenanigans28 I say. . Well done to him. He was a member of The Beatles after all and if he can make a few Bob through it... Good on him.
Yeah for sure. How often can someone say they were the drummer in the Beatles? Did about 300 plus shows together (230 alone in 1961). Like you say, well done to him 🤟
Anyone who could take it on the chin like this fellow and still be standing is a Mike Tyson of the music world to me. I would have been out for the count man. Well done lad.🍺
He claimed he wasn't really bitter but annoyed at the time and got on with it.
But of course his suicide attempt in the summer of 1963 which he also claims was down to him being booted proves the opposite..
18 months after getting the boot he Attemps suicide and says it was down to getting the boot..
This sounds like a very bitter man whose still angry enough to want to kill himself 18 months after the event.
And I believe suicide was also contemplated in mid 1965
@@alberttatlock5237 friend… think about it. You’re already in a band knowing that they are going places. Now you’re kicked out of this band. You see them take the world by storm and you’re baking bread for a living. Mull that over for a while. Pretend it was you. Just pretend. He is no longer upset with what happened. He moved on. It would have haunted me terribly. Perhaps you’re a better man than him or myself. Anyway, cheers 🍻
@@kellykempkilroy
Pete Best was never, in a million years going to be a beatle. The rest all decided from DAY 1, Pete was only a temporary addition. The only reason he was invited to join the band was because he had a drum kit and was mediocre enough to play a basic rhythm.
@@Paul-sl9zm Ringo was the Beatle. He was the right choice. No doubt about it.
@@kellykempkilroy
Absolutely 💯
I would say that Pete Best is an example where just because life isn't fair, doesn't mean that it can keep you down. I'm grateful that Pete has managed to keep his life reasonably healthy and productive, despite being fired from The Beatles, just prior to becoming a household name. I wish both him and his family well.
Obviously, Pete is over the disappointment and missed date with destiny, or every interview and every question would have been like a dagger to the heart. I'm glad he's all right.
That's how he earns his bread mate, 5000 bucks to keep his mouth shut and not annoy beatles fans by saying anything defamatory about them, the pent up frustration in him god knows how he keeps it inside himself..
Money is the answer, he starts running down the beatles it's no more tv and radio interviews no more beatles fears, no more touring and having mostly beatles fans pay to see you.
He knows which side his bread is buttered and for that he has to keep the Anger inside.
He'll claim that after being sacked he wasn't bitter just annoyed, yet in the Sumner of 1963 18 months after he was sacked he tried to kill himself, and puts that down to the stress of being sacked from the band.
Thats a long long time to decide finally to end it all.
18 months of pain and anguish, the torture of seeing beatle mania sweep the country in the late summer of 1963 when thier 4 release " she loves you hit no.1, and quickly beccame thier biggest hit and the biggest selling UK single of all time"..
This must have been yet another almighty blow to his already fragile mind.
I like all The Beatles in particular Lennon was such a character and of course Pete Best is such a nice guy. Pete seems down to earth and very easy to talk to unlike the others who avoid certain questions in some cases, whether that be fame has changed them, who knows.
Pete is such a great guy I was so pleased that he got some money from the Anthology 1 album it’s so richly deserved, he played a huge role in helping the Beatles develop in Hamburg when they came back to Liverpool the were totally unrecognisable as a group. He missed out on the fame but he got his reward in end and he is such a grounded guy. If you are ever in Liverpool do go and visit the Beatles museum which Pete and his brother set up its great well worth a visit.
No way this chap is part of the four most charismatic, talented, cool people on earth. Wasn’t a fit then, isn’t close now. May be a fine fellow, but it all went according to the cosmic plan.
He was the best looking Beatle, especially in his 20s. He looked like a Hollywood actor. While the others looked quirky. He definitely didn’t fit in
Waiting for him to say 'Turned round..' 1:23! Honestly!
Almost a quarter of a century ago? This was from 1996 so he's around 10 years to late
Billy fury did write his own songs..
And was well known for it, sure he covered others.
Marty wilde also wrote his own songs.
The shadows were writing songs for cliff richard from late 1960.
It's nonsense claiming the beatles were the first
He always reminds me of The Beatles song.
“ I’M A LOSER..”
It was John Lennon who said in an interview --- not long before he was assassinated, btw, even when he was angry and bitter by that stage of his life: "Don't you realize that only a few hundred people ever saw the real Beatles? I mean, when we played in Hamburg, then the Cavern, then back to Hamburg, and back to the Cavern again. That's when we were the real Beatles, in 1960, '61, and '62, the four of us, and we were really rockin' in our leather gear. That's when we were truly The Beatles, and almost the entire world never saw it."
Hold on a moment: 1960...'61...'62? What four Beatles was he talking about?!?
And wasn't it Graham Nash who said (see interview here: czcams.com/video/9hPgzptEMT4/video.html): "I first met the Beatles on November 19, 1959. And everybody knew --- every girl, every kid --- knew that when they looked at them, something special was about it. Y'know, they were four kids, and you couldn't get inside that. They (the Beatles) took care of themselves. And everybody knew that."
Wait a minute: 1959? And then 1960... '61....'62? Who exactly was Graham Nash talking about?
Yes, that's when the four of them -- John, Paul, George, and Peter --- were The Beatles. Sure, there was Beatlemania, with those hundreds of screaming fans throwing themselves at the group...well, most of them were screaming and throwing themselves at Pete, that is, who looked like a Hollywood movie star, the one that every other drummer in Liverpool called "the greatest rock 'n roll drummer of all time," granted --- but, yes, there was Beatlemania back then.
Sometimes I wonder: Will the real story of The Beatles ever be told?
Pete was within a hair's breath of making sure that the Beatles would plateau at a rather unimpressive low level
What?! OK. 🤭
@@stevenb427 no way they would have gone anywhere with Pete.
No need to be rude about it
@@steveshattah Nonsense. The girls loved this guy. It wouldnt have made one difference. What did Ringo add the whole 8 years? Yellow Submarine?
@@JCStorm76 well you know there's two things they say about opinions. Everyone's got one and they all stink but your own.
Class act
Pete Best had a bad attitude and wasn't up to par as a drummer . His not showing up for rehearsals was a bad move which gave Ringo Star a foot in the door who was a good drummer and got along well with John , Paul and George and so as they say the rest is history .
There is nothing more to the story , although some like to make up their own version of what went down but it wasn't that big a deal and bands drop members all the time for various reasons only this keeps getting play because it was just prior to the Beatles becoming famous.
Were you there? Stop acting like you're some know-it-all
That’s exactly what I get out of It too
Lmao like you were around in Liverpool in 1960 getting in the scoop of this drama
Pete wrote in his biography that he missed two gigs because of a flu and because he had a court case. But ringo was just destined to be a beatle . Even if Pete played at all shows, they’d still drop him.
@@benpietrzykowski9216 This story has been written about a hundred times. It doesn't require being there to know the truth.
LOVE PETE BEST GREAT DRUMMER AND KICK ASS SOLID DRUMMER...🥁🥁🥁🥁💕💕💕
Is that you Pete? 😂😂😂
John said Pete was a good drummer but Ringo was a better Beatle. Pete didn’t fit in.
Yea John lennon and his ever changing views, hardly anyone took any of his quotes seriously.
Lennon also said " the only reason we took pete was because he had a drum kit and we needed a drummer to go to Hamburg, he could barely hold a beat and our plan was to sack him as soon as we returned to Liverpool"
This being a more truthful explanation, don't forget pete sued the beatles in 1965 because of things they said about him in an interview , taking pills and prostitutes, missing gigs and ringo filling in for him etc etc.
Pete attempted suicide in late 1963 18 months after being sacked, and gave his dismissal as the reason for trying to end his life, so kind of proves he was extremely bitter and angry for a long time after.
Around 1964 he got a recording contract and went to America, but had no commercial success, I think in the USA same as here they only wanted to record the singer and use session musicians, so petes services were no longer required again, they didn't take this option so went back to the UK shortly afterwards to be met with " we'll use session musicians for the recordings and the band can play themselves touring..
Anyway the band had little commercial success and were simply trading off of having an ex beatle in the band, but even that brought them no fame or fortune
@@alberttatlock5237 I know the infamous quote that you are referring to. There are reasons it wasn't used in the Beatles Anthology! The Beatles reached multiple milestones during Pete's two-year tenure that they couldn't have if he had not been a decent drummer. Also, once the Beatles returned from that first Hamburg tour there were PLENTY of available drummers to replace Pete with. The Beatles didn't replace him until two-years later because their career was ascending with him. I love John Lennon, but you have to put his comments into context.
"John turned round and said..."
Pete got robbed. He was betrayed by his fellow Beatles due to their petty jealousy of his leading-man looks and his immense popularity with the fans and the press. Sacking him had absolutely nothing to do with his drumming ability, which was not only rock solid, but was the driving force behind transforming them from a bum band when he joined the group, to the hottest ticket in Hamburg and Liverpool. If you don't believe me, here's what a contemporary drummer of Pete's said when he was asked in an interview what he thought of Pete's drumming: *"He was a genius. You could sit Pete Best on a drum kit and ask him to play for 19 hours and he'd put his head down and do it. He'd drum like a dream with real style and stamina all night long, and that really was The Beatles' sound, forget the guitars. I was amazed when they replaced him. I even thought about learning guitar so he could be the drummer in my band. The Beatles didn't hate Pete Best, but they didn't want to be outshone by their drummer. Ringo was a good drummer but he was more ordinary."* - Chris Curtis, drummer for The Searchers, a great Liverpool band who scored a 1964 Top 3 Hit in the US charts with their classic, "Love Potion # 9". Chris saw Pete Best play many times in both Hamburg and Liverpool during Pete's two years as The Beatles' drummer.
Perhaps they got rid of him because his mother, Mona was too overbearing for the likes of Brian Epstein. Sack Pete and end the relation with Mona. BTW… the quote from Chris Curtis seems to correspond to what others had said about Pete and the sound of the Beatles. Though I like Pete I’m persuaded that Ringo was the better choice.
He was a good drummer.
@@freddyfurrah3789 He had to have been good, at a minimum, for the band to have kept him for 2 years, and for the band to have risen to the top of the heap in two cities. Anyone who says he was crap doesn't know the first damn thing about how a band functions or falls apart. They fall apart when the drumming is crap. If Pete Best was a crap drummer, none of us would ever have heard of The Beatles.
@@Cosmo-Kramer that's all. Bare minimum.
@@freddyfurrah3789 Ringo was no better, they only chose him because they were jealous of Pete's popularity.
Look he just wasn't good enough? Just listen to him play even today ???? It's the same old double cymbal hit after every fill .
what? listen to his performance of my bonnie ten years ago, he played quite well
@@DJ-ov2it Well, "quite",
@@troylowin-green7408 I liked it. It definitely wasnt bad in the way that Cavern seems to try and make the case it was.
@@DJ-ov2it I can't say I disliked it, but that's not to say Pete's playing isn't very limited with some time keeping issues. I've never got the impression that drums were the love of his life either. Famous or otherwise, a passionate drummer will enthuse about their instrument & influences. Pete says he picked up the drums just for "fun", and frankly it shows. Don't think he was sacked by The Beatles out of jealously as Best has said in the past put it that way. He's made a career out of being disgruntled.
@@troylowin-green7408 I think it was a mix of him possibly not being as creative as Ringo and also jealousy. There were many things of him being in the band that could very well have made the other guys jealous. Also, no, he hasnt made a career out of being disgruntled, he was a civil servant for decades. But when people ask him, why shouldnt he say it as he thinks it is?
Get over it. He didn't fit in.
Too serious, not zany enough, no visible sense of humour.
Easy for you to say. If it was you you would have cried like a baby
"He didn't fit in"? That's EASY to write present day....In August 1962 Liverpool Beatle fans loved Pete Best. Bill Harry the editor of the Merseybeat newspaper and Bob Wooler the DJ at the Cavern Club said that he was the most popular member of the band (especially with the girl fans).