In talking about his influences, Nick Mason is quick to praise Ringo Starr for his impact with the Beatles. But Starr doesn’t make the list.
“I think, like most drummers, our styles reflect our heroes at the time,” Mason tells RTL2. “So, there was part of me that wanted to be Ginger Baker, and part that wanted to be Keith Moon.”
When Mason pauses to reach for another impactful drummer, however, the interviewer suggests Starr. Mason polite demurs: “Not really Ringo,” he says. “I think Ringo’s a great drummer, and he’s perfect for the Beatles — but I didn’t want to be one of the Beatles. I wanted to be something a bit wilder.”
In the end, Nick Mason — the only Pink Floyd member to have appeared on each of the group’s studio efforts — actually isn’t sure where he ranks among such luminaries, anyway.
“I still have a very low opinion of my drumming,” Mason adds, “but it works — even though I now realize that it works.”
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I count Ringo Starr as a hero…he does a lot charities for a lot of children. He should have his own cartoon with the Puff Girls on regular bases…For his at 75 he is inspiration to all seniors citizens across the world, keep on doing what you love…Rock on Ringo Starr.
Sensationalistic headline does not reflect what Nick Mason’s really said. Click bait?
Sure. Except that he’s specifically talking about his heroes (“our styles reflect our heroes at the time”), then specifically says that Ringo Starr isn’t one of them when his name is brought up (“Not really Ringo”), and then specifically says he was aiming for something different than what the Beatles did (“I wanted to be something a bit wilder”). Other than that, click bait all the way.
why take a quote and twist it into a lie?
A few words text to support a nasty headline that has the intention of slagging of Ringo Starr. Garbage!
Lots of band members don’t want to be like the Beatles, especially Ringo who was not that great of a drummer. Oh well. Ringo made a ton of money without having all that much talent so good for him!
I think you will find few musicians who would rate Ringo as ‘Not that great of a drummer.’ See, I think you are confusing flashiness with skill. Ringo was not a flashy drummer, indeed on all the Beatles records he only did two or three drum solos. But (like Charlie Watts of the Stones), Ringo’s sense of timing is computer-like and his drumming is impeccable. To say Starr made all of his money with little talents means I would keep your day job and avoid doing any music reviews where your knowledge of music skill would be taken seriously.
It’s amazing the number of people that know nothing about drummers but are quick to put down Ringo.
I rather have someone who has skill rather then being a flashy show off. Plus Ringo Starr has talent when it comes to drumming in many Beatle songs such as ‘A Day in A Life’, ‘Helter Skelter’, ‘The End’, ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ etc. Plus he was considered as Liverpool’s best drummer before he joined The Beatles as mentioned by John Lennon in The Beatles Anthology DVD and he even had his own show with Rory Storm called ‘Ringo Starr Time’. If you’re going to mention John Lennon’s ‘comment’ that was done by a comedian in England in 1983 three years after Lennon’s unfortunate murder and somehow people used that to put down Ringo.
Not to worry Nicky, you will never ever be confused with a Beatle. Ringo’s claim to fame is his steady beat that drive 99% of the Beatle recordings
And it’s the very rare person that buys an album or goes to a concert that wants to hear the drummer go off on some long “wild” (boring!) solo. Those have always been the most horrible bits of live albums. Luckily most studio albums avoid such things.