Mike Portnoy’s enthusiastic defense of Ringo Starr as a drummer

The Beatles they represented a true gathering of geniuses. Still, there are those who insist on “ranking” the members — and many of them put Ringo Starr as an inferior musician compared to his peers, as if art were competition. The drummer also tends to have his skills overlooked when discussing the technique of other instrument colleagues.

Perhaps the greatest proof that Starr should not be diminished as a musician came from an interview given by Mike Portnoy, drummer recognized as one of the most skilled in the history of rock. The former member of Dream Theater and member of several groups such as The Winery Dogs and Sons of Apollo reflected on the idol in an interview with Revolver(via Igor Miranda website).

In this ocasion, Portnoy was asked to list his 11 favorite drummers of all time. As he preferred to present his choices in chronological order, Starr ended up being the first. Despite this, he made it clear that, regardless of the criteria, Ringo would be at the top, as it is his favorite.

“The list is in chronological order of when they appeared in my life and ears and when they influenced me. But even though this is chronological, this first one really is number one on my list because the Beatles are my favorite band of all time and Ringo Starr He was obviously a very, very important drummer in my life.”

The former member of Dream Theater highlighted that on the date of his birth — April 20, 1967 —, the Beatles held the last recording session of the classic album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, released weeks later.

“So yes, literally from the first day of my life, Beatles They were there. AND Ringo it was very important to them.”

Mike Portnoy on Ringo Starr

In the final part of his statement, Mike Portnoy made more specific considerations about Ringo Starr. The progressive metal idol stated that the drumstick veteran is “very underrated”.

“People don’t realize that Beatles They wouldn’t have made the music they did without him. He was very important to the recording process and everything the Beatles did.”

The pioneering spirit of Starr was, finally, punctuated by Portnoy in your comment.

“Everything Ringo did was the first to be done and for that alone he has to be first on this list.”