John Lennon Once Shared His True Feelings Toward Beatles’ First Drummer Pete Best

When The Beatles first formed, Pete Best served as the band’s drummer before being replaced by Ringo Starr. While all parties appeared to move forward amicably, John Lennon had some harsh feelings toward the drummer, which he shared years later. 

Pete Best was fired from The Beatles in 1962

Best first met The Beatles at the Casbah Coffee Club, which was opened by his mother. The Beatles played several concerts there in their early days and invited Best to join the band in 1960. In an interview shared by Express, John Lennon recalled asking Best to join The Beatles on a trip to Hamburg, Germany. 

“We knew of this guy. He was living in his mother’s house that had a club in it, and he had a drum kit, so we dragged him, auditioned him, and he could keep one beat going for long enough, so we took him to Germany,” Lennon said. 

However, two years later, Best was fired by the band’s manager Brian Epstein at the request of Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison. Lennon said they were “cowards” about removing him, and Harrison agreed. 

“We weren’t very good at telling Pete he had to go,” Harrison admitted. “Historically, it may look like we did something nasty to Pete, and it may have been that we could have handled it better.”

John Lennon said The Beatles became ‘sick of’ Pete Best

While tensions between The Beatles reached a boiling point toward the end of the band’s tenure, Lennon said the fallout with Best occurred because the other members believed he was a “lousy drummer.” He also debunked any rumors that he was fired because McCartney was jealous of him. 

“By then, we were pretty sick of Pete Best too, because he was a lousy drummer, you know?” Lennon said. “He never improved, and there was always this myth being built up over the years that he was great, and Paul was jealous of him because he was pretty and all that crap.”

The “Imagine” singer admitted that the other Beatles never believed Best was a fantastic drummer and simply hired him because they needed someone to play drums for their Germany residency. 

“The only reason [Best] got in the group in the first place was because the only way we could get to Hamburg was he had to have a drummer,” Lennon stated. “We were always gonna dump him when we could find a decent drummer. By the time we’d got back from Germany, we’d trained him to keep a stick going up and down. He couldn’t do much else.”

Best holds no ill feelings toward the band

Despite the indirect firing and Lennon’s harsh words, Best holds no grudge toward any of the living Beatles. In an interview with The Irish Times, Best said he understands the decision made by McCartney and the others years ago. 

“I’ve nothing to forgive him about,” Best explained. “They made a decision as young men which was safeguarding their future. OK, it could have been handled better. I was the fall guy for it, I suffered, but I’m not holding them to task over it. If I’d have been in the same situation and I was another member of the band, maybe I’d have been one of the bad guys.”

Today, Best, 81, still plays drums with The Pete Best Band.