Ringo Starr Had a Classic Reaction and Joked About His Record Label When His Solo Album Flopped: ‘You Had to Be a Member to Hear It’
Ringo Starr never seemed to let fame change his personality. A Beatles business partner said he and his wife lived like simple people in their mansion. Starr had a casual response to a near-death experience in Mexico. The drummer’s down-to-earth attitude is part of his personality. And there’s more proof. Ringo had a classic reaction that included making a joke when one of his solo albums flopped.
Ringo Starr crafted ‘Time Takes Time’ to be a massive hit
Ringo’s 1992 album Time Takes Time was a comeback record of sorts.
It was The Beatles drummer’s first album of new material since 1980’s Stop & Smell the Roses (1983’s Old Wave didn’t land in the United States until 1994). Time Takes Time was also his first solo record since embracing sobriety. Starr spent years living with his addiction. He finally heard his little voice telling him the truth about his addiction when he found sobriety in 1988.
Starr enlisted the help of Tom Petty, Harry Nilsson, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Baxter (of the Doobie Brothers), and dozens more professionals on Time Takes Time. He designed it to be a No. 1 hit, but it failed miserably.
Did Ringo dwell on his failure? Of course not. The grounded Ringo had a classic response to his solo album flop that included making a joke about the record company’s name.
A disappointed Ringo had a classic response and joked about the record company’s name when ‘Time Takes Time’ flopped
Ringo planned for Time Takes Time to put his solo career back on the map. That was far from the reality.
The record failed to chart in either the United States or England. The single “Weight of the World” spent one week on the charts in the United Kingdom, per the Official Charts Company, entering at No. 74 and dropping off soon after.
The drummer felt disappointed that his hoped-for hit album was a dud. Still, Ringo had a classic response to his Time Takes Time failure, writes Michael Seth Starr in With a Little Help. The down-to-earth Ringo took it all in stride and turned it into a joke:
“[P]eople didn’t seem to want to go for it. It was on Private Music. Which was so private, you had to be a member to hear it. Ha ha! No, I could make excuses, but you put your record out and you hope for the best.
“I was disappointed. I thought, ‘This is great. We’ll be off again in the charts.’ I was really proud of that album, and I kept saying, ‘This is going to be No. 1.’ But I’m afraid they didn’t want it out there, and that’s what happens. They may want the next one. That’s why we keep on going.”
Ringo Starr’s reaction to his solo album Time Takes Time flopping
Time Takes Time wasn’t the hit Ringo envisioned, but he didn’t go into a shell when it flopped. He continued touring with his All-Starr Bands and returned with some strong solo work a few years later
The drummer was undeterred and went back to the drawing board
Time Took Time landed with a thud. Ringo admitted he was disappointed, but the album’s failure hardly extinguished his passion for music.
He continued touring with his George Harrison-less All-Starr Bands and released a live album of one of the group’s concerts in 1994. The drummer did the same thing again in 1994.
Ringo’s solo albums didn’t perform as well as his work in the early 1970s, but he found some chart success in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Vertical Man from 1998 reached No. 85 on the U.K. album charts and No. 61 during its four-week stay on the Billboard 200.
“Liverpool 8,” the autobiographical lead single from the 2008 album of the same name, put Ringo back on the U.K. singles charts (albeit at No. 99). The album charted in both the U.S. and U.K.
Ringo Starr had a classic response when Time Takes Time flopped. Though disappointed, the drummer didn’t let the dud record erase his passion for making music, and he found some modest chart success with his later solo albums.
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