Ringo Starr Said Dave Grohl Didn’t Have Enough Appreciation for the Foo Fighters Album Pictures He Photographed

Ringo Starr and Dave Grohl were both drummers in massively popular bands. They rose to fame in different generations, but they’ve found that they have much in common. The two musicians have spoken about each other with admiration, and Grohl even spoke at a release party for Starr’s photography book, Photograph. Just a year later, Starr shot photos for the Foo Fighters’ 2014 album Sonic Highways. Starr joked that Grohl hadn’t shown enough appreciation for his photography.

The former Beatles drummer released a book of photographs

In 2013, Starr released a collection of over 250 photographs in a book appropriately titled Photograph. The collection includes photos from his childhood, his years in The Beatles, and more. 

“I love pictures put together, showing different times of your life,” Starr said, per his publisher Genesis Publications. “At the time, I never thought that there would be a whole book of my photographs.”

Starr also relied on items his mother had saved over the years.

“My mum loved every second of my life, and remembered every second of my life,” he said. “She was such a hoarder. When she died, I just took her boxes and put them in our attic; I didn’t really look at them. When we opened them up, we found some incredible stuff.” 

Starr sold 2,500 limited edition copies in 2013 before releasing a mass edition in 2015.

Ringo Starr that Dave Grohl didn’t have enough appreciation for his photography

After the release of Photograph, Grohl asked Starr to shoot photos of the Foo Fighters for their album Sonic Highways. Several years later, Starr jokingly admitted that he didn’t think Grohl had actually liked the images.

“I didn’t feel you ever liked ’em,” Starr told Grohl in an interview with Rolling Stone. 

Grohl was surprised by the admission.

“What are you talking about?” he said. “We used ’em on the record!”

While this was true, Starr had wanted more acknowledgment for his contribution.

“I wanted more praise and love,” he said. 

Dave Grohl spoke about a meaningful Ringo Starr performance

In 2002, Grohl attended the Concert for George, a celebration of George Harrison’s life on the one-year anniversary of his death. He watched a number of artists he admired perform and then watched as Starr took the stage. 

“And then … Ringo Starr appeared,” Grohl wrote on his blog Dave’s True Stories. “Waving his trademark peace signs high to a standing ovation, he greeted the audience and launched into his classic song, ‘Photograph.'” 

Grohl noted that he could relate to Starr at that moment. 

“As if the previous hour hadn’t already been the most life affirming jolt to my soul, Ringo’s presence and this song in particular struck an unpredicted chord within me,” he wrote. “Here was a man, generously withholding his own grief of losing a dear friend and bandmate, spreading love and joy by sharing the most healing force in time of mourning: Music. I realized that I had been trying to do the exact same thing since that cold, cloudy morning of April 5th, 1994. The day that Kurt Cobain died. I sang along at the top of my lungs.”