Ringo Starr Shared Why The Beatles Never Got High Before Making Music
Over the years, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr all spoke candidly about the way drugs impacted The Beatles’ music. They released albums that were heavily influenced by different substances, and they each felt that drugs helped open their minds. Despite this, Starr claimed that they never used drugs while in the studio. He believed this would have had a negative impact on their music.
Ringo Starr said The Beatles avoided drugs while in the studio
After Bob Dylan introduced The Beatles to marijuana in 1964, they began frequently using drugs. Lennon described Rubber Soul as their “pot album,” and LSD had a large influence on their work in the latter half of the 1960s. After Lennon and Harrison tried it, they encouraged McCartney and Starr to use it as well.
“I’d take anything,” Starr said, per Rolling Stone. “It was a fabulous day. The night wasn’t so great, because it felt like it was never going to wear off. Twelve hours later and it was, ‘Give us a break now, Lord.'”
The Beatles felt it was pushing their music in new, inventive directions. Albums like Revolver pushed the envelope of what was possible with their music. Still, they refused to use LSD in the studio.
“We found out very early,” Starr said, “that if you play it stoned or derelict in any way, it was really s****y music, so we would have the experiences and then bring that into the music later.”
Ringo Starr didn’t like that The Beatles’ drug use was covered extensively by the media
While the band spoke extensively about their drug use, the media’s coverage of it made Starr a bit uncomfortable. In the 1960s, police conducted massive drug busts at musicians’ homes, which nearly always sparked a media circus.
“The news is all over everywhere so they’re spreading it,” he said, per the book Ringo Starr: Straight Man or Joker? by Alan Clayson. “They think it’s great if the police raid a place — but fifty million people have read about it again, and a couple of thousand will say, ‘I’ll try drugs.'”
The drummer was the only Beatle who wasn’t arrested for drugs
Starr might also have disliked the extensive coverage of drug busts because it impacted all of his bandmates. In 1968, Lennon and Yoko Ono were staying at Starr’s apartment when police raided the home. While they had cleaned out the apartment following a tip-off, officers found cannabis and arrested the couple.
The following year, Harrison landed in a similar situation when police raided his home. He maintained that the police planted drugs in his home, though he didn’t deny ever using drugs. He just said he was too neat to have hidden drugs in his shoes, as the police claimed.
McCartney wasn’t arrested while The Beatles were together, but, beginning in 1972, he was arrested for marijuana possession four times. Starr was the only Beatle who was never arrested for drugs.
