Ringo Starr Shared the Movie That Made Him Love Rock N’ Roll

Ringo Starr fell in love with rock n’ roll at a young age. Growing up in Liverpool during the 1940s and 1950s, there wasn’t too much exposure to rock music, but some rock came to the U.K. from Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry. However, Ringo Starr said it was one movie and its effect on the audience that made him want to pursue a career in rock n’ roll. 

Ringo Starr loved rock music after a riot broke out during the movie ‘Rock Around the Clock’

Starr had a difficult childhood due to multiple illnesses. His first illness occurred at six years old when he contracted peritonitis after having an appendectomy. This led to Starr being in a coma for several days and missing a school year. His second illness was in 1953, when he contracted tuberculosis, leading to a two-year stay in a sanitorium. 

While Starr missed several school years, he learned to play the drums, which changed the trajectory of his life. In an interview with CBC Radio, the Beatles’ drummer said a woman at his hospital brought in percussion instruments and taught patients how to play. 

“That’s when I fell in love with drums, and I only wanted to be a drummer from then on,” Starr said. “But of course, I had to work on the railways, I had to work on the boats, and I had to work in a factory for several years before it all came true.”

After leaving the hospital, his grandparents took him to see Blackboard Jungle, a 1955 film featuring “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and His Comets. In an interview with BBC Radio, Starr said the music caused a riot in the theater, and that moment made him love rock music. 

“When I was 15, my grandparents took me to the Isle of Man. They had the Bill Haley movie, ‘Rock Around The Clock,’ and it was just incredible rock ‘n’ roll,” Starr explained. “Very stiff when we listen to it now, but the lads, and a lot of them from Liverpool, of course, had the ‘Kiss Me Quick’ hats on. They were all like cowboys, and on holiday, they just ripped up the place, and I thought, ‘Ahh, great! That’s what I want to do.’”

Starr recorded a cover of ‘Rock Around the Clock’ in 2021

Ringo Starr paid tribute to the movie that made him love rock music in 2021 by covering “Rock Around the Clock” for his Change the World EP. He didn’t plan on doing it, but he decided to record it on a whim. 

“I said, ‘Well, I’m gonna do ‘Rock Around the Clock,’ ’cause it’s my EP, and I can do whatever I like,” Starr said via Ultimate Classic Rock. “It was just one of those moments I was sitting around, and I thought, ‘Hey, I’m gonna do ‘Rock Around the Clock’ for all these good reasons.'”

Starr wasn’t sure how he wanted to approach his version, but he switched up the solo to give it a fresh spin. 

“I did sort of a brushes version of it, old-school,” he continued. “Then I thought, ‘No, put the sticks on.’ Then it rocked. Then I called Joe Walsh [Starr’s brother-in-law], and he rocked, and it’s a [different] solo. You listen to covers of ‘Rock Around the Clock,’ and everybody plays the same solo.”