Quincy Jones isn’t done trashing his colleagues in the music world, it seems.
Fresh off of his sharp-tongued take down of Taylor Swift, the legendary producer took aim at the Fab Four in an interview published by Vulture, deeming the Beatles “the worst musicians in the world” and “no-playing motherf—ers.”
Asked what his first impressions of John, Paul, George and Ringo were, Jones didn’t hold back, declaring that “they were the worst musicians in the world. They were no-playing motherf—ers.”
Jones reserved his harshest criticism for Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.
“Paul was the worst bass player I ever heard,” Jones assessed. “And Ringo? Don’t even talk about it.”
Jones then shared an anecdote where he said that Starr, unable to nail down “a four-bar thing” during a studio session, was replaced on the track by another drummer as he took a break.
“I remember once we were in the studio with George Martin, and Ringo had taken three hours for a four-bar thing he was trying to fix on a song. He couldn’t get it,” Jones said.
“We said, ‘Mate, why don’t you get some lager and lime, some Shepherd’s pie, and take an hour-and-a-half and relax a little bit.’ So he did, and we called Ronnie Verrell, a jazz drummer. Ronnie came in for 15 minutes and tore it up,” the producer continued. “Ringo comes back and says, ‘George, can you play it back for me one more time?’ So George did, and Ringo says, ‘That didn’t sound so bad.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, motherf—er because it ain’t you.”
“Great guy, though,” Jones added.