Ringo Starr and Dave Grohl are featured in Rolling Stone'sMusicians on Musicians series, and one of the things they have in common, besides the obvious -- drumming -- is the loss of a bandmate.
Ringo tells Grohl that Kurt Cobain "had so much emotion. That’s what I loved. I’m an emotional guy. No one can doubt Nirvana, ever. And who knew he’d end up where he ended up. I don’t think anyone who listened to music with any courage could doubt him, ’cause he was courageous."
Grohl says when Kurt died he realized that "there’s no right or wrong way to grieve. It takes funny turns. You’ll be numb. You’ll remember the good things, then you’ll turn and remember some dark times. I stayed away from music for a while. I wouldn’t even turn on the radio. And then I eventually realized that music was the one thing that actually made me feel better. And music was gonna help me through that. So I started writing songs and recording them by myself."
Ringo reflected on the loss of John Lennon and George Harrison. "When John went, I was in the Bahamas... We got a plane to New York, and you don’t know what you can do. We went to the apartment. 'Anything we can do?' And Yoko just said, 'Well, you just play with Sean. Keep Sean busy.' And that’s what we did. That’s what you think: 'What do you do now?'
"And George, the same... He’s laying there very ill -- not long. And I’ve got to go to Boston, ’cause my daughter’s having an operation. And so I said, 'Well, you know, I’ve got to go, George,' and he says, 'Do you want me to come with you?' You know, he’s dying in a bit: 'Do you want me to come with you?' How many people say great things like that to you, really give themselves?"
Ringo and Grohl have been friends since 2013.