Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas

by Chuck Klosterman

John, Paul, George, and Ringo shall always be the Fab Four. And because that number is so important (and so finite), pop historians have spent the last thirty-five years trying to decide who deserves classification as Beatle Number Five. Pete Best was the group’s original drummer, so he usually gets to be the Fifth Beatle. Producer George Martin had almost as much sonic impact as the guys in the band, so he warrants credit as the Sixth Beatle. Stuart Sutcliffe played bass with Long John and the Silver Beatles in 1960, influenced the group’s fashion aesthetic, and even had a movie made about his tragic life (1994’s Backbeat); he’s the Seventh Beatle. Journeyman musician Billy Preston is credited on some studio albums and performs live with the band in the documentary Let It Be, so he’s (at worst) Beatle Number Eight. When Ringo Starr had tonsillitis in 1964, he was temporarily replaced by the Ninth Beatle, an easygoing fellow named Jimmy Nichol. Which brings us to Eric Griffiths, a man with the curious legacy of being “The Tenth Beatle.”