When Paul McCartney performed at the 2012 Grammy Awards last month, “Who is Paul McCartney” became a trending topic on Twitter, causing older Beatles fans to blink in amazement.

But before you start spouting off about “kids these days” and the sadness of their musical apathy, it turns out McCartney’s one-time bandmate Ringo Starr was not offended by the question — even though it’s likely he’d have garnered the same digital reaction.

Starr told Billboard:

“There’s always going to be some kid somewhere saying, ‘Who the hell is that guy?’ And there’s always going to be someone picking up on it. That’s just how it is. Nobody knows everybody.”

It’s actually somewhat of a moot point anyway, since the Fab Four are still selling tons of records –- more than many current acts — “and we’re selling them to the kids,” Starr pointed out.

Starr also has advice for the younger generation who wonders who the hell his band is/was, saying if they’re curious, they should listen to ‘Revolver’ and then ‘Abbey Road.’ If they take a shine to the Beatles at that point, he recommends checking out ‘The White Album.’

Starr also told Billboard about his bond with McCartney, forged from their shared experience of Beatlemania and being the last surviving members of the legendary band.

“When we look at each other, we’re the only two people who experienced that on the planet. A lot of people write about our experiences but they didn’t ever get it right. I always look at Paul with a lot of love and appreciation. He’s still the finest bass player around as far as I’m concerned.”

Starr’s comments aside, we can’t imagine how anyone could call themselves a true rock fan without knowing about the band who helped start it all.

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