McCartney and Starbucks: it's a done deal

Wow! Some great and serious discussion going on. I have to ask, how on earth can anyone think that people don't know at least some Wings or solo McCartney after all the constant touring this man has done for years and years? People know.

I mean get real, people know the songs Coming Up, Jet, Let Me Roll It, Live & Let Die, My Love, Hi Hi Hi, Listen To What The Man Said, Every Night, to name a few, these are songs McCartney has performed in concert all over the world! I mean it's just mind blowing how anyone could miss this!

I also don't think that most of his albums contain just one or two good songs and the rest is filler, in fact for me it's the other way around, I think most of his album contain a few not so good songs and the rest are very good McCartney style music.

Guys go to Amazon.coms music reviews for McCartney and you will see firsthand what people from all over the world think of his Wings/solo albums. I like these reviews because they are from normal everyday people and not just die hard fans. These are the opinions I take seriously, not the official critics who usually bash McCartney before they've even heard his new material.

Even here notice some of the comments about his new album just based on some statements they've read. I'll wait to hear the music, I don't care who's producing even if it's Godrich, I'm not as thrilled about him but as long as whoever produces brings out the rocking fire in McCartney, I'll be happy. I just don't want another slow introspective work, Chaos was enough of that. I do think the song Too Much Rain is one of McCartneys best though!

This new album just sounds very interesting to me, a real mix of different McCartney styles, the kind of album he excells at.

 

Depends on the people. Let's go through the list:

Unlikely. Maybe if you're old enough.

A possibility, but most likely only if you're old enough.

Album track. Nope, no way, unless you're already a Maccafan.

The most likely selection - it's a Bond theme too, making it a bit more universal.

Eh. Maybe, if you're old enough or already a Maccafan.

Maybe, if you're old enough to remember the controversy over it.

Album track. Nope, unless you're old enough or already a Maccafan.

Album track, and 30+ years ago at that. Nope, unless you're old enough or already a Maccafan.

Yes, but does it rock? See, if a song like that is an example of what "to rock" means to you, then that would have been nice to know before you started the whole argument over whether or not he rocks.

 

Listen to What the Man Said wasn't just an album track, it was a #1 hit single.

 

True, but it -- and almost ALL the songs Maccafan listed -- are obscure to anyone who isn't already a fan.

 

Sure. Just setting the record straight.

Paul's playing of these songs in concert seems to me to be fairly irrelevant to the question of how many "ordinary people" know his solo music. Obviously, if you're going to a Paul McCartney show, you have some awareness of what he has done.

 

I think I can say confidently enough that a lot of people know "Jet" today. A lot of young bar bands (and famous groups for that matter) cover this song, too. Plus, it still gets regular airplay on rock radio...

If I were to choose the solo Macca songs that would appear to be fairly universal today outside the boomers and Beatles/Macca fans, they would be:

Band on the Run
Jet
Maybe I'm Amazed
Live and Let Die
Ebony and Ivory

and that's it...

 

Sadly, I think the younger people (under 20) may know he did some songs with Michael Jackson. "Ebony And Ivory" seems to be known, but not mostly for it's musical merit. I think music fans (meaning people who really like music) of the 60s and 70s will know more of his stuff. If music isn't particularly important, the average under 20 person may know only a couple Beatles songs.

Here are two examples:

1) In 1999, I knew a 23 year old who heard of "Paul McCartney". She heard those two names strung together. She didn't associate any songs with him though. When I mentioned "The Girl Is Mine", she remembered. When I mentioned "Band On The Run", nothing. When I mentioned "Live And Let Die", she thought she may have heard it but wasn't sure.

2) My parents were in their 30s during the 1970s. They were familiar with what was on the radio, but not particularly interested one way or the other. My dad thinks "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" and "Maybe I'm Amazed" are Beatles songs. He knows the BIG hits, but nothing that didn't totally saturate radio. He doesn't know lesser hits like "Hi Hi Hi" or "Helen Wheels". He knows "Coming Up" because the video was played on Saturday Night Live and since it was Paul playing all the parts it was memorable. My mom knows far less than even that. They knew about some 80s stuff only because of me. Actually, they knew about a lot of 70s stuff because of me. My dad loves "Goodnight Tonight" and "Temporary Secretary" for instance. My parents don't know anything about McCartney after 1989, the year I went to college and they no longer were exposed to my music interests every day.

One of my dad's friends bought Tug Of War when it came out. It was the first McCartney album he bought since Band On The Run, and he bought it because the reviews were uniformly excellent.

That is what casual music fans are like from what I can tell. I doubt there are any at SH.

 

People I talk to today, at work or wherever, can be very unfamiliar with naming specific Beatles albums or songs, but they always know who The Beatles are, of course. But there also seems to be a relative lack of interest towards the band in a lot of circles. When it comes to specific solo McCartney, forget it.

To the general public who are not fans, The Beatles are slowly but surely fading in some regards. I know that sounds sacreligious to say, and I once thought it was not possible, but the further we go along, the more applicable it seems to be.

For instance, I hear young people say, and it is 50/50 it seems, "The Beatles were awesome" or "The Beatles...why does everyone think they were THAT great?"

"Wings who?"

 

Then I suppose that all #1 hit singles of the 70s are fading into obscurity. My local oldies radio station claims that it plays oldies from 1965 - 1995, but the reality is that 95% of them are from 1975 - 1995, with an emphasis on the mid-80s. That's only natural, as the nostalgia cycle is always roughly twenty years behind the present. When I was a kid in the 70s, the 50s were big, with Happy Days and American Grafitti and all that, and you still heard a lot of 50s tunes on oldies radio. Now the absolute earliest tracks that I hear on oldies radio are stuff like "You Really Got Me" and "Satisfaction," and even those are fading. As the 80s nostalgia craze expires over the next few years and we move towards the ineveitable grunge revival, I suspect that only the very biggest artists from the late 60s/early-to-mid-70s will maintain a presence in the public consciousness. I've said it before, but the Beatles pre-Pepper material is slowly fading out of the public's consciousness, and in the next decade, their generally-known post-Pepper material will likely be whittled down to "Hey Jude," "Let It Be," and perhaps the two George songs from Abbey Road.

 

The constant fading of old songs shows how "temporary" we and everything around us is.

The 1920's (now that I finally understand that time period) was as freewheeling as the 1960's imo. As decadent, socially-forward thinking and crazy as many remember the 60's to be.

One of the characteristics of that time was the social atmosphere...music..clubs..dancing etc. My grandmother constantly sang songs that she remembered from that era. My guess is that the music of that time...for the kids of that time...was pretty important to the kids' social world.

What do any of us know now or have an appreciation for about the music or musicians of that era?...when music was an equally big part of the era? Not much. It's all gone, just like the people from that time.

It's all about the moment. Anything outside the moment is doomed to fade away.

 

I could go to my work, with 120 people there, and I would say there might be 1 .....MAYBE 2 people that know those songs.

Dude, the guy is almost 65. That fire went out a long time ago!

 

I'm not quite sure why this thread has drifted into the transiency of fame in pop culture, but that's a nice post. The '20's was indeed one doozy of an era. By the way, it was gone for over 40 years by the time I was born, yet I happen to know about and have an appreciation for the music and musicians of that era. Not a week goes by that it's not alive in my place. It's not all gone. But in time fame fades... Putting Paul McCartney into a wider perspective does set off how extraordinary his success and popularity has been and is at this time, whether or not Wings or Beatles are still a mania in as many households as they were when new. He's been and is astoundingly famous.

Sounds likely to me. But then how many of those 120 would be fans of the same artist no matter who it was? Maybe I'm easily impressed, but I still find it impressive that in today's world you can go into just about any place across a continent and out of 100 people there, it's actually possible that one is going to know anything at all about the same Paul McCartney.

I'm not nearing 65 but I have to suggest that he didn't cease being who he was when he hit a given age. Granted there's doubtless been a lot of change, and he may not feel the need to go there, but it doesn't seem impossible that now and then he can feel those feelings. If he does great, if not great, I'm sure he'll come up with some good music.

 

I think I made my own point. >_o

 

Maccafan is keeping the flame alive for him!

 

Very good points. Thinking back, my dad really enjoyed big band music - Benny Goodman, etc. My mother enjoyed Frank Sinatra - when he was a youngin - and Nat King Cole to name a couple. When was the last time you heard this music on an oldies station?

When I was growing up in the late 60s early 70s, I couldn't understand who listened to oldies stations playing 50s music. It just never clicked for me. As someone mentioned, soon we'll be hearing grunge music on the classic rock stations or oldies stations. Not being a fan of grunge, I can't say I'm looking forward to that. I guess I'll stick to my vinyl and CDs of music from the 60s and 70s.

 

More information on the McCartney medley on his new disc.......which sounds very interesting.

Paul McCartney's upcoming album will feature a "15-minute Abbey Road-style musical suite," according to Rolling Stone. The new album, which is McCartney's first for the Starbucks/Concord Music Group's offshoot label Hear Music, is due out in June. Glen Barros, the CEO of Concord Music Group, said that, "You can hear real elements of the Wings and Beatles eras (in the new album)."

The album, which includes tracks featuring McCartney's touring band as well as completely solo performances, was described as a "collage-style disc."

McCartney is known for his use of "the pop suite," which he first used on the Beatles' Abbey Road album. On the album's second side, McCartney and John Lennon combined a dozen separate musical ideas, from mainly unfinished songs, into one coherent medley.

Over the years, McCartney has used the technique several times, on such songs as "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey," "Band On The Run," "Picasso's Last Words," and "Venus And Mars/Rock Show," and on his 1973 album Red Rose Speedway.

McCartney is expected to hit the road in support of the new album sometime in the fall.

 

WVSG AM radio on 790 in Mt. Jackson, VA broadcasts what they call "nostalgia radio" to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. They play almost nothing but this kind of music. Music from the 40s through 60s, including some big band, but all manner of music with a pre-rock 'n' roll aesthetic. Show tunes, old style CW, pop, easy listening and Jazz. Lots of classic old male and female vocal records. It's a very nice station which I listen to every summer when my daughter is at a horse-riding camp in the western part of the state. They've won some broadcasting awards for outstanding quality. I hope they get around to streaming on the net. It's great, like taking a time machine into the past! They also have programs with local news and advertising, and other items of interest to nearby residents, just like regional or local radio from the good old days before corporate consolidation of most broadcast communication.

 

The local Wendy's plays a nice selection of McCartney for some reason. I've heard "My Brave Face", "Listen To What The Man Said", "Fine Line", "The World Tonight", and "Put It There" in the past month. Maybe the kids know those ones.

 

I heard "My Brave Face" in the Piggly Wiggly grocery store in Water Valley, Mississippi last week.

 

I can't tell you how many times a store's Muzak has sent me back to my home collection to dig out a track I haven't heard for years. The earlier post that mentioned "Put it There" reminds me how much I've always loved that song.

 

Very non-scientific, but here's my analysis based on 15 people in my office. Question posed. Name ONE solo hit by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. I didn't prompt or correct responses, every solo member had a Beatles track selected, although technically Yesterday is Paul solo. It is what it is. Ron

John Lennon
Imagine 12 of the 15
Give Peace A Chance 1 of 15
Instant Karma (We All Shine On) 1 of 15
Come Together 1 of 15

Paul McCartney
Yesterday 11 of 15
Band On The Run 2 of 15
Live and Let Die 1 of 15
With A Little Luck 1 of 15

George Harrison
My Sweet Lord 10 of 15
Give Me Love 2 of 15
Something 1 of 15
Dream Away 1 of 15
While My Guitar Gently Weeps 1 of 15

Ringo Starr
Yellow Submarine 9 of 15
It Don't Come Easy 3 of 15
You're Sixteen 1 of 15
No response 2 of 15

I also asked them to name their favorite Beatles Album....

White Album 7 of 15
Abbey Road 4 of 15
Love 2 of 15
Revolver 1 of 15
Sgt. Pepper 1 of 15

 

I heard Goodnight Tonight over the gas station PA this morning. Extended version, too.

 

What this proves, Ron, is that eventually each Beatle will be remembered only for their one most popular song/vocal performance - group or solo, it doesn't matter. This is already pretty close to being the case with the general public. But the average person, as opposed to the music lover, views music almost purely functionally, and would have trouble remembering any artist's name or associating that name with a song, especially as time moves on. Sad but true. In some ways, it's a more particular example of the general and nearly complete lack of historical knowledge on the part of Americans, IMO. It's just music history in this instance.

 

How old are they?

Who knew that "Something" and "Dream Away" were equally popular Harrison tunes?

 

The question for this sample is, who knew Something was a George Harrison tune? I doubt many people realize that. Even Frank Sinatra didn't, and as a singer he would have been on the lookout for material.