Paul And Ringo, The Uncool Beatles

While enjoying the ultra-fun grow-a-brain blog, I happened upon this interesting Ask MetaFilter query:
Why do people dislike Paul McCartney so much?

A few of the answers:


"Wings."

"McCarney(sic) was the Beatle your grandma liked."

"He's a smug, self-centred(sic), arrogant individual..."

"I love them both. McCartney is a more sophisticated musician but a cheesier individual. Lennon's life and personality means something to people independent of his music; the same can't really be said of McCartney."

"...Lennon never got a chance to produce bad singles, where McCartney has had the last thirty-some-odd years."
A later response to this answer: "What about (Lennon's) work with Yoko Ono?"
And still later: "BUT how is it that Paul is a dick/wimp/loser for letting Linda play tambourine in WINGS, but John is cool by letting that horrid Ono warble on every other track on Double Fantasy, leaving us with essentially an EP, not a final album."

"Very, very easy: because John died. If Paul had been killed and John were still alive, I GUARANTEE you that everyone would be mourning Paul like some sort of God. Do you think Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, et al would be idolized in the same way if they had lived?"

"...he isn't even the real Paul."

"What also bugs me about Paul is that he doesn't seem satisfied with his amazing legacy and still has to try to convince everyone of how great he was."



My own distaste for Paul grew only in the past decade or so. Not only because his music quality has been as if he's just phoning it in, but from seeing him on a few award shows where his "smug, self-centered, arrogant" behavior instantly made me scowl.

The final straw was his appearance during the Concert for George where his smart-ass attitude just seemed to kill the reverence everyone else had built up. I say the same thing about Ringo in that concert, too. Maybe it's just me, but the way he swaggered out on stage seemed to say, "Look at me, I'm a Beatle! I'll just say some superficial shit and blow off a few songs. Hey, you're welcome."

I've been a Beatles fan all my life and have never gotten into the Paul vs John stuff. I think in the past decade or so I've actually jumped beyond that and have learned to appreciate George as the best of the lot.

It's always the quiet one.








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