Former Beatle Paul McCartney revealed that he is a fan of punk music – in particular The Sex Pistols and their snarling 1976 yob anthem, ‘Pretty Vacant’. The multi-millionaire also confessed that he was briefly worried about the credit crunch – even though he is one of the world’s richest musicians.
When asked what he thought of punk when if first emerged in 1977 he replied: "At first it was shocking, because until then you’d known the status quo. It hoped to be shocking and in some ways it was. But the thing was thtat the music was great and suddenly realised, after a day or two of horror – [ADOPTS POSH VOICE] ‘My God! What’s going on! What’s happening to our England?!’ – that these guys were just shaking it up and it needed shaking up."
He added that his eldest daughter Heather was a big fan of the music saying: "My daughter was really into punk at the time. She went to Clash concerts and Damned concerts, Billy Idol and shit . . . she went to the whole thing. You couldn’t deny that it sounded fresh, but I was coached by my eldest daughter. I understood that it needed to happen and it was a great thing and something like ‘Pretty Vacant’ as a record, is really good. It was produced by Chris Thomas, who we knew – he was George Martin’s assistant and had worked on some Beatles stuff.
"The sound of ‘Pretty Vacant’ is really good and, of course, the energy of the band is sensational. It’s not to be denied."
Fab Macca also added that he had worried – albeit briefly – about the credit crunch, saying: "For my own thing, I actually did phone my guy up and say, ‘How exposed are we?’ He said, ‘You’re as exposed as everyone. If the banks all go broke . . .’ But, generally speaking as far as the way we do business, there’s not a huge speculative exposure."
He added that he wasn’t worried now though and said he was "unhappy" for other people, blaming the situation on the "irresponsibility" of yuppie debt culture.
McCartney was speaking on the eve of the release of his new album under the guise of Fireman. It is perhaps one of the more unlikely pairings in dance music. The former Beatle and Wings frontman has teamed up with Killing Joke and Verve and Gn’R producer Youth to make their third album together Electric Arguments.
Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising however, both made their names as bass players and both are perhaps not as renowned for their experimental work as they should be. Macca, often seen as the ‘cute’ one from The Beatles, was actually responsible for some of their wildest tracks, such as the proto-heavy metal ‘Helter Skelter’ and the proto-electroclash ‘Temporary Secretary’. Youth may be a production go to guy for stadium rock/pop bands, but he is also an electronic/house musician of no little talent, most notably with The Orb, Client and Blue Pearl.
Speaking about the making of the album he said the pair had adopted a Beat poet, ‘first thought, best thought’ aesthetic: "The whole album was very ‘first thought, best thought’, and that’s a little risky, but it’s just the way we work.
"That’s the great thing about it and you’ve got to remember, it’s Fireman. Anything goes and it sort of doesn’t matter. I mean, obviously when we think we’ve made a really cool record then it starts to matter, which is a bit of a problem."
For the full interview with Paul McCartney pick up a free copy of Stool Pigeon. The current issue also features interviews with the likes of Slayer, Grace Jones, Tony Christie, Dead Kids, Of Montreal, RTX, Q-Tip, Brightblack Morning Light, along with the best opinion, reviews and commentary on inky printed paper. To find a list of stockists, visit the Stool Pigeon website.
