3 Times Paul McCartney Insulted Other Musicians
Many artists are happy to sing Paul McCartney’s praises, but he has come across as rude and condescending to a few musicians. Some of McCartney’s comments about other musicians are delivered to them indirectly through his many interviews. On other occasions, he has made comments directly to an artist’s face. Here are three times that McCartney insulted another musician with his words.
He irritated Phil Collins with his condescension
Phil Collins met McCartney in 2002, and he immediately knew that they would not be friends. When Collins asked him to sign a book, McCartney teased him about it, which infuriated the drummer.
“I met him when I was working at the Buckingham Palace party back in 2002,” he said, per NME. “McCartney came up with Heather Mills and I had a first edition of The Beatles, by Hunter Davies, and I said, ‘Hey, Paul, do you mind signing this for me?’ And he said, ‘Oh, Heather, our little Phil’s a bit of a Beatles fan.’ And I thought, ‘You f***, you f***.’ Never forgot it.”
Collins also said that McCartney maintains an air of condescension when speaking to others.
“He has this thing when he’s talking to you, where he makes you feel [like], ‘I know this must be hard for you because I’m a Beatle,” Collins said. “‘I’m Paul McCartney and it must be very hard for you to actually be holding a conversation with me.'”
Paul McCartney insulted The Rolling Stones’ creativity
Though the alleged feud between The Beatles and The Rolling Stones has been largely overblown, they have insulted each other over the years. McCartney has insulted the band’s musicianship on more than one occasion, once saying that they simply copied everything The Beatles did.
“That is the truth,” he said, per Contact Music. “Look at the history: The Beatles go to America, a year later they come too. We wrote their first single (sic), ‘I Wanna Be Your Man.’ We go psychedelic, they go psychedelic. We dress as wizards, they dress as wizards ….”
Even as recently as 2021, McCartney has questioned their skills.
“I’m not sure I should say it, but they’re a blues cover band, that’s sort of what the Stones are,” he told The New Yorker. “I think our net was cast a bit wider than theirs.”
To be fair, though, members of both bands have been tossing insults back and forth since the 1960s.
Paul McCartney insulted George Harrison’s early songwriting
One of George Harrison’s greatest problems with being in The Beatles was McCartney’s attitude toward his songwriting. While McCartney and John Lennon wrote most of the band’s music, Harrison grew tremendously as a songwriter in his decade with the band. He penned some of their hits, but McCartney continued to overlook his contributions. He once told Harrison that he didn’t think his songwriting was very good until Abbey Road.
“I thought until this album that George’s songs weren’t that good,” he said, per The Guardian.
Harrison who, before Abbey Road, had written songs like “If I Needed Someone” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” defended himself.
“That’s a matter of taste,” he said. “All down the line, people have liked my songs.”
Because of McCartney’s attitude, Harrison said he would never work with him in a band again.
