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TL;DR:

  • Paul McCartney compared some of The Beatles’ songs to punk songs.
  • He discussed what The Who’s Keith Moon thought about punk rock drummers.
  • Paul said he liked some punk rock songs even if he wasn’t a big fan of the genre.
Paul McCartney on a bed
Paul McCartney | Michael Ochs Archives / Stringer

Paul McCartney wasn’t the biggest fan of punk songs, saying the genre went too far. Despite this, he expressed fondness for one of the Sex Pistols’ tracks. In addition, he said punk songs were for people who liked to behave a certain way at night.

Paul McCartney discussed why punk rock songs ‘pissed off’ The Who’s Keith Moon and other musicians

In the 2015 book Conversations with McCartney, Paul discussed punk rock. Since The Beatles made songs such as “Helter Skelter,” “I’m Down,” and “I Want You (She’s So Heavy),” Paul felt punk rockers weren’t doing anything the Fab Four hadn’t done already. He compared punk rock songs to Little Richard’s style.

Paul revealed what another rocker from his generation thought about punk songs. “I know people like Keith Moon were not so much threatened, as just pissed off, that the people who were emulating his drum style were calling him a boring old fart,” he said. “All they had was youth, just the innocence of it all.”

Paul McCartney was a big fan of an early punk rock song by the Sex Pistols

Subsequently, Paul revealed what he liked about punk. “It was good, it was the broom, it needed sweeping,” he said. “It was all a bit Rod Stewart in L.A. at that time, getting decadent. But like anything it went too far. 

Paul said his favorite punk song was by the Sex Pistols. “‘Pretty Vacant’ was my favorite,” he said. “And we used to like The Damned. But it was fairly short-lived for me, all bashing and clattering, and spitting. 

“It was fine if you want to go down and speed, to an all-nighter, just jive out your skull,” he added. “But at that point I was married so I wasn’t into all-nighters any more. It was kind of threatening at first.”

Paul noted he released his old-fashioned folk song “Mull of Kintyre” around the same time punk rock broke through. He felt “Mull of Kintyre” was a major contrast to the sound of punk.

How the Sex Pistols’ ‘Pretty Vacant’ and its parent album performed on the pop charts in the United Kingdom

The Sex Pistols were very successful on the charts in the United Kingdom. According to The Official Charts Company, “Pretty Vacant” reached No. 6 in the U.K. and stayed on the chart for eight weeks.

The tune appeared on the Sex Pistols’ one studio album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols. The album topped the U.K. charts for two weeks. In total, it lasted on the chart for 48 weeks. Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols was the band’s only chart-topper, and the band’s most successful album.

Paul wasn’t the biggest fan of punk songs but he enjoyed “Pretty Vacant.”

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