Why Paul McCartney Said Leading Wings Was the ‘Biggest Headache’
Paul McCartney was an essential member of The Beatles, but all four members were crucial to the band’s success. When McCartney formed Wings, he was the frontman for the band, giving him a more leading role than he had with The Beatles. While Wings was a successful band, Paul McCartney said leading the band was the “biggest headache.”
Paul McCartney and Wings had a successful run during the 1970s
Following his first two solo albums, McCartney and Ram, McCartney decided to form a new band. In 1971, Paul McCartney, guitarist Denny Laine, drummer Denny Seiwell, and Linda McCartney came together to form Wings. The band members would change throughout its 10-year run, but they still had several successful albums and songs during that time.
Several of their hit songs include “Silly Love Songs,” “Jet,” “Band on the Run,” and “Let ‘Em in.” Many of their albums dominated the charts in the U.K. and the U.S., including Venus and Mars, Band on the Run, and Wings Over America.
McCartney said leading Wings was the ‘biggest headache’
In a 1994 interview with writer Tony Bacon (shared via guitarworld.com), Paul McCartney discussed several of the differences between Wings and The Beatles. One of the main differences was the level of responsibility he had. He said he had less time to focus on his music with Wings because they didn’t have a manager. So, he had to do everything, including songwriting. He found the experience to be the “biggest headache.”
“I think it was okay, but I think I never quite had the interest that I had during that sort of dream period around Sgt. Pepper and Rubber Soul, when I was doing something… See, with Wings, I was now the band leader, the business manager, the this, the that. We didn’t have Apple, we didn’t have Epstein, we didn’t have anything. It was me doing it all. That was the biggest headache – that’s difficult.”
“In The Beatles, I’d been free of all of that. We had a manager, we had three other great guys… I think there was like a prize period when I was playing my best bass, and I think after that I had so much to do that I wasn’t free to just do the bass. I could concentrate everything on writing the song, singing harmony with John, or playing the bass, pretty much my role, or maybe playing a bit of piano or guitar or something.”
McCartney believes the band was underrated
Wings was often compared to The Beatles, mainly because it was the second venture for Paul McCartney. Due to these comparisons, the “Yesterday” singer said the band often faced harsher criticism, including from himself. When he looks back on it, he believes that Wings was underrated and better than he remembered.
“The Beatles was the best band in the world. It’s difficult to follow that,” McCartney explained. “It’s like following God. Very difficult unless you’re Buddha. Anything Wings did had to be viewed in the light of The Beatles. And the comparisons were always very harsh. Denny Laine wasn’t John Lennon. Henry McCullough wasn’t George Harrison. That was inevitable. The interesting thing is that looking back on some of the work, some of the stuff, it’s better than you think it was, but because it got such harsh criticism… from me.”
