Paul McCartney was born in Liverpool, England in 1942 and less than two decades later helped to create The Beatles, which would become the most successful and influential band of all time. They not only changed Rock and Roll music, but popular culture and were a big influence to many other music genres.
He had the chance to see the evolution of music up-close and unlike many of his peers, he was always excited to see new Rock and Roll sub-genres appear. One of them was Punk Rock, which really changed the music landscape from the mid to the late 70s. He even revealed once which was one Punk song that he really liked.
The Punk Rock song that Paul McCartney likes
Although the Punk Rock format might have been presented by the American band Ramones with the release of their self-titled debut album in 1976, there are many people who believe that the “real Punk Rock” appeared with the release of the Sex Pistols album “Never Mind The Bollocks” in 1977.
Paul McCartney paid close attention to that movement back then and as he said in an interview with The Quietus back in 2008, he really liked the song “Pretty Vacant”, from the Pistols album.
“At first it was shocking (to hear Punk), because until then you’d known the status quo. It hoped to be shocking and in some ways it was. But the thing was that the music was great and suddenly realized, after a day or two of horror – (Adotps 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 continued:
“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. 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,” Paul McCartney said.
Formed in London, England, in 1975, the Sex Pistols were originally active from 1975 to 1978 and released only one studio album. They reunited multiple times in the 90s and 00s but never recorded in the studio again.
McCartney tried to meet John Lydon once but the singer ignored him
He tried to meet Sex Pistols’ John Lydon once and the singer ignored him because he was too shy. Lydon recalled that funny story in an interview with Piers Morgan in 2015 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).
Lydon was in a cab with his wife and suddenly Paul and Linda McCartney spotted him across the street and started to bang on the cab window but the musician locked the door and told the driver to continue to drive.
“Oh that was terrible. I was with my wife Nora and we were going to visit my brother in Tottenham. We had to go through past Harrods and two people come running across the street and it’s Paul and Linda McCartney.”
“They’re banging on the cab window, I put the lock down and turned my head around. I could not cope with it, it was too much. This is, you know, a famous person. I couldn’t handle it, my shyness took over. Nora was saying ‘Why don’t you let them in?’ You know when things take you sometimes by surprise ‘Bang! It’s Paul and Linda (in your face)’, John Lydon said.
But they finally had the chance to meet each other later and Lydon said that the Beatle is a lovely person, although he doesn’t like The Beatles music.