Paul McCartney's Eighties

Any artist with a long career sometimes has a lesser succesfull period. Paul McCartney is no exception. The eighties are generally seen as its weakest decade. But that does not mean he didn't write any great songs in these years. On the contrary. 


To be fan of the Beatles and McCartney in the eighties, is quite different than being fan of them in the sixties. Are you one of many as a youngster in the sixties, as a high school student twenty years later, I’m like the only one in class. Acts like The Police, U2, Prince and Michael Jackson, just to name a few, set the tone in my circle of friends. Of course my generation is familiar with Paul McCartney, as a member of The Beatles, and there is also respect for his legacy. But his solo work from that time, it can’t excite my classmates too much.



Video: Coming Up

For Macca personally the eighties start disastrous: First his arrest for drug possession in Japan in January 1980, making him ten days in jail, which lead to the cancellation of the scheduled Wings tour. And later that year, the murder of John Lennon. It all contributes to the disintegration of Wings and a temporary stop on touring.
Musically he’s doing better. In spring 1980, McCartney II is released; by some abhors, but loved by many others, just because of the experimental nature of the album. And in 1982, McCartney booked a huge success with Tug of War, the album is considered to be his best work since Band on the Run. There seems nothing to worry about, there are successes in the commercial field.

Video: Ebony & Ivory

But when it comes to his image, the shoe starts to pinch. In the years after Lennon's death, the already existing image of McCartney as the 'soft’ Beatle becomes  increasingly dominant. Lennon is presented as the mastermind of the band, the genius, the leader, the innovator. McCartney is the man who only made sweet songs like Yesterday, For No One and Let It Be. And it is an image that once more is reinforced to my generation by McCartney himself. Just look at his greatest hits in the first half of the decade my contemporaries are acquainted with, often for the first time: Coming Up, Ebony & Ivory, Pipes of Peace, We All Stand Together, No More Lonely Nights. Also Mull of Kintyre they all know. These are all beautiful songs, good craftsmanship, but they are far from something like U2's Pride (In The Name Of Love) or Michael Jackson's Billy Jean or Purple Rain  by Prince. 

Video: Pipes of Peace

It's all calmed down. The 60's were dominated by Beatles Mania and in the seventies McCartney had a struggle to prove himself as a solo artist. After he succeeded, the immediate need to live the turbulent life of a rock star for a full hundred percent seems to be disappeared. Moreover, there are his kids who are growing up and have to go to school and Linda isn’t keen on touring again. In short, it looks like Macca is settling down and is focussing more on his family life. That tranquility seems to be reflected in his music; it smooths down a bit.



And then artistically, it’s getting less successful. The albums Pipes of Peace (1983) and Give My Regards To Broad Street (1984) are still selling well, but the reviews are significantly less. And the feature film Give My Regards To Broad Street is an utter flop. There are also two major hits with Michael Jackson. But The Girl is Mine and Say Say Say are not among the most appealing tracks of both McCartney and Jackson.
Press to Play (1986) did get some fair reviews but was commercially unsuccessful. And the recording sessions of it’s intended successor, Return to Pepperland, even get aborted. Instead, in 1987 the compilation album All the Best! is released.

Video: Only Love Remains

McCartney seems to realize that something needs to be done if he wants to remain relevant. He starts working on a comeback, for example by entering into a partnership with Elvis Costello. The result is partly reflected on the highly acclaimed album Flowers in the Dirt, such as the hit single My Brave Face. Macca is back in 1989, and that’s not all, he puts a band together and is going on a world tour again. The biggest in his career so far. But at that time the nineties almost have started.

Video: My Brave Face

The eighties haven't been such a bad time after all. Artistically it brought us McCartney II and Tug of War. And singles like No More Lonely Nights and Once Upon A Long Ago, which in my opinion can be counted among his best from his solo and Wings work. But it's the last decade in which he plays a significant role in the charts. These became definitively the site of a new generation of musicians, an inescapable development that has already been deployed in the beginning of the eighties. My peers belong to the first generation to whom McCartney doesn’t appeal to their imagination widely. Such a pity, because they don’t realize what they are missing.

Related:

McCartney's Eighties Singles Top 10

Today in...1984: Give My Regards To Broad Street

Today in...1988: Choba B CCCP

André Homan

André Homan is a Dutch writer and journalist.

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