Paul McCartney met Queen Elizabeth II multiple times before her death at 96 years old last week, including in 1997 when he was knighted for his services to music. “It was one of the best days ever,” the Beatles legend wrote on Facebook as a tribute to the British monarch. “I felt very honored to be offered a Knighthood and of course, it would have been rude to turn it down!” Unlike the time when the corgi-loving queen turned down Macca because she needed to know what happened to Laura Palmer.
“Back when Twin Peaks was kicking off around the world, I flew by Concorde to London, to work with Paul McCartney at Abbey Road. He said, ‘Let me tell you a story’. Not long before we met, he’d been asked to perform for the Queen for her birthday celebrations. And when he met her, he started to say, ‘I’m honored to be here tonight your Majesty, and I’m going to play some music for you.’ And the Queen says, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t stay, it’s five to eight and I have to go and watch Twin Peaks!’”
Getting out of a work obligation to stay home and watch TV? The queen was never more relatable.
The Creative Arts Emmy Awards were handed out this weekend and it was a big moment for some notable folks in the music industry: Adele, Eminem, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr all won awards, which puts them each just a Tony Award victory away from attaining the coveted EGOT status — meaning they’ve won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar (Academy Award), and Tony.
The Adele: One Night Only concert special won a total of five awards, as did the The Beatles: Get Back documentary, getting Adele, McCartney, and Starr their first Emmys. This year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show also got three awards, giving Eminem his first Emmy.
Those four artists now join a list of musicians who are just one win away from the EGOT, as they all already had Grammy and Oscar wins under their belts. Aside from the aforementioned, performers just missing a Tony include Cher, Common, producer/composer Ludwig Göransson, Randy Newman, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Barbra Streisand, and composer John Williams. Meanwhile, Oscar Hammerstein II, Elton John, and Stephen Sondheim are an Emmy shy of their EGOT. As for artists who are an Oscar shy, that list includes Quincy Jones, Cyndi Lauper, Bette Midler, and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
The short list of those who have gotten their EGOT already includes Richard Rodgers (who secured his in 1962), Helen Hayes (1977), Rita Moreno (1977), John Gielgud (1991), Audrey Hepburn (1994), Marvin Hamlisch (1995), Jonathan Tunick (1997), Mel Brooks (2001), Mike Nichols (2001), Whoopi Goldberg (2002), Scott Rudin (2012), Robert Lopez (2014), Andrew Lloyd Webber (2018), Tim Rice (2018), John Legend (2018), Alan Menken (2020), and Jennifer Hudson (2022).
Find the full list of people (musician or otherwise) who are one win away from an EGOT below.
When it comes to Europe’s summer festivals, Glastonbury is the grandaddy of them all. Think Coachella, but bigger and across five days. Now Glastonbury has finally announced the long-awaited lineup for the June 22nd to 26th affair, and the festival also cemented the headlining slate with Kendrick Lamar and Paul McCartney.
McCartney and Lamar will be playing the grandiose Pyramid Stage, along with a previously announced performance from Billie Eilish. We’ll go ahead and take the Pepsi challenge on these headliners, because can this really be topped? Taking place at Worthy Farm in Pilson, Somerset, England for the first time since 2019, the camping festival had already been sold out before the lineup was ever announced. It’s a testament to the cultural significance of this massive gathering and the lineup is positively bonkers.
Here is the first Glastonbury Festival 2022 line-up poster, which includes our final two Pyramid Stage headliners: @PaulMcCartney (Saturday) and @kendricklamar (Sunday). Many more acts and attractions still to be announced. pic.twitter.com/Tgo4HYMb6l
Also on the bill are legendary diva Diana Ross; pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo; Mercury Prize winner Arlo Parks; jazz fusion legend Herbie Hancock; Oasis leader Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds; a TLC reunion; indie-pop queens Mitski, Phoebe Bridgers, and St. Vincent; Little Simz headlining the smaller West Holts Stage; and a whole lot more. Glastonbury says that there’s still more artists to be announced, including more headlining and emerging acts.
Check out the full lineup poster above and visit the Glastonbury website for complete details on the fest, lineup, and a final ticket pre-sale opportunity.
While The Beatles are widely considered to be the best and/or most important band of the ’60s, there are plenty of folks out there who would instead pledge their allegiance to The Beach Boys. Well, it was argued on Twitter that the former is a better group than the latter, which has prompted both bands to trend due to the discussion surrounding that claim.
Last night, journalist Emily Brooks tweeted, “My husband is out with a hot take: The Beach Boys are better than The Beatles. Immediately upon hearing this I was shook. He told me, ‘Put it out in the Twitterverse, I bet I get love.’”
That got a reply from beloved The Roots drummer Questlove, who wrote, “Welp: if it weren’t for Pet Sounds we woulda never had Sgt Peppers [shrugging emoji].” Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon responded to that tweet with an emoji of a hand pointing to the left, indicating support for Questlove’s view.
My husband is out with a hot take: The Beach Boys are better than The Beatles. Immediately upon hearing this I was shook. He told me, “Put it out in the Twitterverse, I bet I get love.”
Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson has addressed that Pet Sounds/Sgt. Pepper’s point before. In a recent interview, for example, he was asked what his favorite album is, and he said, “I’d have to say Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Obviously, I love The Beatles and we have always had a mutual love and respect for each other. They say that it was birthed from hearing Pet Sounds… I don’t know… but I just love that album.”
Meanwhile, while it would be fair for Paul McCartney to choose The Beatles in this debate, he has nothing but love for the Beach Boys. In fact, in a 2007 interview, McCartney said of a Pet Sounds highlight, “‘God Only Knows’ is one of the few songs that reduces me to tears every time I hear it. It’s really just a love song, but it’s brilliantly done. It shows the genius of Brian. I’ve actually performed it with him and I’m afraid to say that during the sound check, I broke down. It was just too much to stand there singing this song that does my head in, and to stand there singing it with Brian.”
On a related note, in an interview with Uproxx earlier this month, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia‘s Glenn Howerton said, “I don’t like the f*cking Beatles, man. […] I got a bit of a chip on my shoulder about The Beatles because I feel like they made a lot of really cool music, and they were obviously incredibly innovative and all that. But I think there were a lot of bands that were around that same time that just don’t get enough play. And I’m just f*cking sick of hearing about The Beatles. Like, Jesus Christ, just shut the f*ck up.”
Check out some more Beatles vs. Beach Boys tweets below.
On what metric? Brian Wilson was a genius, but on every conceivable metric, The Beatles are far superior. – No 1 Albums – No 1 Singles – Influence. – Cover versions of their songs – Range of music types. – Longevity – Awards – etc etc etc.
The Beatles are better but mentioning the Beach Boys with them in the same conversation isn’t disrespectful in any way. Both bands thought highly of each other.
More than 50 years ago, The Beatles, came to an end after Paul McCartney announced that he would be walking away from the group. The band attempted to reunite on several occasions but it never happened, and in 1980 John Lennon was tragically assassinated. While it’s been noted that Lennon privately expressed a desire to walk away from the band before McCartney’s announcement, McCartney has long been blamed for the band’s breakup. During an upcoming interview on BBC Radio 4, McCartney pointed the finger elsewhere.
“I didn’t instigate the split. That was our Johnny,” McCartney said, according to The Guardian. “I am not the person who instigated the split. Oh no, no, no. John walked into a room one day and said I am leaving the Beatles. Is that instigating the split, or not?” He added that Lennon described his departure from The Beatles as “quite thrilling” and “rather like a divorce,” despite the fact that the other group members were “left to pick up the pieces.”
McCartney notes that confusion about who instigated the band’s dissolution was caused by the group’s new manager at the time, Allen Klein, who sought to wrap up some business deals before announcing the split. “So for a few months we had to pretend,” McCartney said. “It was weird because we all knew it was the end of the Beatles but we couldn’t just walk away.” McCartney admits he became “fed up of hiding it” and it led to his decision to publicly announce the split and “let the cat out of the bag.”
“I had to fight and the only way I could fight was in suing the other Beatles, because they were going with Klein. And they thanked me for it years later,” he said about the legal drama that ensued after the group’s split. “But I didn’t instigate the split. That was our Johnny coming in one day and saying ‘I’m leaving the group.’”
McCartney’s full interview on BBC Radio 4 will air on October 23
It appeared yesterday that a cryptic video Paul McCartney shared was teasing upcoming collaborations with Anderson .Paak, Phoebe Bridgers, Idris Elba, EOB (Ed O’Brien), Dominic Fike, St. Vincent, Damon Albarn, Beck, Khruangbin, Josh Homme, 3D RDN (of Massive Attack), and Blood Orange. Today, he has confirmed that to be the case: He is releasing a reworked version of his 2020 album, McCartney III, titled McCartney III Imagined, which features contributions from the aforementioned artists.
Tracks from the original album have been covered and/or otherwise reimagined by the guest artists and McCartney kicked things off today by sharing Fike’s rendition of “The Kiss Of Venus,” which he transformed from an acoustic ballad to an R&B jam.
During a Reddit AMA from December, McCartney cited Fike and other artists involved in McCartney III Imagined as modern performers he listens to, writing, “I’m lucky, I have a friend who sends me new music which helps me keep in touch with the modern scene. So I listen to people like Dominic Fike, Beck, St Vincent and Khruangbin. I also listen to a lot of classic oldies coming through, from rock n’ roll to 60’s to soul to R’n’B, with a sprinkling of classical music now and then.”
Listen to Fike’s “The Kiss Of Venus” cover above and check out the McCartney III Imagined art and tracklist below.
Capitol Records
1. “Find My Way (feat. Beck)”
2. “The Kiss Of Venus (Dominic Fike)”
3. “Pretty Boys (feat. Khruangbin)”
4. “Women And Wives (St. Vincent Remix)”
5. “Deep Down (Blood Orange Remix)”
6. “Seize The Day (feat. Phoebe Bridgers)”
7. “Slidin’ (EOB Remix)”
8. “Long Tailed Winter Bird (Damon Albarn Remix)”
9. “Lavatory Lil (Josh Homme)”
10. “When Winter Comes (Anderson .Paak Remix)”
11. “Deep Deep Feeling (3D RDN Remix)”
12. “Long Tailed Winter Bird (Idris Elba Remix)”*
* physical release exclusive track
McCartney III Imagined is out 4/16 via Capitol Records. Pre-order it here.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
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