What is Paul McCartney's greatest achievement?

James

 

Oh! sit down.

 

Is this true?
Based on either USA or UK singles:

Examples:
SOLO: Pipes Of Peace (UK)
DUO: Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey (USA) --- Paul & Linda McCartney
TRIO: Band On The Run (USA) --- Wings was a trio at this time
QUARTET: Can't Buy Me Love (USA/UK) -- or any of the 2 dozen or so #1 hits by The Beatles
QUINTET: Silly Love Songs (USA) --- Wings was a 5-piece band at this time

BUT
SEXTET: ???????????????????????

When did Paul have a #1 single credited as part of a Sextet?

 

Being a Beatle


I havent read through the thread, but surely someone wrote that.

 

What still amazes is the guy is still composing and recording at almost 80 after having been a member of the ultimate pop band and the co-composer of the greatest pop albums of all-time.
What i think of the quality of the music composed since he left the Beatles is secondary...
The guy has passion indeed.

 

From

Paul McCartney awarded “most successful songwriter of all time” by Guinness World Records

Most Successful Composer of All Time.

Holder of Record Number of Gold Discs.

World’s Most Successful Recording Artist.

That’s Paul. And it was official when Norris McWhirter, Editor of the famed Guinness Book of Records presented Paul with the world’s first Rhodium disc and along with it the title of “Most Honoured Man in Music.”

 

His best song / performance / and especially production (IMO) -- with quite a bit of notable input from George Martin, especially on the latter aspect --

Live and Let Die

 

His greatest achievement was creating this website (and assuming the pseudonym "Steve Hoffman" for it -- "Billy Shears" was already taken) so that his fanboys can fawn all over him and wax poetic about his perfectness and greatness.

 

I’m not exactly a Paul fan and I love giving him crap about his cheesiness

BUT

He wrote some of the greatest songs of all time

 

Here There and Everywhere

 

Thread winner.

 

The time Paul McCartney became the first man on Mars.

(Epochal achievement at the 30-second mark.)

 

(The Beatles, obviously, but)

Staying creative, staying prolific. 50+ years later, fast approaching 80, he can still make a better-than-not-half-bad album. Respect.

 

Maintaining a seemingly unusual amount of normalcy.

 

Burning that condom

100 years from now he'll be known as the guy who wrote and sang "Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time"

 

Uncle Albert

 

There's absolutely nothing secondary about many of the fantastic songs McCartney has written since the Beatles! In fact many of them are as good and better than some Beatle songs, IMHO!

Guinness book of world records are not fanboys
Billboard are not fanboys
Factslides.com are not fanboys
Rollingstone are not fanboys
Mojo magazine are not fanboys
Rockline radio are not fanboys
They all have documented and so-called fawned over and waxed poetic about the absolutely amazing achievements of Paul McCartney!

 

I never wrote his solo songs were secondary, i wrote that what i thought of his solo songs was.

 

Convincing the world he is some sort of genius.

When his "Classic" output was of the "British absurdist." type....a style aimed at trying to make people think you are more clever than you are.

People don't play McCartney at parties or clubs.

People don't put his stuff on mix tapes.

I guess his greatest accomplishment was being hired by the Tavistok institute to fool most people reading this.

 

It is UK:

Pipes
Ebony and Ivory
Mull of Kintyre
Beatles (17 of them)
Ferry Across the Mersey (charity single with 4 other acts)

Sextet could be Let it Be another charity single (actually about 20 people)

 

Writing and producing a whole album at near 80 is incredible. As is playing all instruments on any release ever. But my answer is writing “she’s leaving home” in his mid 20s

 

Thanks. But I still am curious about the Sextet. That Let It Be charity single for Ferry Aid was indeed about 20 people.

 

Yeah not sure, maybe Ferry can be classified somehow as 6, quintet being The Beatles and Billy Preston

 

The word genius is so watered down in music circles that it no longer has any meaning. There are probably a hundred musicians who have been labelled a genius the last month alone on the SHforums.

If people don't want to consider McCartney a genius then that is fair enough, he'll just have to settle for the most successful songwriter of the last century. Only one of those.

Actually false about parties, probably true about clubs, at least modern day ones.

Very false. Paul McCartney, All The Rest – A Mixtape by Simon Love

That was the first thing that came up when I googled artist made McCartney mixtape

 

Others have said it, but his greatest achievement is obviously the songs. Many of them will be sung - or at least hummed - for the rest of human history. I agree with Mark Lewishon when he says the Beatles are the 20th Century’s single greatest pop cultural contribution. Paul was a big part of that.

Beyond that I think his legacy is longevity. He rarely went silent during his 60 year career and it’s hard to escape the conclusion that, more than anything, the man just never stopped loving making music. He has very few contemporaries you can say that about.