Paul McCartney said he was frustrated by how long it took for him to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist, according to a previously unpublished 2015 interview.
The former Beatle ultimately entered the Hall in 1999, more than a decade after the Beatles themselves were inducted in 1988.
The comments came during an interview McCartney gave journalist Joe Hagan in March 2015 while Hagan was researching "Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine."
The book about Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner was released in late 2017.
Hagan later noted in an introduction to the interview, recently published by Vanity Fair, that only a small portion of their hourlong conversation appeared in the book.
During the interview, McCartney described a moment in the early 1990s when Wenner asked him to induct John Lennon into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
He initially agreed but reconsidered after realizing he was not scheduled to be inducted for his solo work.
"I got back to him and said, 'Well, wait a minute. What about me? Maybe I'll do John, and then maybe I should go in,'" McCartney recalled in the interview. "And it was like, 'Oh no, we can't do that.' In all my dealings with him, it's never up to Jann. It's up to these other people down the corridor somewhere. He happens to have 'owner-editor' on his door, but they're responsible for things?"
According to McCartney, Wenner told him he would instead be inducted the following year.
"I said, 'Okay.' And I bought the deal. Next year came around [and nothing happened]," he continued. "So it was like, 'Can you ring Jann? What's going on? I don't appear to be in it.' F***ing bastards.'"
Wenner has said he does not remember making that promise.
McCartney suggested the delay was connected to shifting perceptions following Lennon's 1980 murder.
"The thing about John Lennon and McCartney was we were always equal. But, of course, once John got murdered, he became the martyr — the Buddy Holly, the James Dean character — because of the atrocity," he explained. "So a revisionism started to go on. And Yoko [Ono] certainly helped it. Jann was a big part of that. So that naturally colored my thinking."
The experience also affected McCartney's personal view of Wenner.
"So none of these things endeared me to him. And it was always, 'It's not me.,'" he added. "Eventually I did creep in there, and my daughter Stella wore a t-shirt [that said], 'About f***ing time.'"
McCartney has remained active in Rock Hall ceremonies over the years. He attended Ringo Starr's induction in 2015 and delivered the speech when Foo Fighters were inducted in 2021.
Wenner, meanwhile, has seen his role with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame diminish in recent years.
In 2023 he was removed from the organization's board after controversial remarks were published in The New York Times.
During that interview, Wenner discussed his book "Masters," which focuses on conversations with what he called "extraordinary musicians who dominated rock 'n' roll." The book includes only white male artists.
Wenner said the absence of women was because "none of [the women] were as articulate enough on this intellectual level."
He also said Black artists "just didn't articulate at that level."
"You know, just for public relations' sake, maybe I should have gone and found one Black and one woman artist to include here that didn't measure up to that same historical standard, just to avert this kind of criticism," he said.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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