WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.879 Welcome to the Deep Dive, the show where we take 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:05.900 a huge pile of research articles, books, you 00:00:05.900 --> 00:00:08.619 name it, and boil it all down to the absolute 00:00:08.619 --> 00:00:10.939 essentials. And our mission is always to get 00:00:10.939 --> 00:00:13.359 you past the surface level facts and into the 00:00:13.359 --> 00:00:16.660 real expertise. Today, we're tackling a subject 00:00:16.660 --> 00:00:18.559 so big, it's almost, you know, intimidating. 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:21.660 We are doing a deep dive into the career, the 00:00:21.660 --> 00:00:24.600 influence, the entire legacy of Sir James Paul 00:00:24.600 --> 00:00:27.359 McCartney. It's such a necessary topic because 00:00:27.359 --> 00:00:30.219 for so many people, the name Paul McCartney just 00:00:30.219 --> 00:00:32.799 means one thing. The cute beetle? Exactly. The 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:35.719 mop top, the writer of love songs. And I mean, 00:00:35.740 --> 00:00:38.439 that narrative is just way too simple. So our 00:00:38.439 --> 00:00:41.299 goal here is to get past that. to really understand 00:00:41.299 --> 00:00:44.479 the sheer complexity of his entire creative life. 00:00:44.679 --> 00:00:47.299 The eclecticism is staggering. You've got rock, 00:00:47.439 --> 00:00:49.939 pop, avant -garde, classical, electronica, and 00:00:49.939 --> 00:00:51.640 then you have the business mind that built this 00:00:51.640 --> 00:00:54.719 huge post -Beatles empire. Okay, let's just jump 00:00:54.719 --> 00:00:56.700 right in. We're looking at the bassist, the keyboardist, 00:00:56.840 --> 00:00:59.560 the co -songwriter for the Beatles. And, of course, 00:00:59.640 --> 00:01:01.960 one half of what is, without a doubt, the most 00:01:01.960 --> 00:01:04.420 successful songwriting partnership in music history 00:01:04.420 --> 00:01:07.060 with John Lennon. But before we get to the beginnings 00:01:07.060 --> 00:01:09.430 in Liverpool... We really have to frame this 00:01:09.430 --> 00:01:13.590 with the sheer scale of his success. We're talking 00:01:13.590 --> 00:01:16.010 about one of the best -selling music artists 00:01:16.010 --> 00:01:18.489 of all time. Of all time. And to put some numbers 00:01:18.489 --> 00:01:20.909 on that for you, the record sales are estimated 00:01:20.909 --> 00:01:24.310 at over 100 million. 100 million. But here's 00:01:24.310 --> 00:01:26.689 the number that really shows the impact. He has 00:01:26.689 --> 00:01:30.450 written or co -written a record 32 songs that 00:01:30.450 --> 00:01:32.450 have hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100. 00:01:32.870 --> 00:01:36.969 32. That that almost doesn't sound real. It's 00:01:36.969 --> 00:01:39.290 an unbelievable level of consistency. And if 00:01:39.290 --> 00:01:41.109 you're tracking the business side of the modern 00:01:41.109 --> 00:01:43.069 music world, you just can't ignore the bottom 00:01:43.069 --> 00:01:45.430 line. His fortune is estimated at around one 00:01:45.430 --> 00:01:49.530 billion pounds as of 2024. So this is not just 00:01:49.530 --> 00:01:52.409 a pop star. This is an industry. It is. And that 00:01:52.409 --> 00:01:55.310 massive commercial success. Well, it often overshadows 00:01:55.310 --> 00:01:57.409 the raw musical genius we're about to explore. 00:01:57.590 --> 00:02:00.349 His versatility is everything. Right. The different 00:02:00.349 --> 00:02:02.230 roles he played. Think about it. An innovative 00:02:02.230 --> 00:02:05.750 vocalist, a hugely melodic bass player, a great 00:02:05.750 --> 00:02:08.229 guitarist, a keyboardist who could do rock and 00:02:08.229 --> 00:02:10.610 roll one minute and classical the next. And a 00:02:10.610 --> 00:02:12.870 pretty solid drummer, too. He's a true polymath. 00:02:12.990 --> 00:02:15.689 He works across the entire spectrum of creating 00:02:15.689 --> 00:02:17.849 music. So let's go back to where that polymath 00:02:17.849 --> 00:02:20.110 started. Back to the foundations. We're in Liverpool, 00:02:20.270 --> 00:02:22.819 of course. James Paul McCartney, born in 1942. 00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:26.300 And the environment he grew up in was, well, 00:02:26.379 --> 00:02:28.879 it was all about music and stability. The support 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:32.639 he had at home was surprisingly strong, especially 00:02:32.639 --> 00:02:35.419 from his father, Jim. Jim had been a salesman, 00:02:35.479 --> 00:02:38.099 a lathe turner, but he had this whole other life 00:02:38.099 --> 00:02:41.139 as a jazz musician. He led Jim Mack's jazz band 00:02:41.139 --> 00:02:44.800 back in the 20s, and then his mother, Mary, was 00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:47.259 a midwife. And her income was actually what allowed 00:02:47.259 --> 00:02:49.599 them to move to a slightly better part of town. 00:02:50.250 --> 00:02:53.289 So what you have is this kid growing up with 00:02:53.289 --> 00:02:55.889 music just in the air, but also in a very secure, 00:02:56.050 --> 00:02:58.270 very loving home. That's such an important dynamic. 00:02:58.349 --> 00:03:00.449 He had the encouragement, but the sources also 00:03:00.449 --> 00:03:03.870 point out he had this defiance against doing 00:03:03.870 --> 00:03:05.969 things the formal way. Oh, absolutely. His dad 00:03:05.969 --> 00:03:08.069 saw he had talent and suggested piano lessons. 00:03:08.310 --> 00:03:10.770 But Paul wasn't interested. No, he preferred 00:03:10.770 --> 00:03:14.689 to learn everything by ear. He had perfect pitch, 00:03:14.909 --> 00:03:17.569 this incredible ear for melody, and he just wanted 00:03:17.569 --> 00:03:19.590 to follow his instinct, not a rule book. It's 00:03:19.590 --> 00:03:21.810 funny, he actually tried out for the Liverpool 00:03:21.810 --> 00:03:25.189 Cathedral Choir and got rejected. Can you imagine 00:03:25.189 --> 00:03:27.830 one of the greatest musical voices of the century 00:03:27.830 --> 00:03:31.189 turned away right at the start? But the real 00:03:31.189 --> 00:03:33.710 turning point, the moment he goes from a kid 00:03:33.710 --> 00:03:36.969 who likes music to a budding artist, that happens 00:03:36.969 --> 00:03:40.169 when he's 14. This is the pivotal trade. It tells 00:03:40.169 --> 00:03:42.270 you everything about his priorities. His dad 00:03:42.270 --> 00:03:44.229 gives him a nickel -plated trumpet for his birthday. 00:03:44.449 --> 00:03:47.490 Great gift. A great gift. But Paul realized something 00:03:47.490 --> 00:03:50.129 immediately. You can't sing and play the trumpet 00:03:50.129 --> 00:03:52.409 at the same time. And singing was what he wanted 00:03:52.409 --> 00:03:55.509 to do? It was everything. So he needed a chord 00:03:55.509 --> 00:03:57.550 instrument. So he makes the trade, the trumpet 00:03:57.550 --> 00:04:00.949 for a 15 -pound Franus Zenith acoustic guitar. 00:04:01.169 --> 00:04:03.629 And that decision basically sets the course for 00:04:03.629 --> 00:04:06.310 his entire life. But it came with its own problem. 00:04:06.530 --> 00:04:09.550 Right. He's left -handed. And the guitar is strung 00:04:09.550 --> 00:04:11.729 for a right -handed player. He struggled like 00:04:11.729 --> 00:04:14.569 mad with it. Until he sees a poster of the country 00:04:14.569 --> 00:04:17.509 singer, Slim Whitman. That was his aha moment. 00:04:17.750 --> 00:04:21.050 He sees Whitman playing left -handed and a light 00:04:21.050 --> 00:04:23.949 bulb just goes on. So he just reverses the strings? 00:04:24.189 --> 00:04:26.810 Flips them around. Turns it into a lefty guitar, 00:04:27.050 --> 00:04:29.870 and that's such a perfect metaphor for his career, 00:04:29.990 --> 00:04:31.970 isn't it? Taking something standard and just 00:04:31.970 --> 00:04:33.709 flipping it on its head to make it work for him. 00:04:33.730 --> 00:04:36.610 Once he unlocked that, the songs just started 00:04:36.610 --> 00:04:40.389 coming. His very first song, I Lost My Little 00:04:40.389 --> 00:04:42.709 Girl, he wrote on that guitar. And it's amazing 00:04:42.709 --> 00:04:45.310 to think that a song as famous as When I'm 64, 00:04:45.709 --> 00:04:48.629 an early version of that, was written on the 00:04:48.629 --> 00:04:51.029 family piano around the same time. His early 00:04:51.029 --> 00:04:53.970 influences were pure American rock and roll. 00:04:54.069 --> 00:04:56.589 His idol was Little Richard. That raw energy. 00:04:56.829 --> 00:04:58.910 In fact, the first song he ever performed in 00:04:58.910 --> 00:05:01.649 public was Long Tall Sally. At a holiday camp 00:05:01.649 --> 00:05:04.990 talent show. Exactly. He starts his career literally 00:05:04.990 --> 00:05:07.689 with this declaration of pure rock and roll intent. 00:05:07.990 --> 00:05:10.589 Now we have to talk about the tragedy that really 00:05:10.589 --> 00:05:13.009 created the bond with his future partner. The 00:05:13.009 --> 00:05:16.670 loss of his mother, Mary, in 1956. Paul was only 00:05:16.670 --> 00:05:20.029 14. She died of an embolism. And that profound, 00:05:20.089 --> 00:05:25.149 sudden loss became this shared ground between 00:05:25.149 --> 00:05:28.050 him and John Lennon, whose own mother died just 00:05:28.050 --> 00:05:30.990 two years later. Having that shared trauma, losing 00:05:30.990 --> 00:05:33.910 their mothers as teenagers, that had to be a 00:05:33.910 --> 00:05:35.550 huge part of the connection that allowed them 00:05:35.550 --> 00:05:38.009 to create what they did. It's really the genesis 00:05:38.009 --> 00:05:39.970 of the partnership, and the meeting itself was 00:05:39.970 --> 00:05:44.720 just pure chance. July 6th, 1957, he meets John 00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:47.779 and his skiffle group, the Quarrymen, at a local 00:05:47.779 --> 00:05:50.839 church event. And skiffle was huge then. A mix 00:05:50.839 --> 00:05:54.339 of jazz, blues, folk. Easy to play. It was the 00:05:54.339 --> 00:05:57.339 gateway drug for an entire generation of British 00:05:57.339 --> 00:06:00.100 musicians. So Paul joins as a rhythm guitarist. 00:06:00.120 --> 00:06:02.079 Yeah. And that creative engine with Lennon starts 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:05.060 right away. George Harrison joins in 58. And 00:06:05.060 --> 00:06:07.259 they go through all the classic garage band names, 00:06:07.500 --> 00:06:09.560 Johnny and the Moondogs, the Weird Spelling, 00:06:09.740 --> 00:06:11.800 Beatles. Before finally settling on the Beatles 00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:14.560 in August of 1960. Right before they hired Pete 00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:16.579 Best on drums and went off to Hamburg. Which 00:06:16.579 --> 00:06:18.120 is where they were really hammered into professional 00:06:18.120 --> 00:06:20.480 bands. That's where the legend begins. So the 00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:23.389 early 60s. The Beatles start to define their 00:06:23.389 --> 00:06:26.790 sound. And within that, McCartney gets the job 00:06:26.790 --> 00:06:29.449 that will define his musicianship. The reluctant 00:06:29.449 --> 00:06:31.829 bass player. He only took it over after Stuart 00:06:31.829 --> 00:06:35.029 Sutcliffe left in 61. And everyone agrees, nobody 00:06:35.029 --> 00:06:38.189 wanted that job. Pauly himself said it was because 00:06:38.189 --> 00:06:40.990 bass was seen as boring, just thumping along 00:06:40.990 --> 00:06:43.290 in the background. And yet he takes that unwanted 00:06:43.290 --> 00:06:46.649 job and makes the bass the melodic heart of the 00:06:46.649 --> 00:06:48.949 biggest band in the world. It's the first huge 00:06:48.949 --> 00:06:52.370 example of him turning a limitation into a strength, 00:06:52.490 --> 00:06:55.089 an innovation born out of necessity. And things 00:06:55.089 --> 00:06:59.269 move so fast. Love Me Do in 62, and by 64, it's 00:06:59.269 --> 00:07:02.009 full -blown Beatlemania. And the press just sticks 00:07:02.009 --> 00:07:04.490 him with this label, the cute Beatle, a label 00:07:04.490 --> 00:07:06.790 he'd spend the next 60 years trying to move past. 00:07:07.069 --> 00:07:08.730 The early hits, She Loves You, I Want to Hold 00:07:08.730 --> 00:07:11.430 Your Hand, they just cement that tight pop sound. 00:07:11.670 --> 00:07:13.910 But the real deep dive, the moment they go from 00:07:13.910 --> 00:07:16.970 pop stars to true artists, that starts in 1965. 00:07:17.389 --> 00:07:19.449 And a lot of that change was driven by Paul. 00:07:19.509 --> 00:07:22.170 The evidence is just overwhelming. In 65, you 00:07:22.170 --> 00:07:24.689 get Yesterday. A song so completely different 00:07:24.689 --> 00:07:26.850 from everything else they were doing. Musically, 00:07:26.910 --> 00:07:29.779 it was radical. Their first time using classical 00:07:29.779 --> 00:07:32.040 instruments, a string quartet, in a pop song. 00:07:32.220 --> 00:07:34.160 Imagine hearing that for the first time. It must 00:07:34.160 --> 00:07:36.740 have been a huge shock. And technically, it was 00:07:36.740 --> 00:07:39.040 just Paul, the first Beatles recording with only 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:42.420 one member. And the proof of its genius is in 00:07:42.420 --> 00:07:46.060 the numbers, right? Over 2 ,200 recorded cover 00:07:46.060 --> 00:07:48.939 versions. It's just a perfect melody. Musicologists 00:07:48.939 --> 00:07:51.220 like Ian McDonald point to this as the moment 00:07:51.220 --> 00:07:54.110 Paul really starts to take over. McDonald said 00:07:54.110 --> 00:07:56.230 he was in the ascendant, not just as a songwriter, 00:07:56.269 --> 00:07:59.029 but as an instrumentalist, arranger, and the 00:07:59.029 --> 00:08:01.670 de facto musical director of the band. He was 00:08:01.670 --> 00:08:04.149 the one pushing them to get beyond that early 00:08:04.149 --> 00:08:07.449 cute phase. Which leads to Rubber Soul in 65. 00:08:08.160 --> 00:08:11.339 A huge step forward creatively, but it also started 00:08:11.339 --> 00:08:13.600 to create a rift with Lennon. The dynamic starts 00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:16.139 to shift. The recording sessions for that album 00:08:16.139 --> 00:08:19.300 already had increasing contention. The engineer 00:08:19.300 --> 00:08:21.600 said Paul was becoming absolutely finicky about 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:23.319 every little detail. He was already thinking 00:08:23.319 --> 00:08:26.339 like a producer. Exactly. And that meticulous 00:08:26.339 --> 00:08:29.360 approach leads directly to Revolver in 1966, 00:08:29.699 --> 00:08:32.759 which is just this quantum leap in studio experimentation. 00:08:33.299 --> 00:08:35.379 And again, Paul is right at the center of it 00:08:35.379 --> 00:08:39.100 with Eleanor Rigby. A neoclassical tour de force. 00:08:39.460 --> 00:08:42.320 Just his vocal and a string octet. I mean, this 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:44.799 is not a rock band anymore. It's sophisticated 00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:47.919 modern art. So after their final concert at the 00:08:47.919 --> 00:08:50.899 end of 66, they become a purely studio band. 00:08:51.139 --> 00:08:53.779 And Paul immediately uses that freedom to push 00:08:53.779 --> 00:08:56.120 the concept for Sick Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club 00:08:56.120 --> 00:08:59.100 Band. He invents this fictional band to give 00:08:59.100 --> 00:09:01.279 them the freedom to experiment. He said they 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:03.580 hated that fucking four little mop top approach. 00:09:04.360 --> 00:09:06.980 He said they were men now, artists, not just 00:09:06.980 --> 00:09:09.379 performers. That's the core of his artistic drive, 00:09:09.539 --> 00:09:11.740 isn't it? Tearing down what's successful to build 00:09:11.740 --> 00:09:13.620 something new. And you hear that on tracks like 00:09:13.620 --> 00:09:15.879 A Day in the Life, the big climax of the album. 00:09:16.019 --> 00:09:18.700 It took a 40 -piece orchestra, which Paul and 00:09:18.700 --> 00:09:21.440 George Martin instructed to just create chaos. 00:09:21.659 --> 00:09:23.399 He wasn't just writing melodies. He was directing 00:09:23.399 --> 00:09:26.419 organized chaos. But then real chaos hit when 00:09:26.419 --> 00:09:29.019 their manager, Brian Epstein, died in August 00:09:29.019 --> 00:09:32.139 of 67. And the discipline was gone. Paul tried 00:09:32.139 --> 00:09:34.389 to step up and fill that leadership role. But 00:09:34.389 --> 00:09:37.090 his first big project, the Magical Mystery Tour 00:09:37.090 --> 00:09:40.549 film, was a total disaster. Critics hated it. 00:09:40.870 --> 00:09:43.070 Paul the artist was trying to be Paul the executive, 00:09:43.250 --> 00:09:45.649 and it just didn't work. So the endgame starts. 00:09:46.149 --> 00:09:48.710 The sessions for the White Album and Let It Be 00:09:48.710 --> 00:09:51.429 are just full of tension. If you've seen the 00:09:51.429 --> 00:09:54.769 documentaries, you see Paul trying so hard to 00:09:54.769 --> 00:09:56.809 hold it all together, almost lecturing the others. 00:09:57.070 --> 00:09:59.190 He was trying to bring back the discipline that 00:09:59.190 --> 00:10:01.450 Epstein had provided. In the middle of all this, 00:10:01.590 --> 00:10:04.370 he finds some personal stability, marrying Lindy 00:10:04.370 --> 00:10:07.409 Eastman in March of 69. And they managed to pull 00:10:07.409 --> 00:10:09.929 together one last time for Abbey Road. Which 00:10:09.929 --> 00:10:12.909 was really a compromise. The big medley on side 00:10:12.909 --> 00:10:16.330 two was Paul's idea to wrap things up symphonically. 00:10:16.509 --> 00:10:19.360 But the end was just drawn out and painful. Lennon 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:21.940 quits privately in 69. And then Paul makes the 00:10:21.940 --> 00:10:24.799 public announcement on April 10, 1970, citing 00:10:24.799 --> 00:10:26.940 all the business disagreements over their new 00:10:26.940 --> 00:10:29.559 manager, Alan Klein. And the legal mess took 00:10:29.559 --> 00:10:32.820 years to untangle. Lawsuits went on until 1989. 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:36.440 What an end to an era. A spectacular end. The 00:10:36.440 --> 00:10:39.039 breakup of the Beatles could have just destroyed 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:41.889 a lesser artist. But McCartney just launches 00:10:41.889 --> 00:10:44.370 straight into chapter two. And he does it with 00:10:44.370 --> 00:10:46.629 a lot of humility. That humility is so important 00:10:46.629 --> 00:10:49.830 for understanding the Wings era. He starts with 00:10:49.830 --> 00:10:53.850 his first solo album in 1970, just called McCartney. 00:10:54.009 --> 00:10:56.750 And it's basically him alone. It's a one -man 00:10:56.750 --> 00:10:59.570 album. He played everything. It was raw. It was 00:10:59.570 --> 00:11:01.629 intimate. And it went to number one in the U 00:11:01.629 --> 00:11:04.529 .S. It proved he could do it on his own. He follows 00:11:04.529 --> 00:11:07.879 that with Ram in 71. but he quickly realized 00:11:07.879 --> 00:11:10.100 he missed being in a band. He was really clear 00:11:10.100 --> 00:11:13.159 about that. When he formed Wings in 71 with Linda 00:11:13.159 --> 00:11:15.840 and Denny Lane, his whole mission was, let's 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:18.159 go back to square one. No super group. Exactly. 00:11:18.519 --> 00:11:20.539 He knew he couldn't compete with the ghosts of 00:11:20.539 --> 00:11:22.179 the Beatles, so he had to build something completely 00:11:22.179 --> 00:11:24.200 new. And the way he did it was just brilliant. 00:11:24.279 --> 00:11:27.419 The famous Van Tour of 1972. It was the total 00:11:27.419 --> 00:11:29.899 opposite of Beatlemania. They just drove around 00:11:29.899 --> 00:11:32.759 the UK in a van, unannounced, playing surprise 00:11:32.759 --> 00:11:35.259 gigs at universities. And getting paid in coins 00:11:35.259 --> 00:11:37.720 from the students. The whole point was to strip 00:11:37.720 --> 00:11:40.419 away the baggage. They played almost no Beatles 00:11:40.419 --> 00:11:43.440 songs. It was about proving the new band on its 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:45.940 own merits. And that gritty back -to -basics 00:11:45.940 --> 00:11:49.059 approach really worked. The momentum starts building 00:11:49.059 --> 00:11:52.279 in 1973 with the James Bond theme, Live and Let 00:11:52.279 --> 00:11:55.179 Die. Which was huge. Nominated for an Oscar. 00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:57.500 It showed he was still comfortable mixing that 00:11:57.500 --> 00:11:59.919 rock bombast with big orchestral arrangements. 00:12:00.379 --> 00:12:03.000 But the real defining album for Wings was Band 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:06.259 on the Run. And it was recorded under pretty 00:12:06.259 --> 00:12:08.919 difficult circumstances. Two of the band members 00:12:08.919 --> 00:12:11.200 quit right before they were supposed to fly to 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:13.899 Lagos, Nigeria to record. So it was just Paul, 00:12:14.120 --> 00:12:17.860 Linda, and Denny Lane. That adversity just forced 00:12:17.860 --> 00:12:21.039 them to rely on Paul's musicianship. And it pay 00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:24.000 off. Band on the Run was a massive hit. The UK's 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:28.200 first ever platinum album. So by 1975, he's feeling 00:12:28.200 --> 00:12:30.519 confident enough to start embracing his past 00:12:30.519 --> 00:12:32.519 again. The Wings Over the World tour was this 00:12:32.519 --> 00:12:34.279 huge moment. It was the first time he started 00:12:34.279 --> 00:12:36.460 playing Beatles songs live again with Wings. 00:12:36.600 --> 00:12:38.820 He was reclaiming his own legacy. On his own 00:12:38.820 --> 00:12:41.700 terms. And their biggest hit single came in 1977. 00:12:42.360 --> 00:12:44.659 Olive Kintyre. Which was just an unprecedented 00:12:44.659 --> 00:12:47.480 smash in the UK. It sold two and a half million 00:12:47.480 --> 00:12:49.820 copies, which was double the previous record 00:12:49.820 --> 00:12:51.679 holder. The previous record holder was... She 00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:54.080 Loves You. He broke his own record. But just 00:12:54.080 --> 00:12:56.419 like the Beatles, Wings eventually fell apart. 00:12:56.960 --> 00:13:00.000 The last album, Back to the Egg, had one amazing 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:03.340 high point. The Rockestra session. A supergroup 00:13:03.340 --> 00:13:06.120 with members of The Who, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin. 00:13:06.179 --> 00:13:08.500 I mean, it was legendary. But the album itself 00:13:08.500 --> 00:13:11.019 was a disappointment. And that, plus disagreements 00:13:11.019 --> 00:13:13.539 over money, and then Paul's cannabis bust in 00:13:13.539 --> 00:13:17.240 Tokyo in 1980, which canceled a huge tour. It 00:13:17.240 --> 00:13:20.090 all just led to the end of Wings in April. 1981. 00:13:20.350 --> 00:13:23.490 So in the 80s, he pivots again. He moves away 00:13:23.490 --> 00:13:25.870 from the band idea and becomes this ultimate 00:13:25.870 --> 00:13:28.110 collaborator. Bridging genres and generations. 00:13:28.450 --> 00:13:31.110 The early 80s are defined by these massive duets. 00:13:31.250 --> 00:13:33.889 Ebony and Ivory with Stevie Wonder in 82. Which 00:13:33.889 --> 00:13:36.330 became his 28th number one single on the Billboard 00:13:36.330 --> 00:13:39.289 charts. And then two huge hits with Michael Jackson, 00:13:39.450 --> 00:13:42.129 The Girl Is Mine and Say Say Say. That pairing 00:13:42.129 --> 00:13:44.990 with Jackson just connected two eras of pop royalty. 00:13:45.559 --> 00:13:47.899 It kept him right at the top of the charts. But 00:13:47.899 --> 00:13:51.500 not every project in the 80s was a hit. We have 00:13:51.500 --> 00:13:54.559 to mention the 1984 film, Give My Regards to 00:13:54.559 --> 00:13:58.100 Broad Street. Ah, the film. Critics just destroyed 00:13:58.100 --> 00:14:01.240 it, called it characterless and pointless. But, 00:14:01.259 --> 00:14:03.120 and this is the key thing about McCartney. The 00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:05.460 soundtrack was gold. It went to number one in 00:14:05.460 --> 00:14:08.700 the UK. So Paul, the filmmaker, might have failed, 00:14:08.799 --> 00:14:11.759 but Paul, the musician, was still untouchable. 00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:14.460 He also played a huge part in Live Aid in 1985. 00:14:15.179 --> 00:14:18.559 He performed Let It Be, but his microphone was 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:20.600 dead for the first two minutes. Can you imagine? 00:14:20.740 --> 00:14:23.159 Paul McCartney and nobody can hear him. They 00:14:23.159 --> 00:14:25.220 got it fixed, though. They did. And the decade 00:14:25.220 --> 00:14:27.639 ended on a real high note for him, critically. 00:14:27.980 --> 00:14:30.860 Flowers in the Dirt in 1989 with Elvis Costello. 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:33.100 Yeah. A big success. It showed he could still 00:14:33.100 --> 00:14:35.240 work with the sharpest contemporary artists and 00:14:35.240 --> 00:14:38.120 make vital new music. And as a live act, he was 00:14:38.120 --> 00:14:41.639 just a giant. The world tour from 89 to 90 was 00:14:41.639 --> 00:14:45.659 massive. He played for 184 ,000 people in Rio 00:14:45.659 --> 00:14:48.159 de Janeiro, the largest paying stadium crowd 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:51.059 in history. Setting new records, decades into 00:14:51.059 --> 00:14:53.519 his career. It's incredible. Okay, let's get 00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:56.279 into the centerpiece of this deep dive, the craft. 00:14:56.539 --> 00:14:59.700 We keep calling him a self -taught genius. What 00:14:59.700 --> 00:15:01.720 does that actually mean when you listen to the 00:15:01.720 --> 00:15:04.820 music? It means he worked on instinct. He had 00:15:04.820 --> 00:15:07.639 a perfect pitch and these incredible ears. He 00:15:07.639 --> 00:15:09.940 wasn't thinking about music theory. He was feeling 00:15:09.940 --> 00:15:13.759 his way through it. He compared himself to primitive 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:17.360 cave artists who drew without training. It's 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:19.899 a great analogy. Creation comes first. The rules 00:15:19.899 --> 00:15:22.759 come later. And that intuitive approach is exactly 00:15:22.759 --> 00:15:25.419 what let him revolutionize the bass guitar. The 00:15:25.419 --> 00:15:27.659 instrument he got stuck with. Right. And he turned 00:15:27.659 --> 00:15:30.759 it from a background instrument into a lead melodic 00:15:30.759 --> 00:15:33.740 voice. He was listening to a lot of Motown, especially 00:15:33.740 --> 00:15:37.379 James Jamerson. His hero. His hero. Because Jamerson's 00:15:37.379 --> 00:15:39.460 bass lines were like a second melody weaving 00:15:39.460 --> 00:15:41.840 all around the vocal. Paul took that idea and 00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:44.259 put it into a rock context. And it's why he's 00:15:44.259 --> 00:15:46.179 always ranked as one of the greatest bassists. 00:15:46.559 --> 00:15:48.980 Even Lennon said that half the bass lines you 00:15:48.980 --> 00:15:51.500 hear today are just ripped off from Paul's Beatles 00:15:51.500 --> 00:15:53.639 work. That's the ultimate praise, really. So 00:15:53.639 --> 00:15:55.759 where can you hear that evolution happening? 00:15:56.039 --> 00:15:59.000 It starts to shift with She's a Woman, but the 00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:02.299 huge technical leap is on Rubber Soul. On a track 00:16:02.299 --> 00:16:04.960 like The Word, you can hear him just flying all 00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:07.440 over the neck of the bass. But the absolute peak, 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:10.220 the moment that redefined the instrument, is 00:16:10.220 --> 00:16:14.590 the B -side Rain. Rain is just astonishing. His 00:16:14.590 --> 00:16:16.750 playing on that is what you'd call lead bass. 00:16:17.110 --> 00:16:19.289 The rest of the band is holding down the rhythm, 00:16:19.409 --> 00:16:22.610 and his bass is off on its own melodic adventure. 00:16:23.009 --> 00:16:25.110 It's almost a counter melody to the song itself. 00:16:25.409 --> 00:16:27.789 It really is. Some people say it's so inventive 00:16:27.789 --> 00:16:30.289 it almost overwhelms the track. And he himself 00:16:30.289 --> 00:16:33.509 said his most creative bass playing was on Sweet 00:16:33.509 --> 00:16:36.950 Pepper, especially on Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. 00:16:37.049 --> 00:16:39.690 And for the gearheads, it was mostly the violin 00:16:39.690 --> 00:16:42.820 -shaped Huffner bass live. but a Rickenbacker 00:16:42.820 --> 00:16:45.460 in the studio. The Rickenbacker had a much sharper, 00:16:45.500 --> 00:16:47.919 more cutting sound that was perfect for recording 00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:50.200 those intricate lines. But moving on from bass, 00:16:50.299 --> 00:16:52.559 the sheer number of instruments he mastered is 00:16:52.559 --> 00:16:54.799 just incredible. His acoustic guitar playing 00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:57.519 is fantastic. On a song like Blackbird, he's 00:16:57.519 --> 00:16:59.659 using this finger -picking style where he's pulling 00:16:59.659 --> 00:17:02.639 two strings at once to sound like a more complex 00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:04.960 folk player. And what often gets overlooked is 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:07.599 that he was a really great lead electric guitarist, 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:10.339 too. A very distinctive one. He played that sharp 00:17:10.339 --> 00:17:14.059 slide solo. Solo on Drive My Car, the crazy screaming 00:17:14.059 --> 00:17:17.000 guitar on Helter Skelter. And even the solo on 00:17:17.000 --> 00:17:19.500 Georgia's song Paxman. Which is pretty bold. 00:17:19.660 --> 00:17:21.960 He loved his Epiphone Casino guitar because it 00:17:21.960 --> 00:17:24.039 was semi -hollow, so he could get all this amazing 00:17:24.039 --> 00:17:26.640 feedback and sustain out of it at high volumes. 00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:29.500 It gave his solos that wilder, less polished 00:17:29.500 --> 00:17:31.319 sound. And then you have his keyboard playing. 00:17:31.400 --> 00:17:34.119 He could do the Fats Domino rock and roll bounce 00:17:34.119 --> 00:17:36.980 on Lady Madonna or the beautiful gospel feel 00:17:36.980 --> 00:17:39.500 of Let It Be. He was also right there at the 00:17:39.500 --> 00:17:42.180 start with electronic instruments. An early adopter. 00:17:42.619 --> 00:17:44.920 He was playing the Moog synthesizer on Abbey 00:17:44.920 --> 00:17:48.619 Road on Maxwell's Silver Hammer, this huge, complicated 00:17:48.619 --> 00:17:51.180 machine creating sounds no one had ever heard 00:17:51.180 --> 00:17:54.380 in a pop song. And the Mellotron on Strawberry 00:17:54.380 --> 00:17:57.400 Fields Forever. That iconic wobbly flute sound. 00:17:57.539 --> 00:17:59.819 That was him. And on top of all that, he's a 00:17:59.819 --> 00:18:02.480 great drummer. He played drums on all his solo 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:05.480 McCartney albums and on Band on the Run. a true 00:18:05.480 --> 00:18:08.099 one -man band. He even played drums on a Foo 00:18:08.099 --> 00:18:11.220 Fighters song in 2017. Which brings us to the 00:18:11.220 --> 00:18:13.599 most experimental side of him, the avant -garde 00:18:13.599 --> 00:18:16.279 stuff that completely shatters the cute Beatle 00:18:16.279 --> 00:18:19.339 image. This is him in mid -60s London, getting 00:18:19.339 --> 00:18:21.839 deep into the art scene, influenced by composers 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:24.799 like John Cage. He started making what he called 00:18:24.799 --> 00:18:28.460 electronic symphonies with tape loops. So what 00:18:28.460 --> 00:18:31.279 does that mean in practice in 1966? It means 00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:33.819 physically recording sounds onto magnetic tape 00:18:33.819 --> 00:18:36.140 and then literally cutting it up with a razor 00:18:36.140 --> 00:18:38.730 blade. splicing the pieces together into loops, 00:18:38.849 --> 00:18:41.250 playing them backwards, speeding them up, slowing 00:18:41.250 --> 00:18:44.250 them down. It's manual physical electronic music. 00:18:44.509 --> 00:18:47.849 Total analog control over sound. And these weren't 00:18:47.849 --> 00:18:50.309 just home experiments. Those tape loops ended 00:18:50.309 --> 00:18:52.990 up on Tomorrow Never Knows and The Fool on the 00:18:52.990 --> 00:18:55.490 Hill. They became part of the sound of the Beatles' 00:18:55.650 --> 00:18:57.930 most psychedelic period. And that experimental 00:18:57.930 --> 00:19:00.950 drive never left him. In the 90s, he started 00:19:00.950 --> 00:19:03.369 a pure electronica project under a pseudonym. 00:19:03.569 --> 00:19:06.019 The Fireman. With the producer Youth. They made 00:19:06.019 --> 00:19:09.059 three albums of ambient electronic soundscapes. 00:19:09.140 --> 00:19:11.279 This wasn't Paul the songwriter. This was Paul 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:13.460 the sonic scientist, just exploring texture and 00:19:13.460 --> 00:19:16.119 mood completely anonymously. So McCartney isn't 00:19:16.119 --> 00:19:18.940 just a musician. He's a very smart, very rich 00:19:18.940 --> 00:19:21.380 businessman who learned some hard lessons early 00:19:21.380 --> 00:19:23.640 on about ownership. After the Beatles fell apart, 00:19:23.880 --> 00:19:26.559 he built his own fortress, MPL Communications. 00:19:27.720 --> 00:19:30.759 a publishing company which is now a giant it 00:19:30.759 --> 00:19:34.079 owns over 25 000 copyrights and not just his 00:19:34.079 --> 00:19:36.480 own stuff no things like the rights to classic 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:40.339 musicals guys and dolls grease annie but the 00:19:40.339 --> 00:19:43.849 big shadow over his entire business career is 00:19:43.849 --> 00:19:46.390 the Northern Song Saga. It's the great irony. 00:19:46.609 --> 00:19:48.710 Northern Songs published the Lennon -McCartney 00:19:48.710 --> 00:19:51.309 catalog, and they lost control of it. It was 00:19:51.309 --> 00:19:53.490 famously bought by his friend Michael Jackson 00:19:53.490 --> 00:19:56.609 in 1985. Which created a huge rift between them. 00:19:56.670 --> 00:19:58.769 It did. So the most successful songwriters in 00:19:58.769 --> 00:20:01.470 history didn't own their own songs. But he did 00:20:01.470 --> 00:20:03.349 manage to get a couple of them back. Just to 00:20:03.349 --> 00:20:05.789 Love Me Do and P .S. I Love You, which is what 00:20:05.789 --> 00:20:08.509 led to the big legal fight later on. In 2017, 00:20:08.750 --> 00:20:12.589 he sued Sony ATV. Based on a part of U .S. copyright 00:20:12.589 --> 00:20:14.829 law that says creators can reclaim their works 00:20:14.829 --> 00:20:17.529 after 56 years. And he won. Right. Or at least 00:20:17.529 --> 00:20:20.109 they settled. They reached a confidential settlement. 00:20:20.230 --> 00:20:23.269 So he finally regained at least some measure 00:20:23.269 --> 00:20:26.410 of control over his own legacy. And beyond the 00:20:26.410 --> 00:20:29.309 boardroom, his creative energy spilled over into 00:20:29.309 --> 00:20:31.849 visual arts. He started painting seriously in 00:20:31.849 --> 00:20:34.269 the 80s, inspired by watching the artist Willem 00:20:34.269 --> 00:20:36.650 de Kooning work. And he got pretty good. He had 00:20:36.650 --> 00:20:39.710 his first exhibition in Germany in 1999, showing 00:20:39.710 --> 00:20:42.430 portraits of Lenin, David Bowie, Andy Warhol. 00:20:42.549 --> 00:20:45.190 Even his official coat of arms is a piss of art. 00:20:45.289 --> 00:20:47.769 It has a liver bird holding a guitar and four 00:20:47.769 --> 00:20:50.109 little emblems that look like beetle backs. He's 00:20:50.109 --> 00:20:53.480 also a successful author, poetry. Children's 00:20:53.480 --> 00:20:56.079 books. Yay, Grand Dude was a big hit. And he 00:20:56.079 --> 00:20:58.440 and Linda became these really influential activists, 00:20:58.500 --> 00:21:00.900 especially for animal rights. Their vegetarian 00:21:00.900 --> 00:21:04.039 story is so famous. It's a great one. They were 00:21:04.039 --> 00:21:06.039 eating lamb for dinner while watching little 00:21:06.039 --> 00:21:08.140 lambs playing in a field outside their window. 00:21:08.359 --> 00:21:10.180 And the connection just clicked. They stopped 00:21:10.180 --> 00:21:13.319 eating meat right then and there in 1975 and 00:21:13.319 --> 00:21:16.019 became lifelong advocates. He's also campaigned 00:21:16.019 --> 00:21:19.099 against landmines, seal hunting. He even called 00:21:19.099 --> 00:21:21.460 for ecocide to be made a crime at the International 00:21:21.460 --> 00:21:23.940 Criminal Court. Which brings us right up to the 00:21:23.940 --> 00:21:27.519 present day and his most recent activism, the 00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:30.220 protest against generative AI. This is where 00:21:30.220 --> 00:21:33.420 the tech pioneer of the 60s meets the tech protester 00:21:33.420 --> 00:21:36.700 of the 2020s. It's a fascinating turn. In November 00:21:36.700 --> 00:21:39.539 of 2025, he released his first new recording 00:21:39.539 --> 00:21:43.160 in five years. And it was. A nearly silent track. 00:21:43.400 --> 00:21:45.619 Just some quiet hiss and a few little noises. 00:21:45.900 --> 00:21:48.960 It was on a protest album, and his track was 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:52.079 meant to symbolize the silencing of human artists 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:54.700 if their rights aren't protected from AI theft. 00:21:55.019 --> 00:21:57.839 So his fear is that AI will just destroy the 00:21:57.839 --> 00:22:00.859 ability for young songwriters to have a career. 00:22:01.079 --> 00:22:03.460 Exactly. It's a direct call for government protection 00:22:03.460 --> 00:22:06.359 for artists. That tension with technology really 00:22:06.359 --> 00:22:08.400 makes you think about his relationships with 00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:10.319 the other Beatles after the breakup. The one 00:22:10.319 --> 00:22:12.819 with John Lennon was obviously the most complex. 00:22:12.880 --> 00:22:14.680 They had their ups and downs. Their last time 00:22:14.680 --> 00:22:16.940 together was just watching TV. Watching Saturday 00:22:16.940 --> 00:22:19.900 Night Live in 1976 when the host, Lorne Michaels, 00:22:20.119 --> 00:22:23.359 offered them $3 ,000 to reunite on the show right 00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:24.980 then and there. And they actually thought about 00:22:24.980 --> 00:22:26.819 doing it. For a minute, they almost just went 00:22:26.819 --> 00:22:29.220 down to the studio. It's a beautiful last memory. 00:22:29.960 --> 00:22:32.920 Paul said their last phone call just before John 00:22:32.920 --> 00:22:36.019 was killed was very friendly, which was a huge 00:22:36.019 --> 00:22:38.240 comfort to him. He always regretted his first 00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:40.529 public comment after the murder, though. Telling 00:22:40.529 --> 00:22:43.670 a reporter, it's a drag. He meant it in the sense 00:22:43.670 --> 00:22:47.329 of a profound wheat, a deep sadness, but it just 00:22:47.329 --> 00:22:50.130 came across as flippant, a misunderstanding he 00:22:50.130 --> 00:22:52.589 spent years explaining. His relationship with 00:22:52.589 --> 00:22:55.150 George Harrison was a bit more strained. George 00:22:55.150 --> 00:22:57.390 often talked about how bossy Paul was in the 00:22:57.390 --> 00:22:59.529 studio. George said Paul would make them work 00:22:59.529 --> 00:23:01.789 on 10 of his songs before they could even look 00:23:01.789 --> 00:23:04.390 at one of George's. He called him selfish. Which 00:23:04.390 --> 00:23:06.809 speaks to that directorial architect personality 00:23:06.809 --> 00:23:10.130 of Paul's. He had a vision. and he drove everyone 00:23:10.130 --> 00:23:12.470 towards it. But after George died, the affection 00:23:12.470 --> 00:23:15.230 was undeniable. Paul called him his baby brother 00:23:15.230 --> 00:23:18.069 and played this beautiful ukulele version of 00:23:18.069 --> 00:23:20.589 something at the concert for George. And then 00:23:20.589 --> 00:23:23.329 there's Ringo, the most consistent collaborator 00:23:23.329 --> 00:23:25.779 post -Beatles. Even though they had huge fights, 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:28.819 Ringo quit the band for a bit during the White 00:23:28.819 --> 00:23:31.460 Album because he was so fed up with Paul criticizing 00:23:31.460 --> 00:23:35.519 his drumming on back in the USSR. But they always 00:23:35.519 --> 00:23:37.440 made up. And they've played on each other's records 00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:40.539 for decades. The most recent reunion in December 00:23:40.539 --> 00:23:43.299 2024 was really special. That was when he got 00:23:43.299 --> 00:23:45.740 his old bass back. His original Huffner violin 00:23:45.740 --> 00:23:49.400 bass, the one that was stolen in 1972. He got 00:23:49.400 --> 00:23:52.039 it back after 52 years and played it on stage 00:23:52.039 --> 00:23:54.930 with Ringo. an incredible full circle moment. 00:23:55.069 --> 00:23:57.470 In his later career, Paul has just refused to 00:23:57.470 --> 00:24:00.279 become a legacy act. He keeps pushing. which 00:24:00.279 --> 00:24:02.440 is most obvious when he tried to take on classical 00:24:02.440 --> 00:24:05.799 music. The Liverpool Oratorio in 1991. It was 00:24:05.799 --> 00:24:09.400 a huge, serious project. And it sold well. It 00:24:09.400 --> 00:24:11.859 topped the classical charts. But the critics 00:24:11.859 --> 00:24:14.440 were not kind. Some of the reviews were pretty 00:24:14.440 --> 00:24:17.000 brutal. One described the music as afraid of 00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:19.000 anything approaching a fast tempo. But Paul, 00:24:19.059 --> 00:24:20.779 you know, he just wrote a letter to the newspaper 00:24:20.779 --> 00:24:23.079 defending it. He quoted the exact tempos. He 00:24:23.079 --> 00:24:26.160 did. And he said, basically, History shows that 00:24:26.160 --> 00:24:28.240 critics are often wrong, so I'll let the people 00:24:28.240 --> 00:24:31.140 decide. He just has this unshakable self -belief. 00:24:31.240 --> 00:24:33.940 And he's still a major force on the album charts. 00:24:34.180 --> 00:24:37.240 Egypt Station in 2018 was his first number one 00:24:37.240 --> 00:24:39.900 album in the U .S. in 36 years. But the truly 00:24:39.900 --> 00:24:42.660 insane stack came with McCartney III in 2020. 00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:46.339 The one he recorded alone during lockdown. That 00:24:46.339 --> 00:24:48.819 album made him the first artist ever to have 00:24:48.819 --> 00:24:51.420 a new album in the top two chart spots in each 00:24:51.420 --> 00:24:53.759 of the last six decades. Six decades. That's 00:24:53.759 --> 00:24:56.420 just unprecedented. And his book, The Lyrics, 00:24:56.579 --> 00:24:59.180 was a massive bestseller. He's become a literary 00:24:59.180 --> 00:25:01.700 figure, too. As a live performer, he's still 00:25:01.700 --> 00:25:03.759 one of the biggest draws in the world. He's still 00:25:03.759 --> 00:25:06.619 headlining festivals, playing at huge global 00:25:06.619 --> 00:25:10.200 events like the Olympics. And memorably, he fronted 00:25:10.200 --> 00:25:12.460 the surviving members of Nirvana for a concert. 00:25:12.539 --> 00:25:15.730 The list of awards is just endless. Two Rock 00:25:15.730 --> 00:25:18.589 and Roll Hall of Fame inductions, 19 Grammys, 00:25:18.589 --> 00:25:22.029 an Oscar, an Emmy, knighthood. He's reached the 00:25:22.029 --> 00:25:24.170 pinnacle of achievement in pretty much every 00:25:24.170 --> 00:25:27.269 medium. And he stayed culturally relevant, collaborating 00:25:27.269 --> 00:25:30.990 with Kanye West and Rihanna in the 2010s. Introducing 00:25:30.990 --> 00:25:33.049 himself to a whole new generation. And he even 00:25:33.049 --> 00:25:35.710 had a cameo as a pirate in a Pirates of the Caribbean 00:25:35.710 --> 00:25:37.930 movie. Because why not? At this point, why not? 00:25:38.190 --> 00:25:39.829 So when you look at the whole picture, when you 00:25:39.829 --> 00:25:43.059 get past the cute beetle. What really defines 00:25:43.059 --> 00:25:46.660 Paul McCartney is this constant refusal to be 00:25:46.660 --> 00:25:49.220 put in a box. He co -wrote the world's biggest 00:25:49.220 --> 00:25:52.279 pop songs, and then he made weird electronic 00:25:52.279 --> 00:25:55.920 music as the fireman. He revolutionized the bass, 00:25:56.119 --> 00:25:59.019 built a business empire, and just set the standard 00:25:59.019 --> 00:26:01.200 for what it means to have an enduring, versatile 00:26:01.200 --> 00:26:03.460 career. And the motivation behind all of it, 00:26:03.500 --> 00:26:05.619 he summed it up himself. He said, I think there's 00:26:05.619 --> 00:26:07.740 an urge in us to stop the terrible fleetingness 00:26:07.740 --> 00:26:11.920 of time. Music. Try and capture one bloody moment, 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:13.960 please. His whole career has just been an attempt 00:26:13.960 --> 00:26:16.339 to capture as many of those moments as possible. 00:26:16.559 --> 00:26:19.440 So as you reflect on all this, think about the 00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:21.000 central tension that runs through his entire 00:26:21.000 --> 00:26:23.980 life. In the 60s, he was the ultimate technological 00:26:23.980 --> 00:26:27.240 pioneer, using tape loops and synthesizers to 00:26:27.240 --> 00:26:29.859 push music into the future. But late in his career, 00:26:30.039 --> 00:26:32.980 he becomes a technological protester, releasing 00:26:32.980 --> 00:26:36.420 a silent track to warn against AI. So the question 00:26:36.420 --> 00:26:39.529 for you is this. Does his life show that true 00:26:39.529 --> 00:26:41.769 creative freedom only exists when technology 00:26:41.769 --> 00:26:44.690 is a tool for the artist, a new instrument, and 00:26:44.690 --> 00:26:46.849 not when it becomes something that consumes and 00:26:46.849 --> 00:26:49.089 replicates their work? And maybe more importantly, 00:26:49.190 --> 00:26:51.670 do new artists today even have the luxury that 00:26:51.670 --> 00:26:55.069 he had? The freedom to experiment and to fail 00:26:55.069 --> 00:26:57.890 without the fear of being creatively silenced 00:26:57.890 --> 00:26:59.650 before they've even begun. Something to think 00:26:59.650 --> 00:27:01.549 about. That's all for this deep dive. We'll see 00:27:01.549 --> 00:27:01.950 you next time.