The Rise and Fall Of Paul McCartney’s Solo Career in the ’80s

Paul McCartney began the ’80s in much the same position as he’d entered the ’70s: He released a home-recorded solo album after a blockbuster band had broken up.

Wings had been the portrait of pop-rock consistency in the prior decade, as all 23 of their singles reached the U.S. Top 40. McCartney’s post-Beatles group would score 14 Top 10 singles, including six chart-topping songs. The last was a live band version of “Coming Up” from 1980’s McCartney II, recorded during an ill-fated final tour.

Unfortunately, the solo projects that followed were far more inconsistent, despite the appearance of leftover Wings material on both 1982’s Tug of War and 1983’s Pipes of Peace. His next two No. 1 singles were stunt-y duets with Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. McCartney wouldn’t reach the top of the charts on his own until 1984’s “No More Lonely Nights,” but that was one of the few selling points on the otherwise forgettable Give My Regards to Broadstreet soundtrack.

READ MORE: Top 10 Paul McCartney Beatles Songs

Every successive album was faring worst than the last after the charttopping platinum success of Tug of War, which traded on nostalgia by again pairing McCartney with Beatles producer George Martin and bandmate Ringo Starr. McCartney tried working with producer-of-the-moment Hugh Padgham after he helped Phil Collins, Genesis, the Human League and the Police climb the charts, but the stand-alone single “Spies Like Us” and 1986’s Press to Play were critically lambasted.

It was time for a reset: McCartney recorded 1988’s Choba B CCCP, a back-the-basics import-only early-rock collection. He then returned to a collaborative setting – but with Elvis Costello, an edgy and acerbic collaborator not unlike this former Beatles writing partner John Lennon. The result was a belated return to form with 1989’s Flowers in the Dirt.

Despite those ups and many downs, McCartney emerged from the decade with a number of memorable songs. Even his worst albums had a sturdy gem or two that were worth the cost of admission. Here’s a ranked look back at the Top 10 ’80s songs by Paul McCartney:
No. 10. “Coming Up”
From: McCartney II (1980)

Lowered a few spots because McCartney II opened with the skeletal solo synth version instead of the Wings live take that pushed McCartney to the top of the U.S. charts again. He was an admitted amateur with this new keyboard technology, but joy and gumption occasionally carried the day on his uneven successor to 1970’s more acoustic McCartney. Unfortunately, this studio version is one of the McCartney II tracks where he annoyingly speeds up his vocals using a vari-speed tape machine.

No. 9. “Sweetest Little Show”
From: Pipes of Peace (1983)

If Pipes of Peace sounds like Tug of War leftovers, that’s because it’s exactly what this was. McCartney called Michael Jackson back in for another duet, but “Say Say Say” came off as utterly facile after “The Girl Is Mine.” McCartney’s scattered attempts at modernizing his sound feel forced and became immediately dated. Even a collaboration with Starr (“So Bad”) falls flat. “Sweetest Little Show,” another of those held-over tracks, stands out because of its effortless, Wings-like exuberance. There’s a reason for that: It grew out of a July 1980 jam with the now-departed Denny Laine. Later, a fun interlude on guitar sparked this spontaneous round of applause from the assembled studio assistants, and McCartney left it in.

No. 8. “My Brave Face”
From: Flowers in the Dirt (1989)

Presumably brought in to punch things up, Elvis Costello instead brought a smart sense of history to his first collaborations with McCartney. “My Brave Face” helped McCartney channel his own vintage pop self, right down to that old bass. “I felt that Elvis was pulling it in a little bit of a Beatle-y way – a Beatle-ist direction,” McCartney later admitted, “but it was fine by me.” As with those old records, McCartney and Costello roared through recording sessions for “My Brave Face” in just two days.

No. 7. “Tug of War”
From: Tug of War (1982)

“Here Today” was the most obvious song about John Lennon found on Tug of War, which arrived two years after McCartney’s Beatles bandmate was brutally murdered. But McCartney seems to be talking about their tangled relationship here, too. And what better setting than alongside George Martin once more? The former Beatles producer created an emotional orchestral framework that perfectly mirrors the ebbs and flows of McCartney’s lyrics. Darkness in the verses eventually gives way to soaring hope in the song’s chorus.

No. 6. “Not Such a Bad Boy,” Paul McCartney
From: Give My Regards to Broadstreet (1984)

On an album that would represent the nadir not just of this decade but of his career (yes, McCartney re-recorded Beatles songs; no, that wasn’t a good idea), “Not Such a Bad Boy” arrived like a bolt of lightning out of the blue. At this point, McCartney had scarcely attempted a rock song since the final edition of Wings flew apart, and this flinty aside about a reformed rebel now reduced to kitchen-pass adventures shows just what an awful loss that had been. He wouldn’t let loose like this again until Run Devil Run.

No. 5. “One of These Days,” Paul McCartney
From: McCartney II (1980)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, one of the strongest tracks on this goofball experimental dud of an album finds McCartney at work with an acoustic guitar. Sure, he double tracks, and weirdly synthesizes, his voice but that’s the extent of the adornments to be found on the quietly effective “One of These Days.” “Quietly effective” may sound like a back-handed compliment. But in the ’80s, and on an LP that found McCartney focused so completely on at-home doodles with a new-fangled keyboard, that counts as high praise.

No. 4. “Wanderlust”
From: Tug of War (1982)

Taking inspiration from the name of another boat where Wings recorded a portion of London Town, McCartney originally envisioned this standout Tug of War track as a collaboration with George Harrison. Their meeting to discuss it produced a vocal turn by McCartney on the Lennon tribute “All Those Years Ago,” but nothing more. McCartney later returned to “Wanderlust” and bolstered it instead with glowing brass accompaniment by a group led by Philip Jones, friend of returning producer George Martin. McCartney later reunited with another Beatles bandmate – this time, Ringo Starr – to record a leaner take for 1984’s Give My Regards to Broad Street.

No. 3. “Figure of Eight,” Paul McCartney
From: Flowers in the Dirt (1989)

McCartney had a very McCartney theme (“better to love than give in to hate“) and the creative momentum to cut this track live. You hear it in his rough-hewn vocal. But then co-producers Trevor Horn and Steve Lipson kept tinkering with the track in an effort to “modernize” its sound. McCartney pushed back and some elements were changed, but he was never completely happy with the results. It’s a shame because no song on Flowers in the Dirt – not even the admittedly throwback “My Brave Face” – more completely reanimated his former hit-making sound.

No. 2. “You Want Her Too,” Paul McCartney
From: Flowers in the Dirt (1989)

It seemed McCartney’s spell of ’80s disappointments could only be broken with a new collaborator in the vein of John Lennon. McCartney found that person in Elvis Costello, who helped him back to the charts — and, more importantly, back to respectability. With its straight-razor wit and sharp-elbowed vocals, this duet plays out like a canny update of earlier Beatles successes like “We Can Work it Out” and “I’ve Got a Feeling,” but without feeling derivative. Then it all ends, hilariously, with a crashing big-band coda.

No. 1. “Take It Away,” Paul McCartney
From: Tug of War (1982)

Celebrated at the time as a partial Beatles reunion, this patented McCartney pop confection boasts a deceptively intricate bass, a feverish horn counterpoint and an indecipherable narrative. So, in other words, “Take It Away” could have emerged from Wings at their chart-topping peak. 10cc alum Eric Stewart’s presence apparently encouraged McCartney to dabble in some of that group’s famous layering of background vocals. “Take It Away” ends with a soaring loop of sighs from a thousand Pauls, Erics and Linda McCartneys.