‘Coming Up’: The Paul McCartney music video that preceeded the MTV video craze
The Beatles changed the landscape of popular music forever. Even without their trailblazing songwriting and plethora of timeless hit songs, the band were still responsible for multiple innovations in terms of music production and practices which soon became industry standards. When the Fab Four eventually imploded in 1970, after years spent being a worldwide phenomenon, that stunning innovation did not cease. Throughout his solo career, Paul McCartney has continued to pioneer new technologies.
Back in the days of the ‘Mop Tops’, McCartney was keen to embrace newfound technology within the band’s production and songwriting. This desire for futurism resulted in some of the band’s greatest work, including the multi-track layering, tape loops, and primitive sequencers at the heart of now-iconic albums like Revolver and, of course, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. In fact, The Beatles were so keen to stay on top of the world of technology that Apple Corps founded ‘Apple Technology’ and hired the self-identifying inventor ‘Magic Alex’.
While the ‘Magic Alex’ era of The Beatles was pretty misguided and did not actually lead to many inventions, the band’s penchant for new technologies was clear. McCartney, in particular, seemed to be infatuated with the idea of discovering the next big thing. This habit continued on into the songwriter’s solo career, exemplified by the stunningly lo-fi DIY sound at the heart of his eponymous debut solo record.
As new trends and technologies entered the musical landscape, McCartney consistently came up with ideas of how to make those trends fit into his own work. The advent of music videos, for instance, was a revelation to artists all over the world. All of a sudden, record labels were putting pressure on their artists to couple hit singles with accompanying promotional videos. Particularly in the early years of this technology, however, the videos were pretty unimaginative.
Nowadays, music videos are almost on the same level as big-budget film productions, with directors, writers, and producers on board to make the videos as polished as possible. In contrast, many early music videos were constructed simply of footage of the artists performing or, in many cases, walking around various streets. So, how did music videos go from bland promo videos to narrative-driven mini-films? Paul McCartney played an undeniable role in that change.
Ahead of the release of McCartney II in 1980, the songwriter decided to create a video for the album’s opener, ‘Coming Up’. Predating MTV, which was introduced over a year later, the video premiered on The Kenny Everett Video Show in April 1980 and featured multiple different roles and characters performed by McCartney himself.
Parodying a range of pop culture figures, including Sparks songwriter Ron Mael, Hank Marvin, John Bonham, and a Beatles-era Paul McCartney, the video sparked a trend which has never ceased in the decades since its release. Following on from ‘Coming Up’, more and more videos started to be released where the band or main performer plays every role in the narrative of the video, rather than employing other actors.
While this innovation might not have been the most profound that McCartney ever landed upon, his original music video went on to become incredibly influential on the blossoming future of the format. Only a few years later, when MTV reigned supreme over the musical mainstream, countless young artists were utilising the ‘Coming Up’ music video for inspiration, and it remains one of the most recognisable videos of the 1980s.
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