How Paul McCartney Reacted to the Critical Failure of His Album ‘Ram’
TL;DR:
- Someone told Paul McCartney that Ram was great.
- A modern rock star revealed his opinion of the album.
- Ram produced a No. 1 single in the United States but not in the United Kingdom.
Paul McCartney‘s Ram received negative feedback upon its release. Subsequently, Paul discussed how he reacted to the reviews. Notably, a modern rock star is a huge fan of Ram, even though he thinks it’s uneven.
Paul McCartney said ‘Ram’ received a lot of ‘bum notices’ but a skier he met liked it
During a 1974 interview with Rolling Stone, Paul was asked if he missed bouncing ideas off The Beatles. “Sometimes now I mainly bounce off myself,” he said. “I do that more now, call it what you will — maturity? Sometimes if a friend is in the studio, I’ll ask for their opinion, and that will make it easier on me.
“I still read the notices and stuff, and they’re usually bum ones when you’re expecting them to be great,” he added. “Like after Ram, there were a lot of bum notices after Ram.
“But I keep meetin’ people wherever I go, like I met someone skiing,” Paul continued. “As he skied past me, he said, ‘I loved Ram, Paul.’ So that’s really what I go by. Just the kind of people who flash by me in life. Just ordinary people, and they said they loved it. That’s why I go a lot by sales, not just for the commercial thing. Like if a thing sells well, it means a lot of people bought it and liked it.”
Harry Styles really likes several of Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles albums
Notably, a 2019 Rolling Stones article says the album is a favorite of Harry Styles, a big Wings fan. Ram divided Beatles fans, but Styles listened to it repeatedly. While making his album Fine Line, Styles would lie in the sunshine, listen to Ram, and do drugs.
Styles initially felt Ram was a mixed bag, but he grew to feel its uneven quality was beautiful. He’s also a fan of Wings’ albums London Town and Back to the Egg. The “Watermelon Sugar” singer used to listen to Wings’ “Arrow Through Me” daily. He also liked Paul’s first album without The Beatles: McCartney, also known as McCartney I.
How ‘Ram’ performed on the pop charts in the United States and the United Kingdom
Ram became a pretty big hit in the United States. The album reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200, staying on the chart for 42 weeks. The big single from the album was “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey.” That single topped the Billboard Hot 100 for a single week, staying on the chart for 13 weeks in total.
According to The Official Charts Company, Ram climbed to No. 1 in the United Kingdom and stayed on the chart for 25 weeks. “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” was not a single in the U.K. and it did not chart there.
Ram garnered bad reviews, but it was a hit with audiences and Styles.
