Paul McCartney has no problem with Danger Mouse's Grey Album

Macca's down. He's really down...with The Grey Album
Macca's down. He's really down...with The Grey Album (Image credit: Andrew Harrer/Pool/Corbis)

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If Paul McCartney has 99 problems, one of them isn't The Grey Album - the 2004 Danger Mouse Beatles/Jay-Z mashup masterpiece. While the execs are EMI were violently opposed to the recording, which used samples of the Fab Four's 'White Album' and Jay-Z's The Black Album, Macca recently revealed that he quite liked it.

"I didn't mind when something like that happened with the Grey Album," McCartney said of the recording that turned Danger Mouse (aka Brian Burton) into a superstar. "But the record company minded. They put up a fuss. But it was like, 'Take it easy guys, it's a tribute.'"

In an interview for the BBC Radio 1 documentary The Beatles And Black Music, to be broadcast next Monday, McCartney offers his thoughts on hip-hop, saying, "It was really cool when [it] started. You would hear references in lyrics, you always felt honored.

"It's exactly what we did in the beginning - introducing black soul music to a mass white audience. It's come full circle. It's well cool. When you hear a riff similar to your own your first feeling is 'rip-off'. After you've got over it you think, 'Look at that, someone's noticed that riff.'"

Joe Bosso

Joe is a freelance journalist who has, over the past few decades, interviewed hundreds of guitarists for Guitar WorldGuitar PlayerMusicRadar and Classic Rock. He is also a former editor of Guitar World, contributing writer for Guitar Aficionado and VP of A&R for Island Records. He’s an enthusiastic guitarist, but he’s nowhere near the likes of the people he interviews. Surprisingly, his skills are more suited to the drums. If you need a drummer for your Beatles tribute band, look him up.