Who is Paul McCartney?

Who is Paul McCartney? In less than 140 characters, troves of Twitterers are digging themselves into holes by posing that question. In response to the musician's performance at the Grammys Sunday night, many an ignorant and shameful twitterer had to inquire who the former Beatles band member was.

This situation is similar, though significantly worse, to the Arcade Fire debacle at the 2011 Grammys and this year's confusion over Bonny Bear (Bon Iver).

Watch below for some of the highlights from very confused Tweeters, and the retaliation against them:

Comments

[Mary Setzer]

03:07 PM on 03/08/2012

Kidden right i was in a very long line for the ladys room one time with a teenager who thought that Paul Mccartney was just with with Wings. WHO'S THE BEATLES SHE SAID LOL

[phree]

01:20 PM on 03/02/2012

i didn't know paul mccartney was in a band before wings !!!!!!!!!

[PatientZeroBeat]

09:48 PM on 02/20/2012

It's not inherently stupid to simply not know something. But asking this question on the very thing (the internet) that can give them the answer... now that's pretty stupid.

[Sarita1225]

10:04 PM on 02/19/2012

They know who the Beatles are, but find it cool to display their ignorance, even with search engines readily available. I love the Beatles. I sing I Want To Hold Your Hand to my one year old, changing the lyrics to be more baby friendly, like: "and when I hug you I feel happy inside," or "please say to me, you'll let me be your mom." I'm 31, but my mother loved the Beatles.

[jgarcia]

03:37 AM on 02/19/2012

No wonder most Americans think New Mexico is part of Mexico.

[gvari]

12:17 AM on 02/27/2012

Thanks!!!!!!!!!
I started the day with a great laugh.

[futurefile]

09:11 AM on 02/28/2012

When wasn't it??? Does Pancho Villa know about this?

[icstars]

02:02 PM on 02/18/2012

Thank goodness my parents loved music. They had a large collection of 78s and played them all the time. My great uncle played old folk music from the 1920s and 1930s. I grew up in the 70s and 80s and happened to be friends with audiophiles. I know I'm fortunate.

On the plus side, we live in a digital age. No longer does music have to disappear with scratched and broken records and deteriorated tapes.

When you hear anyone seriously question, "Who is Paul McCartney?" or "Who is Fats Domino?" or "Who is Elvis Presley?" or "Who is BB King?" [etc etc] it is your solemn duty to pick up your jaw that just hit the floor and expose them to this music!

[Unshriven]

08:57 PM on 02/17/2012

God, I feel old.

[gurukalehuru]

05:45 PM on 02/17/2012

To be fair, the majority of those tweeters were being funny and they know perfectly well who Paul McCartney is.
Basic premise fail.

[Nob Ody]

12:52 AM on 02/16/2012

I absolutely love the Beatles, but if John and Paul were starting out today they would be creating a music that would make everyone think that everything presently on the charts was trivial and old fashioned. I keep waiting for the group that’s going to wake up the present world the way they woke up my world. Changing the planet was probably the last thing on their minds; they were probably more concerned with getting paid, getting laid and expressing some inner rage. Maybe the Van Gogh’s are all on Xanax and trained to perpetuate mediocrity/outrageousness to keep us all visually bored. The music industry promotes so many Pat Boones that we never notice the Little Richards anymore and we get to pay to phone in our votes to keep it all grey and homogenous. I’m a believer, indeed.

[drachold]

12:28 AM on 02/16/2012

paul was ringos bassist

[MtnBabe]

11:56 AM on 02/27/2012

I love your comment, drach. The poor quality of Paul's post-Lennon compositions points out the truth of your statement.

[Schmice]

11:19 PM on 02/15/2012

I feel so old. Glad nobody asked who Beethoven was because someone would have answered a Saint Bernard.

[LILLYPUTT]

10:52 PM on 02/20/2012

Hilarious!

[gvari]

12:19 AM on 02/27/2012

That was funny! Thanks

[KJKeefe]

04:42 PM on 02/15/2012

I have to wonder how many of these "Who is Paul McCartney?" tweets are tongue-in-cheek. First off, in the time it takes to tweet that question, you can google him on your smart phone and find the answer. Second, while those of us of a certain age are understanding that the Beatles broke up 42 years ago (yup folks), it's also true that the greatest hits compilation "1" was a triple platinum album in 2000-2001, when these tweeting kids were strapped to a car seat by their boomer parents and learned to love it. The Beatles Anthology albums were the biggest sellers of their years too, in 1995-97. McCartney was the Superbowl halftime act in 2005, did a duet with Jay-Z on "Yesterday" at the Grammies in 2006, has been nominated for Grammies and Oscars repeatedly in the 2000's. He hasn't really been so disappeared. So I think some of the tweets, especially with the "LOL"s attached are done humorously.

[Nick Rowley]

07:13 PM on 02/15/2012

Correct, what I mostly see here are people who understand neither the internet nor those who are younger than themselves and don't like being reminded that culture moves on.

Not sure why it would seem so disturbing, I don't give a toss what people think about the music I like and I don't care if people haven't heard of my favourites.

[WhippetGood]

04:27 PM on 02/15/2012

I kind of think most of the people asking "who is . . ." are not really seriously asking. It is just a way to get attention. (Works too!)

[IrieMoon]

03:09 PM on 02/15/2012

Sometimes I wonder how the present young generation can function on a daily basis.

You'd think with all the technology they use to get through the day that the Beatles would have somehow shown up in their lives considering they were bigger than Jesus.

[AtlantaMom]

05:24 PM on 02/15/2012

Except in the South, where Elvis was bigger than Jesus or the Beatles :)

[IrieMoon]

08:45 AM on 02/16/2012

Literally!

:)

[normandyv]

03:04 PM on 02/15/2012

Ah, the bliss of ignorance