--- title: Some Kanye West Fans Don't Know of Paul McCartney, Twitter Explodes description: (He was in a band called the Beatles) canonical: https://time.com/3653026/kanye-west-twitter-paul-mccartney-beatles/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-04T20:48:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:48.241Z og:title: Some Kanye West Fans Don't Know of Paul McCartney, Twitter Explodes og:description: (He was in a band called the Beatles) og:url: https://time.com/3653026/kanye-west-twitter-paul-mccartney-beatles/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Some Kanye West Fans Don't Know of Paul McCartney, Twitter Explodes twitter:description: (He was in a band called the Beatles) twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Some Kanye West Fans Don't Know Who Paul McCartney Is, Twitter Explodes > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: North West Did What During Kim And Kanye’s Vogue Cover Shoot? [Watch (HLS stream): North West Did What During Kim And Kanye’s Vogue Cover Shoot?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/XEm1HB3q.m3u8) (1:02)  _Published 2014-03-26. Kim dropped by “Late Night” to reveal what went on behind the scenes during her Vogue cover shoot. Turns out, baby North had a little accident… All over Kanye!_ by [Alex Heigl / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Alex Heigl / People Contributor Jan 4, 2015 8:48 PM UTC by [Alex Heigl / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Alex Heigl / People Contributor Jan 4, 2015 8:48 PM UTC [Kanye West](http://www.people.com/people/kanye%5Fwest) celebrated the New Year by releasing a new song called “Only One,” [a collaboration with Paul McCartney](http://www.people.com/article/kanye-west-mother-song-only-one-north-kim-kardashian-cry). ([McCartney used to be in a band called The Beatles](http://www.people.com/people/news/category/0,,personsTax:PaulMcCartney,00.html), apparently – more on that later.) Twitter jokers celebrated this track by widening a generational divide. Shortly after the track was announced, Kanye’s fans took to Twitter to seemingly express bewilderment at who West’s “new” collaborator was. > [](https://twitter.com/OliverAge24/status/551440062354059264) Predictably, Beatles fans were not amused. > [](https://twitter.com/ericvale/status/551421057270554624) > [](https://twitter.com/AliMaadelat/status/551510944539373568) With news like this – especially “news” that relies on Twitter as a primary source – it’s hard to determine exactly how serious the original people were with their Tweets. (Our guess is “not very.”) And it’s easy to whip pop music reactionaries into a lather about Millennials, their “faith in humanity,” and “not wanting to live on this planet anymore” but, [as Faster Louder points out](http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/news/41534/Kanye-West-fans-really-do-know-who-Paul-McCartney-is-guys), this “controversy” is almost certainly a case of people failing to grasp Internet sarcasm: As [the bio of Twitter user @CurvedDaily states](https://twitter.com/CurvedDaily): “None of you guys can take a joke.” Adds [user @BaeAsHell](https://twitter.com/BaeAsHell), in what is almost certainly a 100% serious tweet: > [](https://twitter.com/BaeAsHell/status/551168148645244929) So, calm down, everybody. We’re reminded of the classic Beatles lyric: “And in the end, the re-Tweets you take are equal to the re-Tweets you make.” [_This article originally appeared at PEOPLE.com_](http://www.people.com/article/paul-mccartney-kanye-west-twitter) ### See Kim Kardashan and North West's Style  Kim Kardashian heads out for the airport with daughter North West in Paris, France on Oct. 1, 2014. Splash News/Corbis  Kim Kardashian and baby North West attend the Givenchy show as part of the Paris Fashion Week on September 28, 2014 in Paris, France. Dominique Charriau—WireImage/Getty Images  Kanye West, Kim Kardashian and their daughter North West walk to the Balenciaga Womenswear Spring/Summer 2015 during Paris Fashion Week in Paris, France on Sept. 24, 2014. Splash News/Corbis  Kim Kardashian and baby North West at the Los Angeles International Airport on Sept. 22, 2014. Splash News/Corbis  Kim Kardashian, Kanye West and baby North West at the Los Angeles International Airport on Sept. 1, 2014. Splash News/Corbis  Kim Kardashian, husband Kanye West and baby North West depart from Los Angeles International Airport on Sept. 1, 2014. Splash News/Corbis  Kim Kardashian takes baby North West on a late night flight from LAX Airport in Los Angeles, CA, on August 10, 2014. Diabolik/Splash News/Corbis  Kim Kardashian holds her 14-month-old daughter, North West as they make their way through Burbank Airport in Los Angeles on Aug. 7, 2014. Sharky—Splash News/Corbis  Kourtney Kardashian, Kim Kardashian and her baby North West arrive at the 'Givenchy' store in Paris on May 20, 2014. NYSP/Splash News/Corbis  Kim Kardashian holds baby North West while wearing a fur coat inside JFK airport in New York City on Feb. 26, 2104. Brian Prahl—Splash News/Corbis _Read next:_ [_Kanye West and Sir Paul McCartney Team Up on ‘Only One’_](http://time.com/3651636/kanye-west-mccartney-only/?xid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3653026/kanye-west-twitter-paul-mccartney-beatles/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3653026/kanye-west-twitter-paul-mccartney-beatles/"},"headline":"Some Kanye West Fans Don't Know Who Paul McCartney Is, Twitter Explodes","datePublished":"2015-01-04T20:48:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:05:48.241Z","description":"(He was in a band called the Beatles)","url":"https://time.com/3653026/kanye-west-twitter-paul-mccartney-beatles/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Social Media"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Heigl / People"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3653026/kanye-west-twitter-paul-mccartney-beatles/","name":"Some Kanye West Fans Don't Know Who Paul McCartney Is, Twitter Explodes"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"North West Did What During Kim And Kanye’s Vogue Cover Shoot?","description":"Kim dropped by “Late Night” to reveal what went on behind the scenes during her Vogue cover shoot. 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