The Music Legend Paul McCartney Accidentally Punched In A Bar: 'It Hurt!'

Paul McCartney once threw a few punches in a hotel bar, but he didn't necessarily mean to hurt anybody. It was actually the farthest thing from a drunken brawl; McCartney met rocker Eddie Vedder in Seattle, and the two really hit it off — quite literally. The "Let It Be" hitmaker animatedly recounted a story about a fight to Vedder, which included some vivid illustration that left the Pearl Jam singer with a black eye. Fortunately, no lawyers were involved in the aftermath, despite Eddie Vedder's impressive net worth. "He hit me. He didn't quite pull back the punch you see," the legendary rocker clarified to SiriusXM in 2017 (via Billboard). "As I was listening I was thinking, Paul McCartney just hit me in the face and it hurt." 

The former Beatle apologized, but he didn't waste time on niceties, since McCartney was very much still in the thick of his story. Meanwhile, Vedder was left contemplating just how bad he was going to look in a few hours when he tasted blood in his mouth. However, he made it pretty clear that being on the receiving end of the legendary singer's fist wasn't all bad, admitting, "I remember it hurt for a few days and I remember when it went away when the pain subsided and the swelling went down, I kinda missed it." 

The Pearl Jam front-man is a well-known Beatles fan. In fact, his band notably covered "Her Majesty" after Queen Elizabeth II's heartbreaking death in 2022. Pearl Jam was performing in Toronto when Vedder decided to pay homage to the beloved monarch. "This is just a little one I'm gonna borrow from Paul McCartney for about 90 seconds," he told the crowd before treating them to an acoustic version of the track, per Loudwire.

Big artists often clash, and sometimes, they talk about it with the press too. This is exactly what legendary singer and drummer Phil Collins did following an unpleasant run-in with Paul McCartney. And unlike Eddie Vedder, his admiration for the former Beatle did not override Collins' shock at his bad behavior. Paul McCartney has been open about why he doesn't take pictures with fans, but he never said anything about autographs. The Genesis front-man ran into him at Buckingham Palace in 2002 during Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee festivities, and an excited Collins approached McCartney to sign a Beatles biography he had with him. 

But the "Live and Let Die" hitmaker's attitude was anything but kind. "I said, 'Hey Paul, do you mind signing this for me?' and he said, 'Oh Heather [McCartney's wife at the time], our little Phil's a bit of a Beatles fan," Collins recalled during a 2016 interview with The Sunday Times. "And I thought, 'You f***, you f***.' Never forgot it." Before that, he really looked up to McCartney, but his belittling attitude permanently soured Collins' perception. During a subsequent chat with Billboard, the "In the Air Tonight" hitmaker confirmed that McCartney did reach out to him after he shared the incident publicly. 

Collins declined to disclose exactly what McCartney said to him, noting only, "He's been in touch about it because he was upset. I certainly didn't get any flowers from him; I got more of a 'let's just get on with our lives.'" The Genesis front-man didn't regret telling the story, though, reasoning, "If people don't tell people that sometimes their attitude could be a bit better then you're not gonna get any better, y'know?"