Paul McCartney: Busted in Japan
Paul McCartney says that he may have unconsciously set himself up to be busted for marijuana in Japan back in 1980. While recalling his Wings days to Uncut magazine, he said that he's still unsure what led him to bring over half a pound of pot into Japan -- especially after he had to fight so hard to be allowed into the country due to prior pot convictions.
Macca recalled that, "I've asked myself, 'Why was that pot in the suitcase... and so much of it?' I mean, there was not one hint of discretion. And if you see the film of the arrest, the guy is embarrassed to find it. He almost puts it back and closes the suitcase." McCartney ended up spending nine days in a Tokyo jail before being deported. Wings' sold out series of Japanese dates were canceled, which cost McCartney over $350,000 to cover some of the expenses lost by his Japanese promoters.
Macca scrapped any future Wings dates, including a prospective U.S. tour being penciled in for the spring, and quit touring for nine years. It wouldn't be until 1990 that McCartney would return to perform in Japan.
Author Christopher Sanford, who wrote the recent biography McCartney, says that the Japan bust essentially ended Wings' live career: "He did some thinking in that jail cell. And I know Linda had a tepid reaction, at best, to going out on the road. And I suspect that she probably sat down with him when they got home after that ordeal, and said 'What the hell are we doing here? We don't need the money, the kids don't need to do this, and let's go back to the farm.'"
McCartney's 1980 Japanese pot bust wasn't his last run-in with the law. In 1984, Macca was arrested for marijuana possession in his Barbados resort villa after buying pot on the beach. It was McCartney's fourth pot-related arrest, having been arrested twice for possession in 1972: once while tour in Sweden, and again later that year for growing the illegal weed on his Scottish farm.
In 1975, while driving in Los Angeles, the McCartneys were busted for possession of pot after running a red light. Linda McCartney, who was a U.S. citizen, told police that the pot was hers, and was arrested and later fined.
McCartney's new album, Memory Almost Full, will be released on June 5th.
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Macca recalled that, "I've asked myself, 'Why was that pot in the suitcase... and so much of it?' I mean, there was not one hint of discretion. And if you see the film of the arrest, the guy is embarrassed to find it. He almost puts it back and closes the suitcase." McCartney ended up spending nine days in a Tokyo jail before being deported. Wings' sold out series of Japanese dates were canceled, which cost McCartney over $350,000 to cover some of the expenses lost by his Japanese promoters.
Macca scrapped any future Wings dates, including a prospective U.S. tour being penciled in for the spring, and quit touring for nine years. It wouldn't be until 1990 that McCartney would return to perform in Japan.
Author Christopher Sanford, who wrote the recent biography McCartney, says that the Japan bust essentially ended Wings' live career: "He did some thinking in that jail cell. And I know Linda had a tepid reaction, at best, to going out on the road. And I suspect that she probably sat down with him when they got home after that ordeal, and said 'What the hell are we doing here? We don't need the money, the kids don't need to do this, and let's go back to the farm.'"
McCartney's 1980 Japanese pot bust wasn't his last run-in with the law. In 1984, Macca was arrested for marijuana possession in his Barbados resort villa after buying pot on the beach. It was McCartney's fourth pot-related arrest, having been arrested twice for possession in 1972: once while tour in Sweden, and again later that year for growing the illegal weed on his Scottish farm.
In 1975, while driving in Los Angeles, the McCartneys were busted for possession of pot after running a red light. Linda McCartney, who was a U.S. citizen, told police that the pot was hers, and was arrested and later fined.
McCartney's new album, Memory Almost Full, will be released on June 5th.
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