Paul has always tried too hard to please in my opinion, whereas John and George were content to withdraw from the limelight (and, ironically, thereby fuelled their own mystique and became all the more intriguing than the publicity hungry, ubiquitous Macca). Whilst Lennon and Harrison were seemingly less bothered by public reaction to their material beyond a certain point in their careers (I got the impression at times that both would have felt almost embarrassed to be topping the pop charts, they were far too wrapped up in whatever "message" they were trying to explore) Paul has always struck me as needing an audience and a demonstrative show of approval...
but "blowing his talent?" his talent for what? Writing and performing fabulous, radio friendly, populist, timeless songs which sold by the shedload? Wings shifted millions of sales to a public hungry for commercial, accessible pop(ular) music and, in the aftermath of The Beatles, making do with anything from Slade and ELO to The Bee Gees and Abba. Paul's need for audience approval met the public's need for catchy, Beatley records.
Perhaps you'd think that people would have had enough of silly love songs? Well Paul looked around him and saw that it wasn't so. And what's wrong with that? There is a real "talent" in producing much of the sublime stuff Paul has given us since 1969. It's all too easy to take pot shots at him from some priggish, "enlightened" vantage point, but for every argument lambasting The Frog Chorus or Mull Of Kintyre there is another one which could expose the emperor's clothes snobbery imbuing some of George's more turgid religious diatribes or John's political sloganeering with credibility and gravitas when much of the record buying public thought it was rubbish. The difference being that John and George had a (some might say healthy) "up yours" kind of "take it or leave it" slice of attitude which made them cool and therefore, on some level, more appealing than plodder Paul.
Remember though...just because something gains mass appeal does not automatically make it pap. And at the same time, McCartney was embracing cutting edge influences sometimes ahead of the rest. Bottom line is, The Beatles would ALWAYS be an impossible act to follow. By continually extending his profile and courting publicity, Paul seemed to have the cheek to try, which some find unforgivable.
All just my opinions, you understand.
