Synopsis

Paul McCartney performs "Coming Up" with the fictional Plastic Macs, a colorful studio band whose members are all played by McCartney and Linda McCartney. Through costume changes, split-screen compositing, and chroma-key effects, McCartney appears as ten different musicians, while Linda portrays two backing singers. The staged performance turns the song's one-man-band origins into a playful visual joke, presenting a full ensemble that is, in reality, created almost entirely by one performer.

Factoids & Trivia

• The Plastic Macs name is a playful reference to John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band.

• The concept was inspired by the fact that McCartney played all the instruments on the studio recording, which appeared on his 1980 album *McCartney II*.

• McCartney portrayed ten musicians, while Linda McCartney played two backing vocalists. Chroma-key and split-screen techniques were used to combine the performances.

• McCartney later identified several of the characters as affectionate caricatures of real musicians, including Hank Marvin of the Shadows, Ron Mael of Sparks, and a Beatle-era version of himself. The drummer was loosely based on John Bonham.

• The production required McCartney to work for 25 hours across two days, including repeated costume, makeup, rehearsal, and performance changes.

• The single was released in the United Kingdom on April 11, 1980. Its American success was helped by a live version recorded with Wings, which appeared as the B-side and became the version favored by many US radio stations.

• The video is remembered as an early, particularly elaborate example of a music promo built around electronic compositing rather than a conventional narrative.