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Why Yoko Ono's Music Matters.

posted 2 years ago by OnanTheBarbarian (13179)
44 replies | jump to latest

Yoko Ono’s legacy is split in two. There is the reductive, racist, and sexist mythology that she broke up the Beatles, acting like a Lady Macbeth of rock music, sowing seeds of discontent that led to the implosion of the greatest rock band of the 20th century. As an addendum to this narrative is Ono the dilettante, the talentless, rich rock widow who used her connections and nepotism to buy herself a career as a musician.

The other story of Yoko Ono is far more interesting. The story is of a passionate and powerful songwriter and artist. A creative and sensitive musician who worked doggedly to bring her avant-garde aesthetic to pop music and to use her voice to advocate for the rights of women, racial minorities, and LGBTQ people. She is an underrated though hugely influential artist whose reach finds its way to a range of artists as wide as the B-52’s, Cyndi Lauper, Madonna.

https://www.popmatters.com/why-yoko-onos-music-matters

[–] TrentnQuarantino (9443) 2 years ago

I don't particularly care for Ono or her art, but she did not break up the Beatles. That was just a racist meme in the racist US/UK at the time. Those guys were done, exhausted, deflated ... they had nothing left to say and they hated working with each other - it took too much energy. So they all split off where they could use their celebrity, monetary, and political capital and drive their own visions instead of arguing and fighting with equals.

I've always thought Ono was a real bitch for the way she shut Julian Lennon out of his rightful place as Lennon's son. Her own kid is a pampered empty loser with no talent.

As an artist, who can name anything she has ever done?

[–] AzureSeb (510) 2 years ago

[deleted]

[–] CIM (1) 2 years ago

She was a Beatles groupie who got lucky. No one would know who she is if she hadn't ridden John Lennon to fame and fortune.

Chuck Berry's face says it all in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgZiPO9V_aQ.

The only people who pretend to enjoy her so-called music are the pseudo-intellectuals who think a lone squiggle on a wall constitutes a masterpiece. Everyone else has enough self-awareness to plant their tongue firmly in their cheek.

[–] OnanTheBarbarian (13179) 2 years ago

No, Lennon met her at one of her exhibitions. She already had a career as an artist in her own right.

I only listen to one song by her. Lol. She's actually too mainstream rock for my general tastes. I'm more into punk/alternative.

My point here is that she does good work.

[–] Ace_Spade (9659) 2 years ago

While I agree that she wasn't what broke up the Beatles, I also agree with other posters that criticising Yoko isn't tantamount to bigotry.

Also, I kinda resent this weird trend that I've seen recently where people start lauding Yoko as being an unsung Genius. She isn't. It might be mean to say she's rock's Lady Macbeth, but she certainly isn't rock's Messiah, either. She's not a major musical force, never was, and I don't like this revisionist history where she's brilliant. My opinion? She's a sometimes slightly interesting avant grade artist, but mostly she's kinda pretentious and has no sense of self-awareness or humour (which in my opinion really open up creative work).