Wednesday, June 12, 2013

You Don't Know Yoko Ono

Most people only know the name Yoko Ono as a byword or a punchline. She is neither. I can't think of a single artist or celebrity with such a more undeserved reputation. If you don't know Ono, let me give you the skinny: Yoko hate is 1 part philistinism, 99 parts PURE SEXIST BULLSHIT. If you don't like avant-garde art or strange music, she won't be your bag. But neither (most likely) will David Lynch, Salvador Dali, Crispin Glover, John Cage et cetera. But these male artists don't get the kind of hatred Ono inspires, because it's expected that they are artists whose role it is to challenge and provoke. People don't think about Yoko Ono this way because, 1) she's a woman, and 2) she was John Lennon's girlfriend.

If you like the kind of crazy noise we often traffic in at Interplanetary Music, you should really give Ono's music a listen. Some of it is not good. Some of it is incredible, particularly the Plastic Ono Band album. The following documentary (you'll have to watch parts 2-6 on Youtube, because embedding is disabled for some stupid reason) helps debunk some of the Ono myths (and they are all myths, except for the one about her being a witch), but it doesn't do much in the way of appreciating her as an artist.







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