5 reasons I like Yoko more than John

1.) she broke up the Beatles

2.) John played guitar 1000x more awesome on her records

3.) she didn't sing "Imagine" or "Working Class Hero"

4.) John tried very hard to be clever; Yoko went more with the spirit of the times and chose plain inscrutability

5.) she made this 1966 film:

Feel free to add your own!...

Comments

[David]

I'm so glad to hear someone else say this. Thank you so much. here are mine...

1. Her 'Fly' record.
2. She made that horrible Zappa/Lennon show kind of listenable.
3. She looks better naked than John.
4. She is still putting out decent albums.
5. She sampled a Ween song.
6. Her cut on the new Basement Jaxx record was great.

There have got to be a hundred more reasons.

[james P]

Yoko ululates, John, not so much.

[Jim]

Can we please limit the options to events that still happened while John was alive? Or is that not po-mo enough?

5 Reasons I Like John Better Than Yoko

1. He was a member of the Beatles
2. He used to draw obscene pictures of disabled children
3. He despised Paul McCartney
4. He recorded 'Imagine' on heroin
5. He punched photographers before it was acceptable to do so

[j]

I'd add my own, if only I had a tripod.

[edgertor]

cut piece!

[Brian Turner]

I will be airing an interview with Yoko on 2/16 here on WFMU, the afternoon of the Plastic Ono Band's return at BAM.

www.wfmu.org/playlists/BT

[Quizmasterchris]

You never would've heard of Yoko if you didn't know John.

Can Yoko actually play any musical instrument or sing any note on request? I think not.

According to Zappa, Yoko stole the master tapes from that show, produced it in ways he never would, added sounds and instruments that never happened and cheated him and his band out of any money and publishing credit for songs that for the most part they wrote.

I'm sooooo tired of the hipster Beatle-trashing. Yawn. It was old and stupid 20 years ago. Whether you like it or not, The Beatles were incredibly talented, and a popular band was great.

[s.w.]

Actually, if you study contemporary art, there's a very good chance you would know who Yoko Ono is. She was involved with one of the most famous conceptual groups, Fluxus, and made numerous films and sculptures and installations that are still anthologized. Also, your last proposition, "a popular band was great", doesn't make any real sense.

"6.) she birthed Sean, who is more attractive than Julian"

[Me]

One thing that can erase all these lists, she ruined what could have been one of the greatest jams ever when she stepped up to the mic at The Rock N Roll Circus even Eric Clapton gave her the gas face.

[dimestore]

Those limey minstrels deserved it. As for Clapton, He's a soulless vampire.

[james]

The Beatles had their run, but they were gonna break up anyhow I reckon - would it be better if they were still going like the Stones?

[M Morlaine]

John had wanted out of the Beatles from at least as early as How I Won the War. Yoko just made a convenient scapegoat. She provided him with the perfect foil; at the very least, her Plastic Ono Band debut was infinitely superior to his, and she has remained extremely viable in spite of his death.

[Me]

Now but not back then.

[Elliott Peters]

The Zappa comment above is complete nonsense. Yoko didn't "steal" the tapes. Zappa and Lennon made an agreement where they would each put out their own version of the show. Zappa gave Lennon A COPY of the 16 track masters. It was PHIL SPECTOR who was responsible for the crap mixing and overdubbing, admittedly with John and Yoko's input. What upset Zappa was not crediting him for "Jamrag" which was actually his own composition "King Kong."

Zappa released his own mix and edit 20 odd years later. Now comes the interesting bit. The video footage contains the raw sound as it was heard that night. It reveals that both Spector and Zappa ended up mixing Yoko out as much as possible because from the moment that performance starts to the bitter end, Yoko just never shuts up, yelling, squawking and howling away. You can see Zappa wanted her to shut up and at least give some space. Flo and Eddie even try to shut her up by shoving a bag over her head. So both the Zappa and Spector mixes are infinitely more listenable than what the audience heard since they removed much of Yoko's vocal dramatics.

BTW - I am a Yoko fan and am sick and tired of the constant Yoko bashing. She's done a lot of fascinating work but sadly whenever it came to working onstage or TV with John she was at her most obnoxious and irritating and that's left a very bad taste and impression. Yet dig deeper and listen to her solo albums and they're far more musical and interesting.

[Brad Nelson]

Somebody technically mentioned this already, but I figured it should be numbered:

6. Her Plastic Ono Band was superior to John's.

It also features John's most staggering guitar playing and Ringo playing krautrock beats as though he is riding them into the sun.

[Dale]

6. There was a Simpson's character inspired by her ("I'll have a single plum floating in a hat filled with perfume").

[Chris]

Hey, I just looked up that Zappa/Ono/Lennon video... cool! Too bad Yoko wasn't on a separate track though.

[Mindwrecker]

What a great thread. Thanks, Elliott for the corrections.