Yoko: A Biography
50 comments
·April 4, 2025nickvec
meibo
To contrast this, for anyone that might be interested, a well researched ~1:40h documentary on Yoko's impact on the Beatles and John's life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMOABV_zgrk
riffic
orange site, where nuance goes to die. The out-of-context clip isn't a referendum on her artistry; it's just bait for people who never engaged with her actual work.
mhuffman
>The out-of-context clip isn't a referendum on her artistry; it's just bait for people who never engaged with her actual work.
I am not engaged with her actual work, but here is a not-out-of-context clip[0] of her live art from MOMA. Perhaps you could give more insight into the artistry ?
titaphraz
Whatever the actual work that was, the sound engineer did the world a favor by cutting the cord to her mic right there and then.
heavymetalpoizn
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nickvec
I mean, I'm not sure what other context could justify howling and screaming in the middle of a musical performance.
spacechild1
To be fair, there is music where howling and screaming would be appropriate or expected. But that concert was definitely not the right place. IMO her screaming isn't particularly captivating either.
ggm
Peter Jackson's recovery of the footage leading to "Get Back" on the roof of the Apple building shows a lot more normal interaction between the Beatles, Linda Eastman and Yoko.
If anything, Ringo is the disruptive one (albeit briefly) when the others ego trips get him down.
Yoko was mythologised into the evil influence by fans distraught at the breakup of the group. Was she wierd? Sure.
Was she wierder than anyone else in those times? Not really. The Chuck Berry gig is just a moment, it doesn't define her. The screaming shtick was a thing, sure.
TomMasz
John got tired of the Beatles, his drug use made things worse. Paul's perfectionism did its part as well. Yoko was a distraction.
She's a provocateur, art is the medium she uses.
TomWhitwell
Her loft series in 1960 was an amazing moment in time - La Monte Young, John Cage, Marcel Duchamp etc https://press.moma.org/wp-content/files_mf/yoko_sectiontext_...
someone7x
White chess is another amazing piece
https://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2015/07/14/notes-on-...
szopa
One color go is a training method used in go… I wonder if that was her inspiration.
airstrike
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TomWhitwell
I saw and enjoyed bag piece at the recent Tate retrospective- pretty much as she describes it the contrast between the experience of the people inside the bag (giggling, wriggling) and the people standing round watching int the gallery was interesting & memorable. And as for cut piece - obviously related to the later Rhythm 0 by Marina Abramovic - unless you think there’s no possible value in performance art, this seems to me like pretty remarkable work.
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kazinator
By the way, she is the long o Yōko.
There is short o Yoko given name too; I suspect it's pretty rare.
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wdbbdw
I saw her sing once with Thurston Moore (of Sonic Youth) playing guitar, and it a transcendent experience for me, personally. I'd heard her singing before on a recording and I'd found it irritating, but seeing it live was something else. So primal and beautiful. However, even though it brought me to literal tears, half of the audience were walking away and shaking their heads, which, I don't know, seems like a win for avant-garde art to me.
bloomingeek
I've always been kind of meh on Yoko breaking up the Beatles. I was in junior high when it all went down, so for me there wasn't much info to be had to think one way or another. These artists live their lives like they want, as do I, so it is what it is. (sorry)
However, I missed not having new music from them sorely! AM radio was the main medium and the Beatles were on a lot, which I loved. In a parallel universe, great bands, which I get to choose, will be prevented from fighting and hating each other until I've had enough time loving their music, which they will continue to drop, until an acceptable retirement age. There.
throwawaytodey
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piokoch
Typical "femme fatale", she destroyed The Beatles, she turned Lennon into "working class hero", who had servants and used air condition to lower temperature in his home, so he and Yoko could wear furs inside.
The only worthy Lennon's post-Beatles album is Mind Games, the rest was a daub, with Imagine on the top of it.
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gizajob
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If you haven't seen it already, would recommend checking out Yoko Ono's "performance" during John Lennon and Chuck Berry's "Memphis, Tennessee". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXSGm0RUDxo