I've had to do this SO many times, but here it is yet
again...
...Both (Bjork and Yoko) are among those who submit
lack of remedial skills (in this case in
musicianship) for "cutting edge" art.
In Yoko's case she IS making cutting edge art. With
those early lp's Yoko wasn't making music. She was
making auditory conceptual art. That people in the pop
world coulden't see it for what it was isn't her
fault. Yoko is an ARTIST, not a pop singer. She had
worked with John Cage, John Cale (later of the Velvet
Underground) and LaMonte Young years before she met
John Lennon.
...I know that there have been
many "artists" who have no ability...
Name some. Outsider artists don't count.
...who are "appreciated" by critics and it is mostly
because of their political agenda or some non-art
related aspect of their life.
I can't think of any myself.
I don't appreciate Jeff Koons any more because he
married an Italian porn star.
There is a trend in contemporary art to appreciate the
idea over the craft. This has nothing to do with
politics or who you fucked. Interestingly, it was the
work of people like Yoko Ono who paved the way for
this value placed on ideas.
...The insider clique demands little or no basic
skills of those who carry the flag while those who may
be skillful but dont carry the flag face a high
barrier to fame and recognition.
Just who is this insider clique? What flag?
Your idea that popularity = politics is ridiculous at
best. It has a lot more to do with luck and who you
know.
...Just picture if you would that Yoko was a vocal
born again Christian. Do you really think she would
get any praise for her art?
Yeah, I guess you're right. No one has ever praised
The Staple Singers, Aretha Franklin, The Clark
Sisters, Mahailia Jackson, Amy Grant, Andre Crouch,
Fontella Bass, U2, etc. Being a Christian dooms you to
the closet, artisticaly speaking. Maybe Satan really
does run the record industry.
All sarcasm aside, Yoko 1. does not sing gospel, it's
not her style, and her style isn't one that would
carry well into gospel and 2. Hasn't recieved nearly
the amount of praise she deserves.
...If Yoko had not screwed John lennon she would never
have been recognized for anything. It was only because
of her relationship that she was allowed access to the
entertainment industry. You may disagree but thats my
take.
And your take is sexist, ignorant and (horror of
horrors) makes the assumption that the entertainment
industry is the pinnacle of creative success. Greater
heaps of bullshit I havn't encountered in a while!
Yoko had achieved a great deal of notariety and
success in the art world years before she met Lennon.
She was a prime mover in the Fluxus art movement, an
extremely significant development in art that paved
the way for conceptual art, performance art, and
postmodernism. She was also instrumental in opening up
the art world to women and minorities (that's still
much more of an ongoing battle than it ever should
be).
I would argue that hooking up with John was very BAD
for her career. All of a sudden she was held to a new
standard-the considerably less important yet more
influential word of pop culture. Yoko's ideas, while
extremely important and relevant to the art world,
were seen as weird to the world at large. John tried
to help people to see the beauty of her ideas, instead
was seen as being sucked into her circle of weirdness.
Had Yoko not met John, I think we would see Yoko Ono
work in the collections of major contemporary art
museums around the world. We would relate to her the
way we relate to Robert Rauchenberg or Gerhard Richter
or John Cage. Instead, she is, to the vast majority of
those who have heard of her, 'that asian bitch who
took the Beatles away from us'.
Sorry, folks. Yoko DID NOT break up the Beatles. That
was gonna happen no matter what. She DID NOT brainwash
Lennon. She did open his eyes to a world he never knew
existed.
Think back for a second. Ever had one of those life
changing moments where all of a sudden everything you
know to be true is suddenly called into question?
Where your little mind gets blown so wide open that
the new ideas come rushing in and crowd out everything
else? For some people, their first acid trip did this.
For others, reading 'Catch 22' did it. For John, it
was Yoko. Chew that around a bit.
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