Why Yoko Ono once performed backup vocals for "Rock Lobster" onstage with The B-52's

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Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/03/13/why-yoko-ono-once-performed-ba.html

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Why Yoko Ono once performed backup vocals for “Rock Lobster” onstage with The B-52’s

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I couldn’t fond the (cover)version I was looking for (by Dauerfisch), so here is a cover version of the cover version:

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Here’s hoping their friendship will let one of their best and least-known songs be released digitally. “Don’t Worry” was on the original vinyl pressings of Whammy! but was subsequently replaced because of a copyright claim by Yoko.

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She sang on Rock Lobster because she is and always was a genius. I’ve never understood why people slag her so much. The Plastic Band made some truly great music. She also inspired John Lennon to write and perform some of his greatest songs.a John Lennon played some truly inspired guitar on their collaborations. She didn’t as some would say cause The Beatles to break up, that was a natural outcome any band would go through. In my experience people who dislike her never actually listened to her music. Her music is experimental so it requires some effort to actually “get it”. Many people are too lazy to invest effort to listen to music that is ”difficult”.

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To be clear, I added “Why” to the headline because the story was so much more than that.

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Tin roof, rusted…

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There was a local radio station drive show that did a contest for listeners to decide if the audioclip they played was Yoko Ono or a sheep being castrated.
It was a pretty close call.

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Oh come on. I like Stockhausen, Charles Ives and I even have a Vinyl first edition Philip Glass music in twelve parts I bought when I was 14. Along with a full Vinyl copy of Einstein on the Beach I purchased when it first hit the record store. And my SO had Laurie Anderson sign his Powerbook 150 in the early 90’s.
However I do not like Yoko.

EDIT: It was the 150 powerbook not wallstreet…it had the little track ball. Also…her signature kinda faded away…plastic and ink didn’t get along together.

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She was the evil harpy that brainwashed John and broke up the Beatles. C’mon. /s

(Serious answer: racism, misogyny, and revisionist history.)

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Came here to mention this, because I remember the day my friend and I hit the record store, and he got Whammy!
I hope he still has that vinyl. It might be worth something someday.

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1-LP originally

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Case in point, re:Experimental, one of her recent songs:

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Wow, I hope I’m that much fun – or at least having that much fun – when I’ve just turned 87. (Although at this rate I’ll still be paying for the kids’ college.)

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thank you. i grow oh-so-weary of defending her sometimes. she is and always has been such a genius, and i’m always glad when she gets props. but it’s exhausting that any mention of her is always followed by the same unimaginative chorus of thinly-veiled racism and misogyny. it’s a fact that she was famous for her work BEFORE she met John – he just opened up a whole other part of the world to an awareness of her. i have always been comforted by the fact that the one person who drops the mic on the whole issue is John. he understood her, he loved her, he was inspired by her, he defended her, and if you loved his work and appreciated him, then trust his feelings about her. and that’s that. if you can’t let her be after all that, then it’s your own problem, not hers.

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Well said. A lot of her musical works may not do a lot for me, but I can’t deny her overall talent and fearlessness. She seems like a delightful person and true happy mutant material.

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Ono is a fucking genius.
When I was, what, maybe 14 or so I didn’t get her.
I got over it.

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#noteverynoyoko

Seen her live and made a couple attempts but the plastic band never took off for me.

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fair enough. not everyone has to like every kind of art or music. but a lot of people misunderstand her art and music to begin with, and feel it’s very simple, when in reality it’s not. it’s like dismissing modern art by saying a child could do that.

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I love Yoko. It really pleases me to think about how this great artist got access to studios, musicians etc and went off producing amazing pop music. I really like how she took a bunch of pop/rock influences and inspo from John, and perfected them with intensity and vision (five stars, better than Beatles :wink: ).

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