Funny you didn’t pick the quote where I listesd all the influence Sonic Youth had. Here it is again:
“Wow, now you are putting words in my mouth. Sonic Youth influenced Dinosaur Jr, My Bloody Valentine, Neutral Milk Hotel, Nirvana, Yo La Tango, Pavement, Guided By Voices and countless other indie acts. What to speak of helping to create Grunge and Shoegaze. That makes them very influential. I didn’t say they were more influential then Robert Johnson (or Muddy Waters for that matter,) or Mozart. There is a gray area between being not influential and being the most influential. It is not an all or nothing game.
Enough hijacking for one day…”
For those who don’t know. Those are some of the biggest bands in Indie Rawk Sonic Youth was a direct influence on them. They also influenced 2 very important popular music genres.
Shocking.. the guy in Utah knows not of Sonic Youth..
If you were following post new wave in the mid 80’s.. everyone knew of Sonic Youth.. I don’t see where Tomcar or anyone else has made Yoko Ono out to be a truly transforming music figure.. but several 80’s new wave bands listened.. like it.. used it.. It seems like some sort of bridge that people can’t mentally cross. I’m not a huge Philip Glass guy.. but to try and minimize him is absurd..
BTW Great Sonic Youth concert.. 1987 Cabaret Metro.. northside of Chicago..
I thought everyone knew by now Yoko Ono didn’t break the Beatles up. Seriously this is ancient news. Story after essay after book has been written about the Beatles, and the reasons for their breakup are extraordinarily well documented. Nobody who’s ever read two issues of “Rolling Stone” thinks Yoko Ono broke up the Beatles.
It’s been 42 years, holy moly.
[QUOTE=tomcar]
One of Barenaked Ladies’s best-known songs is “Be My Yoko Ono”..
[/QUOTE]
Um, have you ever heard the song? This is not a very good quote to bring up in defense of the concept than Ono was an influential musician.
Wow. That’s almost like a who’s who of pretentious artsy-fartsiness, except for the B52’s. They’re more like self-conscious, trying too hard to be quirky.
If Yoko Ono is responsible for their sound, then this is why people should be hating her, not for breaking up The Beatles.
I agree with points 1 and 2. But the song isn’t really making fun of Yoko (she and her son Sean LIKE the song).
I think the song is really saying, “Even if Yoko DID break up the Beatles… well, isn’t it sort of WONDERFUL that John Lennon loved someone so much he’d walk away from the Greatest Show on Earth for her? Really, don’t we ALL wish we had someone we loved so much, we’d give up ANYTHING for her?”
That doesn’t mean it isn’t making fun of her. So she has a sense of humour and can laugh at herself. When they shriek like banshees with bronchitis in imitation of Ono, that’s pretty clearly not meant to play up her skill as a musician.
It’s a lighthearted jest, but it’s a jest all the same.
As implied above, you know perfectly well that if she hadn’t married Lennon there is very little chance anyone would have listened to her, let alone actually have a record deal. And I still prefer “proof” of an influence coming from the artist in question SAYING they listened and were influenced by an another artist rather than going on self styled expert opinion.
I listened to the non-stripped down version and I agree there are similarities. The bass in the Sugarcubes song is similar to Yoko’s beginning vocals, but Bjork vocals are quite different than Yoko’s.
Despite that I don’t like Yoko’s music, I am perfectly willing to believe she influenced some artists. “Mother of New Wave” would need a little more evidence.
Or she would have achieved bigger success, not being saddled with the “broke up the Beatles” albatross that she has lived with. Who knows. She played with some heavy hitters before Lennon.
As far as being the mother of New Wave, not many women challenged mainstream music in the 60s and 70s like she did. Nico would be another main influence (who Ilike alot more.)Yoko was making avant stuff before New and No Waves. I am not a personal fan, but I have to give credit.
And I am not sure where to buy her music, possibly Amazon, itunes?
Here is a great write up about her music. It doesn’t get into who she influenced although it does allude to the fact that she influenced the New Wave movement.
If you don’t know what the Trouser Press is, it is one of the original magazines that chronicled the New Wave, punk, power pop, indie, alt, underground movements of the 70s and 80s. They also had a guide that listed all the bands and reviews of the era.
