So Yoko was not a contributing factor to the Beatles breakup

[Hack]

They kept her around for remodels. If they didnt like a the color of the walls, they would let her sing.

 

[AngryHatter]

The word comes from the horses mouth and yet, still doubts?

 

[gui524]

Come on guys. Honestly, would you want to be around this?

yoko ono sings horribly - YouTube

This one sounded ok until.......

WE'RE ALL WATER by Yoko Ono - YouTube

I still crack up when I remember the passage in Clapton's book where he talked about his experience playing with Yoko, poor fella was scared for life.

 

[Roberteaux]

I recall that at the time of the breakup, Lennon fans had a tendency to blame Linda for a lot of things-- and this, even though most of those fans of John's weren't fond of Yoko Ono at all.

My own guess was-- and still is-- that The Beatles were doomed, with or without the influence of others from without the quartet. Reading various interviews of the members that took place at that time, one got the distinct impression that all four members of the group were truly sick of one another, and that at least three of them wished to pursue independent projects that they would not have expected-- or wanted-- any of the others to participate in.

--George was tired of being the back burner boy.
--Lennon and McCartney had a rift that had been developing for years.
--Ringo was sick of the other three and their continuous bitching.
--And all four had quarrels with each of the other three over the $$$.

And right as things were melting down anyway, then came the wives. If John and Paul were upset about the slings and arrows cast at their ol' ladies, perhaps they should have kept their women on the D/L instead of promoting them with such insistence. But no: both John and Paul stuck their women in the spotlight-- with predictable results.

Paul sort of backed off his promotion of Linda, settling her in the limelight as a part of Wings instead of in the spotlight as a major contributor to the group. But John really pushed Yoko, unto the very end of his life-- even going so far as to arrange the Double Fantasy album so that every other song featured Yoko. According to John, he did this because he had learned that most of his fans were not listening to the B-sides of his previous independent albums since they were mainly Yoko featurettes, (and were typically boring as hell). But even his Double Fantasy ploy didn't work; everybody just got past her as quickly as possible instead by either lifting the needle off the turntable to skip to the next track, or fast forwarding, to avoid the dreadful sounds of Yoko Ono.

They say that love is blind. I tend to believe that John must have really been blindly in love with Yoko, that he continued to insist that we try to appreciate her as a musical artist. Personally, I thought that every recording I ever heard with her on it more or less sucked, with the possible exception of the Rock and Roll Circus material, which came off mainly as a novelty act and rehash of older material anyway.

Which is all to say that I think that a lot of Yoko Hate came from John more or less shoving her down everyone's throat. Love is blind, all right.

I found the last bit in the article to be somewhat interesting:

Ultimately, fans may care less about McCartney urging them to call the dogs off Ono after 42 years than about another statement in the Frost interview, which may count as burying the lead:

"I'd like to retire soon, and the way things are going I might be able to."

Who can fans blame for that? Maybe Heather Mills—for not soaking Paul for even more in the divorce, thereby allowing him to continue living comfortably enough that he won't be forced to entertain us till his dying day. Better enjoy those three-hour live shows while you can, Macca-holics.

I had to shake my head at this. First, for wondering just how much money Paul figures he needs to "be comfortable", and after that, for thinking of how ridiculous some music fans can be. As for hating Heather Mills: well, I'm sure she cries all the way to the bank.

I mean, Paul is 70 years old, and we've had five decades of great music from him already. If he wishes to persist as an entertainer, I would have nothing bad to say about him because music is his way of life. But on the other hand, if Paul retired tonight, I would greet his departure with the same sort of shrug I lifted upon hearing that Lawrence Welk was calling it quits.

--R

 

[tazzboy]

From Larry the Cable Guy

But we was up there--there was somebody up there selling Yoko Ono CDs at the flea market. Now what kind of waterhead is buying a daggone Yoko Ono CD? "Hey, you wanna come over and listen to my Yoko Ono record?" "You know, I'd love to, but I'm gonna put my wiener in a meat grinder here in about an hour-and-a-half there." I'd be right over there, now. That's right.

and one other quote from Larry

Yoko Ono She is like a Bad Turd that won't flush.

 

[EasyAce]

When Epstein died I think that was when the Beatles started falling apart.

That's what John Lennon himself thought, as he said in due course: I knew that we were in trouble then. I didn't really have any misconceptions about our ability to do anything other than play music. I was scared. I thought, 'We've f@cking had it.'

 

[geochem1st]

Big egoes, big money, troubled marriages, and a homewrecker.

What could have possibly gone wrong

You forgot drug abuse as well.

 

[Kamen_Kaiju]

I still crack up when I remember the passage in Clapton's book where he talked about his experience playing with Yoko, poor fella was scared for life.

is that story online anywhere? (not the whole book, just that part.)

 

[geochem1st]

......
I had to shake my head at this. First, for wondering just how much money Paul figures he needs to "be comfortable",

--R

MLP Public Service Announcement:

Careful, you will run afoul of the local 'greed police'. Greed only exists if you point it out and it's you that has it. He has every right to earn as much money as he sees fit, gosh darn, its a god given right.

You will be quizzed on how you came across such strange ideas...

Sorry for the derail, but back to the thread in progress.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Much as I can't stand her music, Yoko (and Linda too) got the shit end of the stick so far as blame goes. The real reasons, pretty much laid out above to a great degree of accuracy, are supported by the two bios I've read, from Phil Norman and Nicholas Schaffner.

 

[Skintaster]

I think it's been pretty easy for fans to blame Yoko Ono, when there were obviously many major problems developing within the band for years.

 

[realjimjim]

All I've ever cared about was their finding little "KOKO."

I got real busy and lost track of what was happening.

Did Yoko ever find little "Koko?"

 

[twangydave]

The woman has ZERO musical talent - that's not a comment about her character, she may be a very nice lady, but she was not qualified to walk into a Beatles rehearsal and tell George Harrison what he should be playing - that's wrong on every level. That George felt he had to take her comments on board (or risk the wrath of John) tells you all you need to know about the relationships between The Beatles and the lack of respect they were showing to each other, the band and the music they had created.

The Beatles was a relationship between four special men, like most relationships it failed when love and mutual respect no longer functioned. It's wrong to blame the women, yes, they meddled, but that's sometimes in a woman's nature. The women should never have been in the position to meddle in the first place.

The men had outgrown the band by this stage and drugs, parties, politics, religeon and personal advancement had all become more important to them than 'The Beatles'. They had played together for years and years, toured, recorded and spent massive amounts of time cooped up together. Sometimes people forget that fact and the reality that familiarity breeds contempt even amoungst a group of the most talented and brilliant people.

The Beatles have left a massive body of work for music lovers to enjoy and we should be grateful for that, not constanly wondering about what might have been. Fate could easily have split up The Beatles way before the band came to a perfectly natural end in the way it did. Thankfully they were together long enough to change the course of musical history and record very many classic records in the process.

 

[DRF]

Have you guys ever seen that gem of a movie made by Yoko,its called Fly or something and its a fly crawling over a womans body shot in closeup with Yoko making fly sounds.

The Beatles made their best music near the end,I love watching vids of them in the studio. I think George came out as a great songwriter. His compositions are among my favorites.

 

[Skintaster]

Do any fans of The Beatles really think they could have (or would have) continued much longer with or without Yoko being around?

I'm not even a fan, but I can't see how that would have been possible.

 

[jlu52]

I recall that at the time of the breakup, Lennon fans had a tendency to blame Linda for a lot of things-- and this, even though most of those fans of John's weren't fond of Yoko Ono at all.

My own guess was-- and still is-- that The Beatles were doomed, with or without the influence of others from without the quartet. Reading various interviews of the members that took place at that time, one got the distinct impression that all four members of the group were truly sick of one another, and that at least three of them wished to pursue independent projects that they would not have expected-- or wanted-- any of the others to participate in.

--George was tired of being the back burner boy.










--Lennon and McCartney had a rift that had been developing for years.
--Ringo was sick of the other three and their continuous bitching.
--And all four had quarrels with each of the other three over the $$$.

And right as things were melting down anyway, then came the wives. If John and Paul were upset about the slings and arrows cast at their ol' ladies, perhaps they should have kept their women on the D/L instead of promoting them with such insistence. But no: both John and Paul stuck their women in the spotlight-- with predictable results.

Paul sort of backed off his promotion of Linda, settling her in the limelight as a part of Wings instead of in the spotlight as a major contributor to the group. But John really pushed Yoko, unto the very end of his life-- even going so far as to arrange the Double Fantasy album so that every other song featured Yoko. According to John, he did this because he had learned that most of his fans were not listening to the B-sides of his previous independent albums since they were mainly Yoko featurettes, (and were typically boring as hell). But even his Double Fantasy ploy didn't work; everybody just got past her as quickly as possible instead by either lifting the needle off the turntable to skip to the next track, or fast forwarding, to avoid the dreadful sounds of Yoko Ono.

They say that love is blind. I tend to believe that John must have really been blindly in love with Yoko, that he continued to insist that we try to appreciate her as a musical artist. Personally, I thought that every recording I ever heard with her on it more or less sucked, with the possible exception of the Rock and Roll Circus material, which came off mainly as a novelty act and rehash of older material anyway.

Which is all to say that I think that a lot of Yoko Hate came from John more or less shoving her down everyone's throat. Love is blind, all right.

I found the last bit in the article to be somewhat interesting:



I had to shake my head at this. First, for wondering just how much money Paul figures he needs to "be comfortable", and after that, for thinking of how ridiculous some music fans can be. As for hating Heather Mills: well, I'm sure she cries all the way to the bank.

I mean, Paul is 70 years old, and we've had five decades of great music from him already. If he wishes to persist as an entertainer, I would have nothing bad to say about him because music is his way of life. But on the other hand, if Paul retired tonight, I would greet his departure with the same sort of shrug I lifted upon hearing that Lawrence Welk was calling it quits.

--R

Rob has summarized it all quite well. And let there be no doubt, if all else was copacetic with the lads, George was getting the f**k out, no matter what. He wanted to do what he eventually did, and make what I think was their best individual work, the masterpiece All Things Must Pass.

 

[mrgrandnational]

Hmmm....

5:30
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQkMuHU9huM&feature=related]The Beatles on Yoko Ono - YouTube[/ame]

 

[6stringer]

Come on guys. Honestly, would you want to be around this?

yoko ono sings horribly - YouTube

This one sounded ok until.......

WE'RE ALL WATER by Yoko Ono - YouTube

My favorite part was the microphone feedback.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Do any fans of The Beatles really think they could have (or would have) continued much longer with or without Yoko being around?

I'm not even a fan, but I can't see how that would have been possible.

I don't, not at all. I think Yoko and Lynda were both symptoms of the breaches growing in the Beatles camp -- John and Paul were growing up, and growing apart.

 

[zontar]

There were lots of contributing factors to their break up--some given in this thread I'd agree with (Most actually)
But to say she wasn't a contributing factor is an overstatement--that she wasn't THE main factor--sure, but not a factor at all?

I find that hard to believe--

but they would still have broken up anyways without her--but that doesn't mean she still wasn't a factor in some way--at the very least she was a symptom of why they broke up.

And it was decades ago--so if you haven't gotten over it and moved on yet--you need to do so.