Alexei Volkov
The Plastic Ono Band was a conceptual band formed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969, before the dissolution of the Beatles. The band featured a rotating line-up of musicians including Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Klaus Voormann, Alan White, and Ringo Starr. The name Plastic Ono Band was coined by Lennon, inspired by Ono's idea for an art exhibition in Berlin, where she envisioned a band made of plastic boxes with tape recorders inside. The Plastic Ono Band served as a creative outlet for Lennon and Ono's collaborative musical and sound art projects, films, conceptual art projects, and solo LPs.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1968-69 |
| Founders | John Lennon and Yoko Ono |
| Genre | Rock |
| Type | Artist collective |
| Members | Rotating line-up including Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Klaus Voormann, Alan White, Billy Preston, Jim Keltner, Keith Moon, Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, Ringo Starr |
| Albums | Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins, Live Peace in Toronto 1969, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band |
| Impact | One of the best albums of all time, influenced Roger Waters' Dark Side, considered a landmark work |
| Concept | "YOU are the Plastic Ono Band", "the message is the music", an imaginary band, a robot pop group |
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What You'll Learn
- John Lennon and Yoko Ono's collaborative art exhibitions, concerts, and musical recording projects
- The band's rotating line-up of musicians, including Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr
- The meaning of the name 'Plastic Ono Band' and its origins in Ono's 1967 art exhibition idea
- The impact of the band and its albums on the wider music scene and listeners
- The band's first release, 'Give Peace a Chance', and its message of world peace
John Lennon and Yoko Ono's collaborative art exhibitions, concerts, and musical recording projects
John Lennon and Yoko Ono's collaborative projects include art exhibitions, concerts, and musical recording projects. The couple first met in 1966 when Lennon visited one of Ono's solo exhibitions. They began a romantic relationship in 1968 and married in 1969.
In 1968, Lennon and Ono opened their first joint art exhibition, titled "You Are Here (To Yoko from John Lennon, With Love)". The exhibition took place at the Robert Fraser Gallery in London and featured charity collection boxes, a huge circular canvas, an upturned white hat, and a rusty bicycle donated by students at Hornsey College of Art.
Ono and Lennon also collaborated on several other art exhibitions, including a sound and light installation in the Apple press office. In 2004, the ICA London held an exhibition titled "The Rare Films of Yoko Ono", showcasing Ono's experimental films from the 1960s and 1970s. In 2013, the VanArtGallery in Vancouver hosted an exhibition titled "Yoko Ono: Growing Freedom", which featured collaborative works by Ono and Lennon, including the WAR IS OVER (If you want it) peace campaign and the BED-INS FOR PEACE.
In terms of musical collaborations, Lennon and Ono formed the Plastic Ono Band in 1968-1969, releasing several avant-garde and experimental albums. The band featured a rotating lineup of musicians, including Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann, Alan White, and Ringo Starr. Their notable albums include "Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins" (1968), "Approximately Infinite Universe" (1972), "Feeling the Space" (1973), "Double Fantasy" (1980), and "Between My Head and the Sky" (2009).
Lennon and Ono also collaborated on several other musical projects, including the soundtrack for the film "Fly" (1970) and the album "Some Time in New York City", inspired by their antiwar beliefs. Their live performances included a concert with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention in New York City and a performance at the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon.
In addition to their art and musical collaborations, Lennon and Ono also worked together as activists, undertaking peaceful protests and campaigns such as the WAR IS OVER (If you want it) and BED-INS FOR PEACE.
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The band's rotating line-up of musicians, including Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr
The Plastic Ono Band was a conceptual band formed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969. The band featured a rotating line-up of musicians, including Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. The band was formed to support Lennon and Ono's solo albums.
Eric Clapton, an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter, was recruited by Lennon for the role of lead guitarist for the Plastic Ono Band's first performance in Toronto. Clapton was recruited on the recommendation of George Harrison, who had turned down the offer to play lead guitar himself.
George Harrison, a former bandmate of Lennon's from the Beatles, played guitar and piano for the Plastic Ono Band. He was also involved in the band's earlier iterations, including the supergroup "The Dirty Mac", which performed alongside Lennon and Ono at the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus in 1968.
Ringo Starr, another former Beatles bandmate of Lennon's, played drums and tom toms for the Plastic Ono Band. He was a core musician for the band, alongside Lennon, Ono, and Klaus Voormann. Starr also played with Lennon and Clapton in the Toronto line-up of the band.
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The meaning of the name 'Plastic Ono Band' and its origins in Ono's 1967 art exhibition idea
The Plastic Ono Band was a conceptual band formed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969. The name and concept were conceived by Ono in 1967 for an art exhibition in Berlin. The idea was for a band composed of plastic boxes with a mechanism, robot, or tape recording inside, instead of human members. This allowed Lennon to separate his artistic output from that of the Beatles.
Ono and Lennon began their personal and artistic relationship in 1968, collaborating on several experimental releases. After their marriage in 1969, they decided that their future endeavours would be credited to the Plastic Ono Band. The band featured a rotating line-up of musicians, including Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann, Alan White, Billy Preston, Jim Keltner, and Keith Moon, as well as Lennon's former Beatles bandmates George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
The Plastic Ono Band's debut release was the single "Give Peace a Chance," which was recorded in Montreal with various guests and credited to the Plastic Ono Band. The single reached No. 2 in the UK and No. 14 in the US charts. The concept behind the Plastic Ono Band was that "the message is the music," and that everyone who listened to or sang along with the song was part of the band.
In December 1970, Lennon and Ono released solo albums titled John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band, respectively. The albums were recorded with a core band of Lennon on guitar, Starr on drums, and Voormann on bass, and co-produced by Lennon, Ono, and Phil Spector. The albums featured raw production and lyrics reflecting Lennon's personal issues, including child-parent abandonment and psychological suffering. John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band received mixed reviews initially but later came to be regarded as one of Lennon's best solo albums.
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The impact of the band and its albums on the wider music scene and listeners
The Plastic Ono Band was a conceptual band formed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1968-69. The band featured a rotating lineup of musicians, including Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann, Alan White, Billy Preston, and George Harrison. The creation of the Plastic Ono Band allowed Lennon to separate his artistic output from that of the Beatles.
The debut solo studio album by John Lennon, backed by the Plastic Ono Band, was released by Apple Records on 11 December 1970. The album received mixed reviews at the time of its release but later came to be widely regarded as one of Lennon's best solo albums. The album contains a raw production sound with songs heavily influenced by Lennon's recent primal therapy. The lyrics reflect Lennon's personal issues, including child-parent abandonment and psychological suffering.
The album had a significant impact on listeners and the wider music scene. It was ranked number 23 in Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2012 and was voted number 244 in Colin Larkin's "All Time Top 1000 Albums" in 2000. The album also influenced other artists, such as Roger Waters, who was influenced by its dry sound. Additionally, the album's plainspoken and personal lyrics may have influenced the grunge wave in the 1990s, including Kurt Cobain's work with Nirvana.
Yoko Ono's contributions to the Plastic Ono Band were also significant. Her unique and powerful voice, as well as her wordless singing and articulations of pain, fear, and desperation, left a lasting impression on listeners. Her involvement in the band and its albums challenged conventional, patriarchal best-of lists and histories of popular music, inviting listeners to approach the music with a different kind of openness and to ascribe their own meanings to the experience.
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The band's first release, 'Give Peace a Chance', and its message of world peace
The Plastic Ono Band was a conceptual band formed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1968-69. The band featured a rotating lineup of musicians, including Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Klaus Voormann, Alan White, Billy Preston, and Ringo Starr. The band's name was conceived by Ono in 1967 as an idea for an art exhibition in Berlin.
The band's first release, "Give Peace a Chance," is an anti-war song written by John Lennon and recorded with the participation of a small group of friends, including Yoko Ono, in a hotel room in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The song was written during Lennon and Ono's "Bed-In" honeymoon in Montreal. When asked by a reporter what he was trying to achieve by staying in bed, Lennon answered spontaneously, "Just give peace a chance." The song was released as a single in July 1969 by the Plastic Ono Band on Apple Records. It is the first solo single issued by Lennon while he was still a member of the Beatles.
"Give Peace a Chance" became an anthem of the American anti-war movement during the 1970s. The song peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 2 on the British singles chart. The original last verse of the song refers to "John and Yoko, Timmy Leary, Rosemary [Leary], Tommy Smothers, Bobby Dylan, Tommy Cooper, Derek Taylor, Norman Mailer, Allen Ginsberg, and Hare Krishna." In a live performance of the song included on the Live Peace in Toronto 1969 album, Lennon stated that he could not remember all the words and improvised with the names of the band members and anything that came to mind.
The song has been referenced and covered by various artists, including The British group Yes, who paid tribute to Lennon's words on their 1971 release, The Yes Album, in "Your Move." Louis Armstrong recorded the song in 1970, and it was released as a single in the UK. Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder led the crowd in a singalong to the chorus during a 2003 concert in Adelaide, Australia. Madonna performed an acoustic version of the song during her Confessions Tour concert in Moscow, Russia, in 2006.
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Frequently asked questions
The Plastic Ono Band was a conceptual band and artist collective formed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1968-69. The band featured a rotating line-up of musicians including Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Klaus Voormann, Alan White, and Billy Preston.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono wanted to separate their artistic output from that of the Beatles. The Plastic Ono Band allowed them to credit their future endeavours as a couple to a new identity.
The name "Plastic Ono Band" was conceived by Yoko Ono in 1967 for an art exhibition in Berlin. She envisioned a band made of plastic stands with tape recorders in each one. When she told John Lennon about this idea, he immediately coined the phrase "Plastic Ono Band".
The Plastic Ono Band released several albums, including Live Peace in Toronto 1969, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, and Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band. They also released singles such as "Give Peace a Chance" and "Remember Love".
