“[Yoko Ono] is a great artist, but people don’t talk enough about her work in terms of this crossover between art and music. She’s really an under-recognized precurser, an early Conceptual artist. I’m sure she had a great influence on John Lennon and The Beatles in the way they presented themselves. Their visual style was certainly influenced by her ideas. I don’t think the White Album, for example, could have existed without her art interest. . . .
In fact, when you think of it, the White Album is a perfect crossover object, a mix of pop music, Pop Art and Fluxus: a cross between a Richard Hamilton and a Fluxus edition.”
—Christian Marclay, talking with Kim Gordon in 2003. From Press Play: Contemporary Artists in Conversation, 2005.
Since I hear more Beach Boys on the elevator.music grocery channels than the Beatles in my “what makes
it a “classic” search” I started wondering why the Paul McCartney songs are the ones the usually play on the road to becoming classics. Then , I heard an interview with Ringo and he said that both John and George hated Paul so much because Paul thought his songs were the best and wouldn’t even consider theirs when it was time to go into the studio…well, John apparently brought in Yoko just to fuck with Paul who couldn’t stand her and since it was obvious that the Beatles were coming apart or moving away from Paul, that Yoko was a convenient way for them to crack it apart. Going back and listening to the post-Beatles records by John, Yoko, & George one begins to think that maybe Paul was right in the first place. It’s just too bad that John and George didn’t go try to join the Beach Boys. or the bee gees. Ringo seemed to think that the most influential group from that era.. if you listen to R.E.M. and college.rock must have been.. what’s the name of the group that did “nights in white satin” .. the Moody Blues.
That rings a bell, Jim. I read somewhere that during the making of the White Album, Paul worked late in the studio on the drums, recording over Ringo’s tracks. . . .