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Mojo woo-hoos Yoko Ono
The Mojo awards for 2009 or whenever have rolled around again, building the publicity on a lifetime achievement award for Yoko Ono:
Mojo chief editor Phil Alexander, who hosted the event, praised Ono, 76, as "a huge influence on modern music".
"She may have been married to one of the most famous men in the world, but she also helped change music as we know it in her own right," he added.
"First, by introducing avant-garde sensibilities to her husband but, just as significantly, by continuing to push the boundaries of what was deemed the norm way after that."
And she broke up The Beatles. Don't forget she broke up The Beatles.
Actually, she probably deserves an award for having had to put up with people blaming her for breaking up The Beatles for the last four decades. Especially since people make it sound like that would have been a bad thing to do.
Sorry, did I say "award"? I meant honour, of course. These are the Mojo Honours, which - according to the magazine - "salutes the timeless, the ineffable". Duffy did well last year. So unutterable as well, then.
This year's other winn... sorry, honorees:
The Les Paul Trophy: Billy Gibbons
Classic songwriter: Johnny Marr
Best live band: Fleet Foxes
Some sort of medal in honour of his label having lasted fifty years, despite having put out Cranberries records: Chris Blackwell
Inspiration: Blur
Best album: Paul Weller - 22 Dreams
Song Of The Year: Elbow - A Day Like This
Hall Of Fame: Mott The Hoople
Breakthrough act: White Lies
Compilation Of The Year - Take Me To The River: A Southern Soul Story
Vision Award - Joy Division
Catalogue Award - Miles Davis (Kind Of Blue 50th Anniversary Edition)
Classic Album Award - The Zombies (Odessey And Oracle)
Maverick Award - Manic Street Preachers
Hero Award - The Pretty Things
Outstanding Contribution To Music - Joe Brown
Roots Awards - Topic Records
Icon Award - Phil Lynott
It's probably fair to say that this is the most eclectic set of award winners - and probably the most interesting Mojo prizewinners list, but it still doesn't really feel like anything beyond an attempt to remind the world that Mojo is still publishing.
6 comments:
It's quite sad that they have to use Yoko Ono's career to draw attention to themselves. Use a figure of controversy that nobody acknowledges for anything other than some oft-repeated myth (come on people, would you stick with a band that had started to record things like Maxwell's Silver Hammer?) and reap the rewards. It's just asking for more people criticising her music as terrible or, if they're feeling kind, "weird" even though they've never actually ever listened to her music, which I might add is actually pretty underrated (not that anyone has listened to her to rate it in the first place). Of course, I'm saying that I like Yoko Ono's work at the same time as commenting anonymously so I suppose that does tell you a lot about us Yoko Ono fans. (In company, we whisper that last word)
It is quite an odd list of awards, a mix of lifetime achievement and... well, just that.
I suspect Lennonites just have it in for Maxwell's Silver Hammer because His Saintliness famously mentioned his hatred of it, rather than any rational analysis of the facts, which are:
a) it's a music hall style ditty of the sort that the Beatles had done several times before without attracting excessive opprobrium (When I'm 64, Your Mother Should Know etc)
b) being about a psychotic murderer it's got rather more bite than anyone can be bothered to give it credit for
c) Mean Mr Mustard isn't exactly a classic either.
Oh don't get me wrong I was actually just picking on Maxwell's Silver Hammer because I personally see it as the epitome of rubbish not because I'm a Lennonite, which I should add I'm definitely not. On the same album Mean Mr Mustard & Polythene Pam are also utter drivel. (I'll not even go into my feelings on Octopus's Bloody Garden.) I should've said "would you stick with a band that had started to record things like Maxwell's Silver Hammer, Mean Mr Mustard & Polythene Pam?" At least McCartney only contributes that one duff track to Abbey Road (I like Your Majesty so don't you dare!!!) while Lennon takes the piss with those two. I should add that I don't actually believe that there was any particular reason for the band splitting up (Yoko, crap songs, song rights, Lee Eastman, whatever)and I don't ever understand why so many people seem to be so determined to single one out. I love the Beatles music and I'm happy with it left as it is/was. It would be nice if people focused on that rather than blaming this and that for something that was quite obviously inevitable.
Then again, I'm the sort of person who listens to Ram quite a lot and answers "Who's your favourite Beatle?" with George Martin.
Mojo, despite giving perhaps a bit too much attention to 'the greats' of rock n roll (beatles, stones, dylan) is a fantastic magazine, the cover CDs are generally great (some great (not plastic) mod type ones, post punk, psych rock,island records to name a few) and a diverse array of musicians (sonic youth and, er, some others) like reading it. Brand new, it's mainly retro but who the fuck reads Q? there ain't another title like it on the supermarket shelves...
It has been 46 years since I became aware that John Lennon was a fascinating mind.
I have yet to reach this opinion of his second wife.
This week she has clamped down on a doco with film of JL made by her first husband. I conclude that it must not have shown Joko in a positive light.
The MOJO awards surely didn't mention MILES DAVIS for the first time. ?
I hope they have acknowledged him well before this.
@ F.G. Marshall-Stacks
"Joko"
AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! I see what you did there. Unfortunately, scientists have proven that the people who slag off Yoko Ono are almost always idiots, and, for some reason, almost always John Lennon fans.
And to have considered Lennon to have been a fascinating mind since 1963 is, quite frankly, an even better laugh than you gave me with 'Joko'.
I don't know when I first became aware of John Lennon (I was born in 1986 if that helps), but it was probably shortly after I became aware of him that I considered him to be a pretentious, overrated individual, with a penchant for clunky 'hey-look-at-me-aren't-I-so-psychedelic-and-out-there-maaaaan' lyrics.
Decent singer though, I'll give him that.
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