#85 John Lennon, 'Plastic Ono Band' (1970)
Previously #23
John Lennon’s debut album and first issue of music since the official dissolution of The Beatles in April 1970, is raw musically and cathartic & introspective lyrically. A far cry from the music of his band. Lennon, and wife, Yoko Ono, undertook primal therapy following the public break up of his band, which inspired a lot of the music on ‘Plastic Ono Band.’ Opening with ‘Mother,’ the song addresses his feeling of abandonment by his parents (Lennon was famously raised by his Aunt Mimi); “Mother, you had me but I never had you/I wanted you,/You didn't want me/So I, I just got to tell you/Goodbye goodbye/Father, you left me but I never left you/I needed you,/You didn't need me/So I, I just got to tell you/Goodbye goodbye.” ‘Hold On,’ a short less-than-two-minutes song shows a softer side to Lennon, a song encouraging both himself and Yoko to hold on. ‘I Found Out,’ once again sparse production-wise, is a more acerbic blues-based song about false religion and idols. The next song, ‘Working Class Hero,’ features just Lennon, his acoustic guitar and take-no-prisoners pointed lyrics. An anthem for the Working Class. Featuring the at-the-time controversial lyrics “They hurt you at home and they hit you at school/They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool/'Til you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules.” The closing track on Side A addresses Lennon’s feeling of isolation due to his fame. For me, this is the most Beatles-esque song on the album.
On Side B we get Lennon’s ode to Ono and love on the aptly titled ‘Love.’ Short statements sung over piano played by convicted murderer and madman producer, Phil Spector. The most shocking song on the record, however, is ‘God.’ I remember hearing this for the first time when I was 14 years old. Did I hear that correctly? Did he really just sing that? Yep. John Lennon, on record, sang the line “I don't believe in Beatles/I just believe in me/Yoko and me/And that's reality.” He goes on to sing “The dream is over/What can I say?/The dream is over/Yesterday,” a cheeky little jab at McCartney and his most famous song. Somewhat ironically, ex-Beatles bandmate, Ringo Starr plays drums on this song, in fact he plays drums on most of the songs. With this release Lennon had formally announced what the world had feared. The Beatles was over, the ‘60s were over and this was the new reality. A solo John Lennon record to end off the first year of the new decade.
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