[HejiraNYC]

Originally Posted by Nico

Yikes. Hejira, your opinions about Yoko's music are absolutely understandable. She is not exactly the most accessible musical artist, but to say "Yoko was hardly an artist in her own right" is absolutely incorrect. Yoko was a classicaly trained pianist who was part of the 1960's Fluxus Movement and was a legitimately respected artist in the avant garde world BEFORE she met John Lennon. It was to her career detriment that she hooked up with one of the biggest superstars in rock music, and instead of his status adding credence to her accomplishments people just mocked and ridiculed her.

I meant musical artist, if we're going to be that fastidiously picky about wording. Yoko Ono is/was not a musical artist in her own right. And just because you took some piano lessons, it doesn't automatically make you a musical artist, let alone a musician.

I can only speak for myself, but much of Yoko's music and art is inspirational. I have studied art and in the late 90's I purchased a career retrospective on her. Yoko Ono is a formidable talent in her genre, whether you want to believe it or not. And her music was not always based on "caterwauling," as she has many beautiful and poignant pieces. Her resurgence on the dance charts- which you sort of ignored in your response- is something to take note of. Those singles, for the most part, were made with John Lennon. He played on those records, and some of the best playing in his career actually.

The dance remix that you mentioned features plenty of caterwauling. And success on the dance charts is kind of a dubious feat. I mean, I suppose it comes with some bragging rights. But there are plenty of nobodies with a Casio keyboard and an iMac that produce dance hit records all the time. I think it's great that you find inspiration in her music; one needs inspiration to live. For myself personally, I physically cannot tolerate atonal wobbly vibratos that are microtones off-pitch; I don't have perfect pitch, but I think I am close to it. And this is really personal, but when I hear Yoko shrieking, I hear my mother shrieking- it's a distinctly Asian sound, I guess.

But in any case, I don't want to besmirch your opinions as you have every right to them. I look at this list and see it's called "legendary" and think that it makes perfect sense that two of the Beatles would be so high. As far as legends go, they can't really be touched.

Well, I appreciate your civilized approach to offering a countering view (unlike some knuckledraggers around here). While I do agree that John and Paul are/were probably the greatest songwriting duo in history, since we are on the topic of romantic couples, I think their collective greatness is vastly diluted by their pairing with decidedly less (non-) talented wives. Now if John Lennon hooked up with Joni Mitchell, I would agree unconditionally that they were the greatest, most legendary rock couple ever.