It’s simply horrific to learn that in the immediate wake of John’s murder, Yoko was plagued with death threats, bomb threats, suicides of fans, theft and betrayals from people looking to cash in. How sick people can be.
@@eyeizarandummuggaI mean sure his hastily conquered and ungovernable empire collapsed but the Seleucids, Ptolemeus etc. went on and Hellenic culture impacted all the regions conquered by Alexander. His name is remembered to this day with the epithet "the Great" so I'd say his legacy did not crumble.
It reminds me of the insane crap that kpop stars go through, like being stalked across the country to their hotels, literally people attempting to kidnap them from offstage. Perfect Blue really was only a slight exaggeration of reality.
The last few minutes of this (especially Yoko's tweet about the chair) made me think of something Yoko herself said about the breakup of the Beatles. She referred to a Japanese folktale of a beautiful golden temple. One of the worshippers in this temple eventually burned it down because he couldn't stand the thought of it decaying as the years went by, and wanted the temple to stand forever in people's memories in its most perfect form. Yoko said that this was one of the reasons the Beatles remain so popular...they ended before they deteriorated.
The entire 27 club is like that, too. They are definitely good to begin with. And they also get a multiplier on their memory due to exiting before they fizzle out. They would probably not be held up on quite as high pedestals if they had lived to ripe old ages.
You would love my Yoko Ono biography In Your Mind - The Infinite Universe of Yoko Ono The true story of the woman John Lennon loved. See the world in a whole new way, through Yoko’s fascinating mind. Find out all the reasons that John Lennon adored her. The first extensive exploration of the artist's amazing life, struggles, art, activism, films and music in stunning detail. This is not only a biography - it is the ultimate reference guide to Ono’s life and work. Now in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Library & Archives Acclaimed by MOJO & Goldmine Honorable Mention in The Beatles Gift Guide
Sent my mom, a lifelong beatles fan, this video. After watching it, she told me “People really hate Yoko that much? I never thought she was really all that bad except for being kind of pretentious.” My dad, who hates the beatles, told me after watching this, “God, if she really did break them up, I’d sing her praises every day.”
@scared_hamster6246 wasnt that john lennon? sorry i dont know much about the beatles, but if so thats actually horrible :< i hope shes doing oki today
@@leahissilly well, both did, but ringo and his wife were deep in the bottle at some point in the 70s and had a physical fight iirc. Both ended up going to rehab.
It goes in deep without running into tangents, like how General Walker was a member of the John Birch Society and promoted it to his troops, which would mean explaining what the JBS is (yes, it's still around) and why US Army officers cannot promote political causes to their subordinates (until recently it was an understood rule that officers were not supposed to vote, only enlisted personnel could). Speaking of tangents I want to thank you for introducing me to the work of Michael Snow; I never went to film school, and the film classes in college I took were on narrative films, so whatever non-narrative experimental films I've found I had to discover on my own. I will be looking into Snow's fellow Structuralist filmmakers.
You know what's fucked up? I never even knew that Ono was *there,* next to Lennon, when he was shot. That alone is enough of a reason to just give up on... everything, really. Not just fame; _everything._ The fact that she's still here at all is a miracle unto itself. Hell hath no fury like a misogynist accused.
Watching the Get Back documentary made me feel so bad for Paul. It has the vibe of doing a group project where he's the only one throwing out ideas and George just says "no" while John has overslept from presumably doing drugs the night before. God bless Ringo for just being humble and rolling with the punches.
Director Michael Lindsay-Hogg butting in with his overblown concert ideas didn’t help, either. “Imagine one thousand Arabs with TORCHES!” I kept yelling at the screen, “SHUT UP AND LET THEM WORK!”
@@mcbonezs457 Jesus dude, you're everywhere. you're the living embodiment of that old "Man always gets little rush out of telling people John Lennon beat his wife" Onion article.
@@mcbonezs457 neither Ringo nor Barbara were in their right minds, drunk and drugged to the hills. They both checked into rehab. He didn't do that sober and did she condemn him for it?
Relationships often end when one person wants it to end, but they don't want to break the other one's heart, so instead of blindsiding them and calling for the breakup they just emotionally check out. That emotional detachment drives the other one to actually call for the break up. That seems to be what happened with John and Paul.
I think many diehard Beatles fans already knew this. John and Paul have stated it on record in several interviews that the lyrics of Imagine were derived from Yoko's poem. But I do think casual fans would be hearing this for the first time.
Like John and Yoko, Ringo is a complicated human being who did good and bad things. Not excusing what he did to his wife, but he has shown remorse for it and got treatment for his alcoholism. I swear every Beatles fan goes through a phase where they learn that four of the most famous men to ever exist did some horrible things, and it breaks their brain. We forget that they weren't literally Jesus, they were just bigger than him 😉 Honestly I'm shocked we don't have any WORSE substantiated stories about them.
@@dellybird5394 "I'm shocked we don't have any worse substantiated stories about them" FOR REAL! Considering their level of fame and how young they were, it could be A LOT worse. Makes me think of the Led Zeppelin groupie and the mud shark
"Nobody ever said anything about Paul having a spell over me when I was with him for a long time. Or me having a spell over Paul. They didn't think that was abnormal. Two guys together." Don't worry John, it's just that nobody had invented AO3 yet
@@SebastianHackeado “heavily edited“ ofc it is! Who tf is gonna watch over 300 hours of footage ? And I don’t like how you insinuate the bs about Yoko. Are you not watching the video?
@@SebastianHackeadoLinda was absolutely also blamed by fans for their breakup. She was also called manipulative and ugly, and even attacked by fans when the band was still together. This is a well known thing among people who have studied the history of the Beatles, but I can absolutely see how it’s easy to not know about as any talk about that petered out after she died, and the Yoko hate just got stronger and stronger. There are many sources that speak about how both women (“the wives”) were blamed for the breakup of the band, with many people believing that a feud between the two women was response for the dissolution of the band. Her family’s influence on Paul was also cited, especially the conflict between them and Klein. And just generally the unsubstantiated belief that she helped pull him away from his devotion to the band. There was also a lot of public hatred and criticism of Linda for being in Wings with Paul, from many different angles. The public hatred of Yoko was always stronger, but the unfounded hatred of Linda CERTAINLY existed. She was also publicly shamed for previous relationships she’d supposedly had with other famous men, and was referred to as a groupie stealing Paul away from the virtuous Jane. People didn’t believe she deserved Paul. Fans went berserk on their wedding day out of hatred for her. And just like people blamed Yoko for John’s heroin usage even though he was already using, people blamed Linda for Paul’s pot smoking even though he already smoked. In 1980, John Lennon himself spoke about the abuse Linda received from the public and the media. You can find it in the book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. He believed it was because she was a woman. Yoko has also said that the world blamed the breakup on her and Linda, in the letter she wrote that was published in Rolling Stone about Linda after her death. She said the fans needed a scapegoat and they chose the two of them, and that it could not have been easy on Linda. So you are mistaken about Linda. She was prey to the misogyny of the world as well and the prevailing narrative in society of a woman as a succubus who controls and destroys men. This narrative about her just wasn’t as extreme as the one about Yoko and it isn’t spoken about much anymore.
@swansonjoe7121 you know if they ever release all 300 hours of recording footage the fans would buy it in a heart beat. The Beatles are still a cash cow
See, I was never a Beatles girlie, strictly a Pink Floyd fan born and raised, yet the end of this document is making me so impossibly emotional I'm not quite sure how to describe it. Almost like I've lost a distant friend, like there's now a hollow space where my heart was just a few hours ago. You've left me with so much to think and feel about, I suppose I owe you some gratitude. I just genuinely don't know how to express it.
in regards to the hatred of Yoko, I really don't think it's easy to overstate how easy it is to dismiss her based on the fact that people just think she's weird. people tolerate odd in a cutesy way, but the second weirdness becomes uncomfortable or awkward people react with a kind of violent hatred that I don't think they consciously understand or even notice.
If Cynthia is to be believed she was pretty obsessive. I don’t think she was an awful person but she doesn’t seem like a very great one either. I’m glad John and Yoko were happy together, especially given John’s tendencies beforehand but I don’t think the hatred can just be explained by the fact she was uncomfortably weird. Maybe part of it was that Lennon kind of underwent a personality shift in this time. And the ego issues in the band happened to come to ahead. Yoko wasn’t to blame but she was there, and newly so and couple this with the fact John and Yoko were an affair at first and that John abandoned his family and I think this explains the hatred. As well as the fact she’s just some woman and it’s easier for the fans, a lot of them older men, to just blame it on some woman than the clashing and strong personalities of the most famous and respected rock/pop stars, life-long friends
@amelianannette972 I don't think it's weird. She has a confidence that hasn't been based on anything. That makes people uncomfortable. And because Rolling Stone hipsters want to be cool, they pretend to "get it" even though there is nothing of substance to get.
People: Fans today are out of control. They act so terribly due to parasocial relationahips. Fans in the eighties: Sending death threats to a recent widow because they were still mad at a band break-up from the previous decade. (Not defending current terrible fans but this video made it very clear that is not a recent problem.)
@Cassie-pt7mt exactly 😂 trying to make it seem like current fans aren't just as obsessive and wild is insane to me. They still do the same things and are even more obsessive because of social media and how it's so easy to have access to celebrities and their lives now
Entertainers have been murdered by their fans (or anti-fans) every decade since lennon. Let's see, Christina Schaeffer, Selena, Dimebag Darrell, Christina Grimmie. Only the 20s I can't think of anyone, but decade not over.
@@GoofRebelMusic Given how many celebrities have had stalkers apprehended trying to enter their residence, I wonder if that is just because famous people tend to have more security now, not a lack of trying. Poor Christina Grimmie was more vulnerable because she was a relatively new celebrity in terms of money and broad fame, and so far as I know did not have a security team to protect her. But thanks to her fame beginning on the Internet, certain people had been aware of her long enough for there to be danger.
@@BleedingLiar17 Definitely did not mean to imply fans are not just as bad now, just that there is a certain tone on conversations I've seen about obsessive fans and parasocial relationships where people act like pushy, rude, and potentially dangerous fans are a brand new phenomenon. And certain aspects of fan culture are new, the Internet makes the unwell behavior a lot more visible and allows fans and anti-fans more access to their target of love or hate and to spread conspiracy theories more quickly. But the root of the issue is probably as old as fame and what Ono went through, both before and especially after John's death, is a really stark argument for that.
I'm Syrian, I was only 8 when the war started, the story Yoko told of her and her brother imagining dinner reminded me of the things my younger sister used to tell me during the tense first days when things changed forever. Her being the mind behind "Imagine" makes so so much sense, what a beautiful mind and a beautiful person. I never knew much about her before, but now thanks to this phenomenal documentary, I feel.... Changed. Welcome back, Lindsay.
@@jonathanramos8414what happened to Syria is a tragedy for our whole generation. I'm so saddened by what happened to your nation, by what keeps on happening, by the future that doesn't look much better.
@@fallingphoenix2341 The future is bleak, but I can try to create my own light at least. What happened would take lifetimes to repair, but I have hope that something good is going to happen. I don't know when, but just saying it could even make it happen.
Hey, I paid for a Nebula subscription SPECIFICALLY to watch this, and now you have the audacity to upload it to YT for free? Awesome! Really glad you're comfortable enough to upload on here again, you have been sorely missed!
@@felentelechy yeah I got mine last month! But yes, this is genuinely one of the best video essays I've ever seen and I'm really glad everyone will get to experience it
A lot of time youtuber have you play to see things sooner then everyone else but careful not to make it exclusive so it's "pay for it to see it earlier" over "pay to see something no one else can see" Did she ever mention she would never put these vids on youtube? I know she quit youtube because of drama ...but she didn't fully Joecat it.
It feels like a 3-in-1 for me - I got to see it early (yay!), support her making more video essays (yeah!), and now she’s comfortable posting on youtube again (YEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH)
Born in 1933, like my mom and Hitler came to power. My mom turned 91 yesterday. She tells me that I look revolting. Imma Beatlemaniac since 1964. I met George in 1977. He will always remember me, as will Ringo, who I met in 1990.
@@theelusivepyroshark5119 - not TO them, but FOR them - a little subtle funny pantomime. I was a dishwasher in Lahaina, Maui, 1977, on a break, early afternoon, no customers, I'm eating a baked potato and I hear my boss's voice - "Mango (my nickname as I lived pretty much on mangoes) - I'd like you to meet George Harrison" and I looked up to see George standing 3 feet away and I spewed potatoes and George smiled. My boss was mortified and he hustled George out of my influence. That comedic gesture is called a spit-take. George and I exchanged no words. Ringo later, my fingers hurt. If you want to see where it happened look up Longhi's Restaurant online, it probably burned down with the rest of Lahaina 2 years ago.
@@EviePontecorvo That would be, "After ten thousand years, I'm free!" (possibly with a side order of *_Who Disturbs My Slumber?_* of Disney's Alladin fame), yeah nah this one's a more niche internet trash meme.
Yoko's treatment of Julian Lennon after his father's death did a lot to bolster her negative image. Making a child buy back his last letters to his father at auction is cruel.
Julian and Cynthia's treatment by John was absolutely disgusting. I know people feel some type of way about him, but Paul actually tried to be a father figure for Julian when John basically abandoned him. That's what the song hey Jude is about. Paul wrote that for Julian specifically.
" For a man to be guilty, he has to have never done a single thing right. For a woman to be believed, she has to have never done a single thing wrong." Okay?? Still doesn't mean she broke up the beatles?? John himself hit his wife so did Ringo yet why are they so revered while Yoko gets shit for something she didn't even do??
Only funny joke I've ever seen about Yoko was in the Simpsons when she ordered "a single plum, floating in perfume, served in a man's hat" and turns out she turned it into a sculpture at her exhibition! I genuinely love that she has a sense of humor
I was young when that came out and it was my first exposure to Yoko so I thought that "yoko onno broke up the beatles" was because she made such weird art she fascinated John away because I thought the Beatles music was boring.
Slight correction, that wasn't her that made it - another artist did and she included it in an exhibition featuring lots of different artists making art inspired by hers.
This narrative you talk about (The infantilized male genius ruined by the woman) is really interesting to think about. Because there are a lot of examples of that or things that come near to it throughout history and storytelling. Adam & Eve, Helena of Troy, Mark Antony & Cleopatra, Romeo and Juliet, Napoleon & Josephine etc. The story of how a woman effected a man's destiny (for good or bad) seems to be a compelling one in our collective consciousness. To the point that we will mythologize real and present events to ends of being able to keep telling it in new and culturally relevant ways. That aside, the way you've put this video together is impressive. I imagine this had to be really hard to collate and edit. It's not a clean chronology of events. Rather there seems to always be several things going on at once. Just choosing what to mention in which order could not have been easy. Though well done ultimately. Makes me want to see another installment from you involving another set of main characters. Like Marcia Lucas, George Lucas and Star Wars.
@@ShaCaro If you want to be reductive about it sure. But then tropes don't exist because you can always reduce them to their core drivers and say "see, not a trope afterall".
@@tallemajas In either story the central woman are ruinous for men in their orbit. Now with Juliet as well as Helen, it doesn't end well for them either. So one might think that it's not quite the same kind of story. But actually it's just a further extreme along the same lines. The idea that even they cannot survive themselves. And that when they no longer have a man to devour. Their purpose has come to an end. And they must meet their end through one means or another.
Seeing John Lennon vehemently insist that his black friends gave him permission to say the N-word is a level of cringe that you can never truly prepare for.
John Lennon said and did many unsavory things, including beating his first wife and allegedly berating Epstein for being gay, worried that it would tarnish his rise to fame. But you're absolutely right, cringe to say the least and I'm a bit surprised Yoko hasn't pulled it from the available catalog.
Kid me used to be so confused when I heard women around me state they will never dated musicians. As I got older, I figured it was because of the traveling they did, long-distance relationships, etc. Now I'm almost 34 and it hit me that another reason, not often talked about, is how fans behave so grossly about the wives or girlfriends of their favorite male musicians.
It goes both ways, female musicans almost have it worse with their husbands because it's so normalized to just pretend a celebrity isn't a person There's been so many times musicans have to tell their fans to back off their partners it's insane
Yup. Even when those romantic partners are _themselves_ famous performers. As someone who was a teenager at the same time as Justin Bieber, I can tell you that I have never, in my lifetime, seen hatred of the sort that Selena Gomez received from 'Beliebers' while she was with Justin.
In all honesty for me personally it wasn’t the fans when I was dating a musician (but tbh he wasn’t a rockstar or something, just someone who is well know within the scene where I live). It’s the songs they (maybe) write about you. The fact that people I don’t even know can listen to quite intimate stuff about me is insanely uncomfortable.
My dad was a huge fan of The Beatles and I’m proud to say that he didn’t buy into the Yoko broke up the band narrative. He was obsessed with and had an encyclopedic knowledge of Beatles lore both before and after they broke up. He thought Yoko and her art were weird but he embraced it in the same way he embraced a lot of the weird shit the Beatles members put out after the breakup. Like he’s the only person I’ve ever known to like Temporary Secretary as a song. Crazy.
I really appreciate the idea you've put forth about how fans and viewers allow these fully conscious adult people to become infantilized by some "bad influence," rather than accepting that people are fallible and will inevitably do things we don't like. Especially realizing that so much of it is rooted in misogyny. Thank you for such a thoughtful analysis. It's led me to reevaluate a lot of how I consume media and celebrities.
I think you are still kind of doing it by simplifying it as people just being “bad”…. There is a world where Johnny Depp can admit he was wrong, seek help for his anger and substance abuse and rehabilitate himself by showing true growth. Heard and any other victims are not obligated to forgive, but no person deserve to be totally given up on, as long as the way are able to honestly admit wrongdoing. For people so concerned about “the poor men”, they sure are opposed to any form of growth….he isn’t an orc. He is a person dealing with psychological issues in all the wrong ways with the entire world enabling him at every stage. In _some_ ways, he is a kind of victim. But we likely won’t get to see the timeline where Depp chooses to be a good person. Which is sad for all of us….but I just can’t be the kind of person who decides whether someone is right or wrong based entirely on if I want to enjoy their art or not.
It's a similar impulse to saying that a woman forced a man to be abusive or that an irresistible seductress forced a man to cheat. It's an assertion that men are rational and natural leaders but lose all agency when challenged by a "difficult" woman.
Very savvy of Lindsay to make her youtube return with a nice, easy, non-controversial subject that people don't have a lot of entrenched opinions about!
tbh millenials and younger generations (the majority of yt viewers) don't consider beatles as some holy grail and Lennon is very present on the internet, usually as not the greatest of guy. And while i am happy that LE is back, as andromeda didn't really capture me, Yoko Ono defense vid is hardly a novelty or controversial.
I'm *so old* I remember this (ripoff) rumor and eventually having to go to Suncoast to get a copy of Kimba because no rental stores had a resonable selection of foreign films (not even incredibly popular anime) in stock. Even then, it was only available to buy on VHS. (Disk was a thing but still slim for anything without *massive* following.) [Bones creaking at the thought.]
That montage of hacky televised jokes about Yoko honestly made my stomach turn. I am truly grateful to you for putting together such a bold and uncompromising video about Yoko and her art, and I truly hope this both exposes her work to a wider, more honest audience and makes people think twice the next time they spew vitriol for the Hated Woman Attached to Powerful Man du jour.
What a fantastic video. I love taking cultural “facts” and proving them as misconceptions. All the themes & examples flow so well together and the editing is great. Incredible work and I can’t wait to see what’s next.
I was in an experimental "school" in Syracuse when we were enlisted by Yoko to be "security" for the opening of her first museum exhibition at the Everson in Syr NY. We met her in a room a day before; and she came out with John who stayed back and silent and she spoke about her work. She spoke about what it meant to her and why it was tactile... the importance of the interaction of the 'viewer' who walked thru ... and she was polite, and business, and direct. At no time was she an asshole. And her exhibit was quite beautiful and interesting, and very unique. I ended up on the stairs between the offices/ auditorium and the 1st floor so I got to watch the press and their back and forths and watch the lovely pair go from the offices to the piano in the auditorium and I realized... they are really short. Thank you , Lindsay, you kick ass. *hug*
Yoko was weird. Maybe she can do art but she sang like a cat was being tortured. She couldnt be lacking confidence going on stage with a Beatle sounding like an alley cat.
@@tubester4567 There are times that Yoko 'used' her voice as an instrument, pointedly NOT as a singing tool as most would; that's the artist in her. That's her pushing the boundaries which I respect whole heartedly. Fly for instance, is a gorgeous piece of vocal Dada and btw, fantastic for acid trips. On the other hand she has a gorgeous voice as you can hear in her work with John on his later and important pieces. So, I think your statement, though honest, is subjective and not a true view of an artist's range and work. But, that's my opinion. :)
@@tubester4567 ... kind of an odd thing to say when less than 15 minutes into the video there's a clear example of her being singing quite decently on a record, but alright.
One word that always comes to my mind after watching your videos is "thorough." You create such a sense of narrative satisfaction, you manage to cover every important perspective/idea on a subject in a way that makes the experience of watching a video feel complete.
I remember when I first learned of the beetles, and I asked my mother why the band broke up. She told me that they had been friends, but just weren’t anymore, so they decided to split. I find it incredible that people just have a hard time realising this. To me, its clear that as they grew older, the beatels just found different tastes, and wanted different things, and so they decided to stop. I find it kinda sad that people just point all of the blame on Yoko, and not them just becoming so different from each other.
dear Lindsay Ellis, as an Iranian living in poverty and sanctions with no way to access this exclusive essay, thank you so much for eventually making it available for me, you really made my day madam❤
Same thing coming from Russia! Wish i could've bought the lifetime subscription to nebula back when it was possible in my country. I was a teen but still
Unrelated but I was started watching this vide at the Imam Khomeini airport, when I was leaving Iran, *using a VPN ofc. And my first thought was, I’m glad I’m wasting the Islamic Republic’s internet for good.
I'm so happy to see you're comfortable enough to post on UA-cam again but also I think you've grown and grown as a video essayist. I'm not a big Beatles fan but this is intensely interesting and engaging 😊 welcome back!!
@@dewfan4I don’t think she had anything to do with it, but her and Kurt’s relationship was much more toxic and on its last legs than John and Yoko’s. It’s a little jarring hearing John and Yoko were also doing heroin, because compared to Kurt and Courtney, they look like members of the upright citizens brigade.
I had read descriptions of the recording, but never actually heard it. By the end, I was sobbing. How could anyone accuse Courtney of killing her husband when her raw pain there is so palpable?
never was a big fan of Nirvana, but I read "Sing Backwards and Weep", an autobiography of the vocalist of Screaming Trees, Mark Lannegan, who went from touring with Alice in Chains (as he was best friends with both Kurt and Layne), to... being a homeless heroin and crack addict and dealer. But anyway the point is, he was saved... by Courney Love, who somehow managed to locate him and offered him a exclusive detox and recovery all paid for by her, vreated specifically for musicians and artists struggling. She had nothing to gain from this. Mark was never a big star besides Seattle grunge fans. His most recognisable contribution to grunge is probably being a part of few songs on the Mad Season album... and he was COMPLETELY forgotten by then, nobody cared, nobody would even recognise him as he looked like your typical junkie hobo. He didn't have the star power for her to be like "Imma get him clean and squeeze him for money once he starts releasing music again.. She did it because she lost her husband to heroin, and lost herself to heroin, so she spent time helping out her husbands old friends to get clean, and fellow musicians who were never big and could never afford proper detox. And I never heard about this before, and I never heard anyone taking about this meaning she did it without any media or public attention.
I never understood all the hate she got. I truly believe it's rooted in misogyny. Kurt and her both suffered from addiction, and Kurt Def had his demons.
@@eddielouisemoran5881A lot of people can't comprehend suicide. That is a sign of health I suppose, but they miss the point and try to seek a rational explanation where there often isn't one. Depression feels very clear and rational, but it will completely screw up your emotional and rational intelligence. Courtney had made herself a perfect target for all kinds of accusations. Her public persona was that of the white trash rock bitch. She even copied the style of Nancy Spungen. It is so damn easy to blame her, because she looked and behaved like a hot mess. What makes me so mad is that most guys who blamed and moralized over Courtney, probably dreamed of a woman like that: beautiful and destructive, a girlfriend who doesn't give a fuck and can party harder than any of your male friends. That kind of woman (stereotypically) is very seductive, but still men tend to hold them at a higher moral standard just because they are women. They get a pass, but they don't get a pass. I believe Courtney was a bit of that, but she was also a loving partner and a mother. She was growing out of that destructive phase and being a couple years older than Kurt, she had begun to face her demons at a point when he just wasn't ready for it. Courtney lost her husband at what? 30 years old. The whole world's attention was directed at her, and a lot of Nirvana's fans almost felt like their own personal loss was just as big or more than Courtney's tragedy. Fuck 'em.
@@eddielouisemoran5881Misogyny is a big part of it. Marie Antoinette was portraited as a devilish woman because Louis was in love with her and didn't have official mistresses. Every unpopular policy of louis was her fault because that evil woman was controling him with lust and the help of devil. Very old story. Even though academics have debunked this portrail, in the collective unconscious she was still evil.
@@eddielouisemoran5881 It's absolutely rooted in misogyny and Courtney's own unapologetic personality rubbing people the wrong way because; yeah, we all just LOVE a strong female figure.
@@eddielouisemoran5881 I can't speak of that but what I know - as someone who was an opiate addict for 10 years, out of that 10 heroin for about 4 - is that... you're just waiting for death. You're waiting to die, want to commit suicide but have no balls to do it so you try everytime you've got some.more cash on you by trying to shoot as much smack as you can but usually it doesn't work... until it does. But the dream is to have enough money and a good enough connection to get a "złoty strzał" as we call it in Polish - a golden shot, the perfect high which is so strong it puts you over the edge and kills you. And so I know people said "well why didn't he simply OD on heroin if he wanted to kill himself?!" And I can imagine that after multiple unsuccessful ODs which were prooooobably on purpose... I can imagine a guy who tried to "golden shot" himself few times and it never worked or someone saved him, he did another "golden shot" in private, and woke up as it didn't work again (hence why "experts" said he had so much opiates in his body it wouldve killed an elephant- yeah no shit, not only he was a junkie, he was a MILLIONAIRE junkie, his tolerance must've been ABSURD, im talking multiple grams a day), just grabbing a shotty and offing himself. And honestly? I'm on methadone for 3 years now, have a great white collar job with a good salary, got my family and friends, but I'm 1 out of 10, and for people who can't stay clean on methadone or subs or don't want to substitute, it's more of a 1 out of 100 chance to get clean - not to be happy, but to get clean. Happy? Thays more like 1 out of 1000 or 10000. I won the lottery despite being extremely unlucky with gambling and in life in general. And I can 10000% imagine Kurt thinking, "I was NEVER happy in my life ever and heroin was the only thing bringing me peace but that stopped working a long time ago, this is the end". I'm not saying I condone it... but I totally understand. Thank you for attending my TED talk.
@bhusar1 As a much younger on and off Beatles listener. I had the luxury of the internet and attending countless museum exhibits of all forms as a kid. Warhol led me to the Velvet Underground, John Cale's involvement with Theatre of Eternal Music led me to Fluxus, Fluxus led me to Buddhism (intermittently). It's kind of ironic how I grew up in a family that went with the narrative that all things avant-garde was bullshit and Yoko was the prime motivator in their breakup due to them encouraging creativity and most importantly, reading. Their methods of raising me was in direct opposition to their politics and views on society. Nowadays, we made up and they've finally begun to separate from their overall humanist attributes, endless curiousity, and their misanthropic cult-like trappings.
yeah he exists in a youtube void to entertain you. He cant leave his hole until a videos done. Fuck him for lending his voice to this one. He should be working on his 2000000000 hour video on why james sommerton pooped his pants or whatever
I love how you tied so many other celebrities' stories together (Britney Spears, Kurt Cobain, Monica Lewinsky) and found patterns between all of them, it's fascinating to see
@@raymonddejesus4986 this video is about yoko ono, and moreso celebrity as a whole. They're talking about parallels between all of these examples, and there are a lot of them, because that is how the video is structured. The section on Lennon's death is just an opening, y'know, like how videos are structured.
The uncut Nebula version is so worth it and I am happy to give this version more engagement to help promote that space! The video itself gives a lot of perspective that doesn't get talked about regarding Yoko. It is woth the watch for sure!
@@ItsAllNunya It looks like it's the same length and I haven't watched both yet but based on the content she'd have to censor it's worth it if you can swing the $20 for an annual plan, especially since there are so many other videos, some from Lindsay.
@@scissorhands17 there's a bunch of people I want it for but a big reason has always been bc I know there's more videos from Lindsay and I know it's the safe option for her to keep making stuff. :oD
the comments, the jokes, the racism, the misogyny, so many people acted like everything was yoko’s fault. meanwhile when i actually read the beatles books as a teen obsessed with the beatles, i very quickly realized this was not the case at all. seems like a lot of these ‘fans’ of the beatles never bothered to do a tiny bit of research, cause it was always more convenient and enjoyable to them to pin everything solely on her. also, people act like she was just an add on to john but when i was in university the lecturer talked about her art completely separately and without mentioning him at all.
As much as the Beatles were really a sum of their parts, many people always saw John as the “lead” and their “favorite”. Give this was the decades before 24 hour new networks and even longer away from social media, it was easy to craft a narrative of who a person was and John was scene by many as this insightful, caring, counter culture icon. His assassination just cemented that further to almost deify him. So in their mind he would never allow the “greatest band in history” break up and clearly someone manipulated him and Yoko, the quarky counter culture weirdo that she was, was an easy target. Especially because of good old fashion Asian racism
I was fully introduced to her through her art. When I found out about the Beatles, and I heard about Yoko Ono because of Lindsay’s Nebula announcement, I was like, “it can’t be THAT Yoko Ono” and just went about my day assuming there were just 2 famous Yoko Onos out there, wow what a coincidence. Must be a common name lmao.
It's crazy cause, I was never a beatles fan, but I just remember tv shows even cartoons basically making jokes about how it was her fault. Honestly between the fans that SHOULD have known better, and general pop culture feeding this lie, Yoko really never stood a chance.
@hannahthecritter I don't care for your woke and revisionist opinion. Race and sex have nothing to do with it. Yoko was and is an evil and opportunistic parasite that managed to ensnare John Lennon, break up his marriage with Cynthia, ostracized him from the other Beatles and guided him like a dog on a leash to the point of him calling her "mother" of all things. John might have had a stellar solo career, the Beatles may have lasted a little longer, and he would still be alive today if Yoko never came into his life.
She had already released a teaser of "Yoko and the Beatles" on UA-cam (?) and linked it to her Twitter account a few months ago. That has been disappeared or made private since this was put up (I can't find it on Vimeo or the unlisted UA-cam website.)
"Brave" is not the word I'd use. What's the word for "Did you guys ever stop to think that maybe you wouldn't act this way towards me if I were a dude?? And, like, y'all are supposed to be feminists".
@@amidala3927 she's kind of had a hate mob for a long time, but she got cancelled completely a year or two ago on twitter- I'm not super inclined to go into details because imo the backlash was a lot worse than she deserved, and some of it involves painful stuff in Lindsay's past. Things got bad enough that she withdrew from UA-cam pretty much entirely; this is the first video she's posted here in quite some time.
Holy shit. This was such an amazing essay. It encompasses so much in so many ways. I’m so glad you made it, shared it, and that I had the fortune to stumble upon it.
one factor not mentioned here as to why other women, like britney, got a critical re-evaluation while Yoko did not is that Yoko didn’t have that much of a fanbase in the mainstream, independent from her ties to john lennon and the beatles. People don’t really stan her. Contrast this with britney, who obviously had tons upon tons of fans of her specifically
@@georgelucas2571 just because Yoko wasn’t known in the mainstream doesn’t mean she wasn’t known and respected at all. York was and is widely respected in the fine arts realm, and fine arts doesn’t aim to be mainstream. I personally knew of her and her work before I knew of John Lennon. It all just depends on the perspectives you operate in.
@@humblegamer7876 She's been active the whole time, I'm aware of the cancel b.s. She didn't HAVE to leave UA-cam. She chose to. But she was producing content elsewhere.
@@humblegamer7876 she's been posting on nebula for a while, the opening chapter of this video she uploaded here like last year I think? Or closer to January. And the full version was already on nebula.
I watch a lot of content on UA-cam. Probably too much. A lot of video essays. Since watching this for the first time, I've watched it three times in 24 hours and will probably keep re-watching it tomorrow. It's the best, most powerful video essay I've ever seen. You're simply the best of the best and you keep getting better.
when mac miller passed away, a lot of people blamed ariana grande, even though they weren't together at the time. she'd attempted to tell people that she was not responsible for his behavior a few months before that, but it clearly did not work. i still see people blaming her for it today, and they can never really articulate why they think she's responsible beyond, "she broke up with him." they have no sympathy for her whatsoever and only take his struggles seriously.
I'm not even an Ariana fan but it's incredibly obvious how much his death affected/still affects her, even though they were separate when it happened. I can't even fathom losing someone you loved like that, having it affect you so much, and having millions of strangers hound you for years about it being your fault with 0 consideration to your own personhood. And for Yoko it's been decades. It's truly cruel (edit: I meant Courtney Love, not Yoko, though it still applies to Yoko too)
To take it a little further, like Yoko Ono and Courtney Love, Ariana Grande also has done some questionable things. The donut incident, the blackfishing, and the messiness of dating Ethan Slater make her someone that is acceptable to hate in the public eye. Because she's done these other things, it's easy to assume the worst regardless of evidence
@@emmaarmo379 LOL the donut thing is so funny because i've seen a lot of people online realize that like...... it truly was not the end of the world the way everyone thought it was. now that clip of her talking about it on the news and obviously not caring at all gets reposted and made into edits with megan thee stallion playing over it
@@emmaarmo379I don’t know who Courtney Love is but I think the only Ariana Grande controversy that was actually somewhat worth talking about was that Donut licking incident.
I did a report in high school to clear up the rumors about the Beatles because my mom and I were huge fans. Everyone said I was wrong. Thank you, Lindsay for doing the work I did long ago. ❤
@@amyweston4640It's funny how angry people are now coming out of woods to insist that no, they weren't manipulated by a bunch of sociopathic assholes only thinking about making a quick buck, they didn't just jump on vague gossips, because it gave them an easy scapegoat, no, they've always been right and you're wrong waaah >:((( But it's entertaining that besides childish stomping and loud "nuh-UHHH", you all provide nothing of substance.
This was amazing, one of the very best video essays I’ve ever seen. The twist from a Beatles documentary to the larger message regarding fame’s insidiousness cemented this video as your best imo.
This video has become my number 1 "play in background" pick. I've watched it right through with my full attention probably a half dozen times, and god knows how many more. I think it's some of your finest work.
I knew almost nothing about the Beatles before this and even was misinformed about some other topics touched on and I am so incredibly glad you came back to do this video
So anyone who doesn’t know: the famous line “it’s better to burn out than fade away” is from Neil Young’s famous song “Hey Hey, My My” (not originally from Def Leppard as some thought). Neil Young was quite disturbed by this as he wrote about the horrors of big H, which was about his bandmate, in “Tne Needle and the Damage Done.” Kurt was a big admirer of Young’s music.
@@shawnfoster4506 Kurt Cobain suffered from a chronic undiagnosed stomach problem that caused severe pain constantly, (iirc I read the autopsy showed actual scar tissue in his stomach from whatever he'd suffered from), which had been acknowledged since he was a child. He started with pain kill3rs then graduated slowly til he reached H, which is usually how it happens for people who suffer chronic pain and can't get relief from anything else other than strong 0piate medication. (This was also back when 0piate pain meds were just on the market, prior to the crack down by the govt, so doctors were pushing them HARD around that time, which is what got so many people addicted to them in the first place & caused the current "crisis", bc drug manufacturers assured everyone they weren't addictive. [Look up the Sacklers.]) So my speculation, (as someone his age who went through this exact situation, as did many people our age), is he was probably taking medicine prescribed by a Dr before moving up the 0piate ladder to the big bad H bc after taking them for a while your body will build up a resistance & it takes more or something stronger to effectuate the same relief. But that's justy speculation/theory on it. It was known he was on H at the time; Courtney tried to get him to rehab but he refused to go. She later blamed herself bc she knew how much pain he was in, & felt like it was her fault he took his life bc she wanted to get herself clean for their baby/family/her career/etc. but he probably felt like he needed it for his pain. Hope that makes sense. ✌🏻
@@shawnfoster4506 Kurt used _a lot_ of heroin. It's speculated from the medical report that the amount of it in his system would've killed him even if he hadn't moved on to the 12 gauge shortly after his last hit.
As someone whose favorite group is The Beatles, by a large margin, it’s sad how their mythology has set so many lies in stone. People seem to forget that new things are uncovered, with the bombshell Get Back releasing only a few years ago. Like the odd way people seem to jump on the nature of John and Cynthia’s relationship as a little tidbit always struck me as disingenuous. It’s important to acknowledge John’s disgusting action as well as his later search for atonement. Just like the boomer, it seems odd how real people are reduced to little fun facts and gotchas. Such a shame, cause there’s so much to dig your teeth into, if you just lay down your preconceptions.
I just dont understand why so many people insist on seeing the world as black and white and simply refuse to acknowledge that their favorite artists are human and that therefore are complicated beings. Why is it so hard to accept that someone who did bad things can make really good art, and that someone who is good can also have done bad things and vice versa?
@@liaspooked4980 I don't think it's a new thing, but it's certainly a prevalent trend for people to be seen as either demons or angels, either perfectly good, a victim, a waif, a tortured genius, or else a villain, a betrayer, someone fundamentally rotten. If that's the structure you're trying to fit everyone into, then the idea that one of the 'angels' could have done something genuinely bad becomes inconceivable, because that would automatically cast them out of the 'angel' category and into the 'demon' category, and ruin their entire legacy. Therefore John hitting Cynthia cannot be mentioned. On the flipside some people do accept that he hit her, and as a result they have fully recast him in the demon role. For them, any discussion of the idea that he may have genuinely changed his ways, apologised, not repeated the incident, and any discussion of where his attitudes sat within the context of the time period becomes tantamount to defending an evil abuser, and in turn defending all abusers and the general concept of abuse. Even adding a hint of nuance is seen as an attempt to re-cast him back in the the 'angel' role (since these two positions are apparently the only ones available). I've even seen people in this comment section doggedly repeating that he *must* have beaten and abused Yoko, despite her never making any claims of that kind. Of course domestic violence is a very heavy topic, and it's understandable that some people will be triggered by it and will not be open to a nuanced discussion... but I don't think that fully explains the level of polarisation. The same angel/demon dichotomy gets applied all over the place for all kinds of reasons - in fact we can see the same casting get applied to Yoko and everyone else involved, depending on who's telling the story. At the end of the day people are complicated. People are not static, they change, and they contain multitudes. I'm not particularly a fan of either John Lennon or Yoko Ono or anyone else here, it's just a general issue I see applied in all these debates - I saw a huge amount of this during the Depp/Heard debacle, where Amber Heard being a (very) complex victim and Depp being perceived in some ways as sympathetic or vulnerable (the tortured genius role), led to them being recast in people's mind with her as the villain and him as the hero. Once they were cast in those roles, any new piece of evidence could be dismissed or exaggerated to reinforce that picture. It's an incredibly destructive tendency.
I also wanted to add nobody gets mad at Ringo for doing the same thing. Ringo was violent to his second wife while drunk. Ringo managed to get better, and John I think was being sincere and trying to become a better person, but he didn't get to prove it because he was killed. I still don't know why Ringo gets no backlash. Hell, even George gets more backlash for being a cheater.
@@liaspooked4980 because people are scared of what *might* happen if they're wrong. We lionize so many people, ideals, etc., that for some, when you pull just a little at the thread, it all unravels
@@autumntaylor2533 yeah but I just feel like living with that world view just makes you bound for dissapointment, does it not? Because most of the artists you like are eventually going to show their not so great sides during your life time. I wonder how people are able to continue with the black and white ilusionment for so long, even after life has proven over and over again that it's a farce.
Also good on ya for licensing some of the actual music for this vid... it gives is such a pro vibe, you don't realise how much it's missing from most youtube documentaries.
I was today years old when I found out John Lennon and Yoko Ono are the ones who wrote and performed a very Merry Christmas… I’m surprised and face palming I never put it together lol
@@M123Xoxoso there is a children's choir for the last few verses. But the main female vocals are Yoko. I remember because the recording on the radio has them all clapping at the end and it's definitely more than 2 people lol.
I can see why she posted this one outside of Nebula. It's absolutely a masterpiece of modern documentary-esque internet videos. It's consistent and beautiful, but funny and heartfelt.
That's why i felt it's a huge loss when she went away. Her hobbit documentaries bring to light many injustices done by the studio towards the new zealand people
@@khatunamezvrishvili6211 it could've been more vague. But considering how thoroughly both Todd and Harry have torn that asshole apart, it only feels right to be a little more specific with who I'm talking about.
One thing that always stuck with me about Yoko was a quote from a popular 90s show that had a vampire that looked oddly enough a bit like Billy Idol and in one episode the vampire said this… “And when they (The Beatles) broke up, everyone blamed Yoko, but the fact is, the group split itself apart.” The quote always stuck with me, but I didn’t read much about Yoko, but now watching this I now know why the quote stuck. Thanks Lindsay!
@@dungeonsanddobbers2683 Sorry, was in a silly mode when I wrote that description. I was going between that Billy Idol reference or call him William the poet.
I've had this video sitting in a tab since the day I saw it had released. I was never really a Beatles fan, despite hearing so many of their songs, especially at a younger age. I've known hardly anything about the band, let its members, and especially about Yoko Ono. I'm writing this simply to say thank you, for changing that. The line that formed from her childhood's imagined meal to her tweet about the concept of a chair unburned is so straight and true and crystal clear. If I had known nothing about her life I would think that it was a quaint and interesting little thought experiment, but now I see that thread that must trace back through most of her work, if not her life. Having watched this, I wish to say so much more, though I can hardly put it into words. So, if nothing else, thank you for showing me such a truly thoughtful woman.
Being interested in contemporary art completely changes everything about how you see Yoko Ono. She is an innnncredible performance artist. Her work is good and smart and bold and raw and also not particularly strange looking at the annals of other performance art being made at the time. The idea that so many people hate her is baffling to me.
Modern/performance art fans seek out on purpose, but I think Yoko's proximity to the beatles introduced her work to an audience that was never looking for that sort of thing and weren't primed to appreciate it.
Fr, growing up I only vaguely knew of her through her connection to the Beatles, but the first proper thing I saw about her (bc neither of my parents were Beatles fans) was in college when I was doing my theatre degree and we were learning about performance art and the professor played us some clips from the piece where they cut her clothes off. I saw it, was moved by it and we had a meaningful discussion about it in class. Had no negative feelings about her and though I didn't dive deeper into her work, always remembered the one I saw. Not until I watched this video did I find out the hatred went so deep for so many people!
Even if Yoko had "broken up the band" or any of the terrible things people accuse her of, the way people have gone after her for decades over her relationship and some perceived slight against a music group they like is just insane.
Unfortunately, people tend to get crazy especially dealing with the biggest and most influential band of all time. Look at how insane and deranged Taylor Swift fans get the moment you criticize her.
@@barkbark479 Doesn't that mean you just believe it strongly? I mean I guess anything we think we know is ultimately just a strong belief, but I thought "know" was specifically reserved for "I've seen proof"
@@prw56bc to anyone who knows anything abt the Beatles can tell something like that makes no sense and it’s a lot more complex politics to break up a behemoth like that. Common sense
@@barkbark479 But I mean, you said you feel the same as someone who proclaimed to "know" something without proof, that sounds like a strong belief. When I describe a belief or weak belief I'd probably say something like "I think", but he believed it strong enough to say "I know", which implies perceived certainty. If that isn't a strong belief I don't know how to describe one.
Absolutely outstanding piece of media. Changed my perspective in a lot of stuff. At first, I thought you were going to play devil's advocate, and when the credits showed up, I understood how harshly we forget that humans are humans at the end of the day. Truly masterful storytelling, writing and editing. Every chapter not only contributed so much context to the main narrative, but also enhances the watching experience as a hole. I ended up looking more of Yoko's work, and was fascinated for what I found. Thank you for such an amazing video, S-tier youtube recommendation for sure!
the beatles: creative differences between john and paul, business disputes over the running of apple corp, george feeling unappreciated, george and ringo frustrated at paul's perfectionism, the simple fact that they were growing apart both as people and as artists who wanted to pursue their own paths boomer beatles fans: ...yoko
Eh, blame the female fans. Every "boyband" has the issue of members growing up out of the band image. Its why disney, japan and korea's pop culture machine always keep those things hidden as it breaks the fantasy.
♥Brian. RIP. This guy deserves more attention. If you've been in, and/or worked with a lot of musicians, you know just how important people like that are for artists. Really seems like the changes and downfall of their relationships can be tracked with Brian's departure.
glad that you decided to put this up on here; a voice speaking out against the horrendous misogyny that gets thrown yoko ono's way always needed to be on a larger platform like youtube.
It blew my mind watching Get Back and seeing the reality of the dynamic between the four of them vs the very sexist anti-Yoko narrative that's been told over the decades. I watched that whole thing, she didn't say a word! They were completely directionless. Paul, was trying to run the whole show, dismissing George and Ringo's contributions at every turn while he and John were in their own world together, and Ringo was just trying to keep it light and fun. I wasn't that surprised when George walked.
@@HollyberrystreatsYeah my dad spent so long ranting about her during the movie and I just remember thinking “wtf she’s not even doing anything”. Like it was clear the guys weren’t happy and she was just a 3rd party.
From an historical perspective, the narrative of the "bad wife" goes much, much further. As far as I know, it was a common cliché among Roman historians to blame the faults of "great men" upon their wives.
That's so true. I was reading Suetonius' 'The Twelve Caesars' a few years ago, and right after he finishes the portion on Caligula he feels the need to go on this out of nowhere "but did you know he dressed up as Venus and acted like a lady? And also that his mistress was feeding him a love potion which made him insane", and I genuinely burst out laughing
Also the wives or mothers of certain Roman Emperors that pretty much poisoned Emperors or prospective Emperors to install their own son as Emperors so they can pretty much rule Rome via making their Emperor son a puppet to their whims. But that also just showcases the issue of patriarchal societies that it forces women like that to do things like that.
Basically the definition of the original definition of Tudor History, too. People, for a long time, thought at least one of the wives deserved their deaths. Good to see how much humanity has learned from its mistakes.
band breakups obviously had happened before them but they literally didn’t figure it as a solution b’c bands taking a break just wasn’t something bands did in the 60s. they set the bar for what a band breakup is in our minds they only got as close as “hey let’s do solo albums but when we do beatle albums we’ll all have equal share of writing the songs (4 paul 4 john 4 george if im not mistaken) plus Ringo gets two songs”, and even then that was between John and George, they never told Paul about that idea. they were always going to breakup in the way that they did.
Just going through the first nine minutes of this video, I can’t even imagine the absolute living menace people were to Yoko after her husband died (and on top of that she still had a kid to take care of). She basically had to constantly live her life wondering who around her would be the next book, the next tell-all. She would have had very few people who treated her like a human being.
@@amyweston4640 Why are you so quick to jump in here and out yourself to be one of the lame brained numbskulled half witted wretched warts that Lindsay is criticizing in this video. Can you even breath on your own?
@@oohjon1537just because you don’t like someone’s version of self expression doesn’t mean they deserve harassment at all let alone to the degree Yoko experienced.
Comments brimming with people talking about the content of the video but I just have to say I really appreciate the organization, tone, and story telling of the piece. For it's 90+ minute runtime it both sets up and answers the questions posed in the intro while also exploring a variety of other related information and being a few mini documentaries about other related stories. It builds its case in much the same way as any other essay but the end result feels more artistic and implied because it doesn't rely only on explicitly making every single connection. The implicature gives the whole thing a more artistic vibe and I enjoyed that.
yoko's tweet about the burning chair was really touching to me for a very personal and specific reason. my mom's friend and a family friend recently died of cancer last year. even after months and months of her body physically being gone, not once did it ever feel like she and who she was really left. she was more than a body, more than simply a woman, it was... her, something so complex and real and even problematic at times (as overused as that word is) that her dying isn't enough to snuff out my "idea" of her. memory is all we have. it's how we know anything ever existed at all.
I'm really sorry for your loss. I had to think of one of my best friends who died in may when I read the tweet. the way she can't ever be really gone, because of her memory and the impact she had on everyone and everything around her.
I agree with the other comments. Thank you for this perspective. My sister was sick for many years before she passed. Your comment made me think of her.
i cried the instant i read the tweet on screen because it made me think of my mom. it's been two months, and the proverbial chair in my mind is as real as ever.
I could listen to Remember Love play for 10 hours, it’s one of the most beautiful yet simple songs I’ve ever heard. John’s guitar work is immaculate and it showcases Yoko’s tender side that the public doesn’t seem to hear enough. That, Listen the Snow is Falling, I want my Love to Rest Tonight, Growing Pain, and Goodbye Sadness are some of my favorite Yoko Ono songs. Thank you for this thoughtful, in-depth video essay! 🩵
So Baby Boomers screamed so incessantly during Beatles performances that: -They didn't hear the music -The Beetles couldn't hear themselves and quit touring -Future generations can't enjoy the live recordings I feel like there's a metaphor here somewhere
Best quote I've heard about Yoko and the Beatles was I believe from William Bennett of Whitehouse: 'The Beatles were the worst thing to happen to Yoko Ono'
One thing I've noticed is how a lot of casual fans love entertainers while also holding them in contempt. My dad was a huge fan of Blondie, so I was surprised once when he described her as stupid. He liked her music and her image and what her art made him feel, but he didn’t actually respect her or the work that went into what she did. This seems to apply especially to female artists, who I think are often seen as “lucky” to be famous, while men are seen as being famous for their specialness. Yoko is easy for many to caricature and “other”. She’s a foreign and “new” wife, hot on the heels of a spurned wife, she’s a conceptual artist, she’s opinionated. She’s not one of us.
@@sparkle_jump_rope_queen He said that he’d seen her in an interview and she sounded stupid. He didn’t say which interview and I’ve no idea which one he would have had in mind. It may have been that she was just talking in a lofty way about her process or something and he dismissed this as “stupid”; I think like a lot of people, he liked the art without appreciating what went into it, or taking it seriously as “real” work. Like the guy in the Dire Straits song, “Money for Nothing”.
she was never as bad as anyone made her out to be. she's also not as great as this video suggests. john and yoko were not a fairytale romance love affair, but they were also not evil when combined.
I can't tell you how many times I cried during this video. I feel like pretty much every Beatle, and everyone closely associated with them, has been villianized at some point in history, but with the glaring exception of Klein and all of the Lennon vultures (like, literal vultures), this video did an excellent job at humanizing all of them. As someone who has grown up with the Beatles and Wings, and has been heartbroken by many of the things that have come out against both McCartney and Lennon, it's extremely refreshing to see such an honest take on them- not sinners, not saints, just humans. People who made mistakes, but who deeply loved music and whose intentions were often well-meaning. Also it goes without saying that Yoko has always deserved better by us. What a weird person to hatesink on.
Yoko ono once randomly followed me on twitter and then unfollowed me soon after, I like to thing it was performance art.
You too?
I found it so, ethereal in a weird way, that she just floats by, visits, and passes on, but she visits us all.
@@Rugmunchersauce3Now that Imelda is back in the saddle I guess you and she can help Paul walk briskly on black pavement
The word you're looking for is ephemeral ☺️ @@deliquescencemusic
no way, Tay Zonday did the same thing to me.
@@caleb281a bigger deal, imo
It’s simply horrific to learn that in the immediate wake of John’s murder, Yoko was plagued with death threats, bomb threats, suicides of fans, theft and betrayals from people looking to cash in. How sick people can be.
Much like Alexander the Great, as soon as he fell, so did everything he built. Legacies just end up like I suppose…
@@eyeizarandummuggaI mean sure his hastily conquered and ungovernable empire collapsed but the Seleucids, Ptolemeus etc. went on and Hellenic culture impacted all the regions conquered by Alexander. His name is remembered to this day with the epithet "the Great" so I'd say his legacy did not crumble.
when life gives you lennons...
It was bedlam for at least a year in Ono's household.
It reminds me of the insane crap that kpop stars go through, like being stalked across the country to their hotels, literally people attempting to kidnap them from offstage.
Perfect Blue really was only a slight exaggeration of reality.
The last few minutes of this (especially Yoko's tweet about the chair) made me think of something Yoko herself said about the breakup of the Beatles. She referred to a Japanese folktale of a beautiful golden temple. One of the worshippers in this temple eventually burned it down because he couldn't stand the thought of it decaying as the years went by, and wanted the temple to stand forever in people's memories in its most perfect form. Yoko said that this was one of the reasons the Beatles remain so popular...they ended before they deteriorated.
People think the Beatle’s breakup was a tragedy. In reality they pulled a MatPat almost half a century before it was cool.
Oh I love that!
The entire 27 club is like that, too. They are definitely good to begin with. And they also get a multiplier on their memory due to exiting before they fizzle out. They would probably not be held up on quite as high pedestals if they had lived to ripe old ages.
indeed
You would love my Yoko Ono biography
In Your Mind - The Infinite Universe of Yoko Ono
The true story of the woman John Lennon loved.
See the world in a whole new way, through Yoko’s fascinating mind.
Find out all the reasons that John Lennon adored her.
The first extensive exploration of the artist's amazing life, struggles, art, activism, films and music in stunning detail.
This is not only a biography - it is the ultimate reference guide to Ono’s life and work.
Now in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Library & Archives
Acclaimed by MOJO & Goldmine
Honorable Mention in The Beatles Gift Guide
To say Yoko Ono broke up the Beatles is To say that a mistress stole a man. He was not stolen. He left deliberately.
But what if the mistress would have just say "No, thanks"?
@@luisgodines7701then he would’ve eventually tried with another mistress
Not if there was a culture of shaming the sinners instead of justifying these whores.
Right? People forget John Lennon was a terrible dude. He was even more pretentious and egotistical.
John Lennon ruined the Beatles by being a POS.
@@luisgodines7701 What if the man hadn't cheated on his wife, and chose to have integrity and be upstanding?
Sent my mom, a lifelong beatles fan, this video. After watching it, she told me “People really hate Yoko that much? I never thought she was really all that bad except for being kind of pretentious.”
My dad, who hates the beatles, told me after watching this, “God, if she really did break them up, I’d sing her praises every day.”
Your dad is so real for that
Why does your dad hate the Beatles???
@@griffinreed9005 grew up in the 60s-70s and back then you were either a Beatles fan or Rolling Stones fan and my dad is firmly a Stones guy
In español we say from love to hate there is only one step, since both are strong emotions
L Dad ⚡️
I can't believe the Beatles love-bombed Ringo after he left them like a toxic relationship.
Ringo is a better man than most 😂😂😂 That’s why he’s the best Beatle
@@m.ceniza4688 ringo beat his wife in a drunken rage
@scared_hamster6246 wasnt that john lennon? sorry i dont know much about the beatles, but if so thats actually horrible :<
i hope shes doing oki today
@@leahissilly well, both did, but ringo and his wife were deep in the bottle at some point in the 70s and had a physical fight iirc. Both ended up going to rehab.
@@rat_consumer93423 lol
This is so thorough, detailed, heartfelt, and poignant.
Favourite UA-camr spotted in the wild!
Hey, Dan... wanna buy some goooold?
Yeah... but did they f?
It goes in deep without running into tangents, like how General Walker was a member of the John Birch Society and promoted it to his troops, which would mean explaining what the JBS is (yes, it's still around) and why US Army officers cannot promote political causes to their subordinates (until recently it was an understood rule that officers were not supposed to vote, only enlisted personnel could). Speaking of tangents I want to thank you for introducing me to the work of Michael Snow; I never went to film school, and the film classes in college I took were on narrative films, so whatever non-narrative experimental films I've found I had to discover on my own. I will be looking into Snow's fellow Structuralist filmmakers.
Do you know James Rolfe?
You know what's fucked up? I never even knew that Ono was *there,* next to Lennon, when he was shot.
That alone is enough of a reason to just give up on... everything, really. Not just fame; _everything._
The fact that she's still here at all is a miracle unto itself. Hell hath no fury like a misogynist accused.
She was walking behind John as John was shot in the back - This is a Yoko paid for Fred Seaman hit piece.😊
Watching the Get Back documentary made me feel so bad for Paul. It has the vibe of doing a group project where he's the only one throwing out ideas and George just says "no" while John has overslept from presumably doing drugs the night before. God bless Ringo for just being humble and rolling with the punches.
Director Michael Lindsay-Hogg butting in with his overblown concert ideas didn’t help, either. “Imagine one thousand Arabs with TORCHES!” I kept yelling at the screen, “SHUT UP AND LET THEM WORK!”
@@mcbonezs457 Jesus dude, you're everywhere. you're the living embodiment of that old "Man always gets little rush out of telling people John Lennon beat his wife" Onion article.
@@mcbonezs457 neither Ringo nor Barbara were in their right minds, drunk and drugged to the hills. They both checked into rehab. He didn't do that sober and did she condemn him for it?
Relationships often end when one person wants it to end, but they don't want to break the other one's heart, so instead of blindsiding them and calling for the breakup they just emotionally check out. That emotional detachment drives the other one to actually call for the break up. That seems to be what happened with John and Paul.
@@lancerguy3667 I feel like thats relevant context when people ask me to feel bad for this guy because he worked with jerks.
Yoko Ono didn't break up The Beatles, but she did reunite Lindsay Ellis and UA-cam
To some that is an even greater crime. But to most, it is duly appreciated.
🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡
Reunited and it feels so good.
Yoko One deserves a million awards for bringing Lindsay Ellis back to UA-cam
arguably a more important event
finding out Yoko co-wrote Imagine, and is the female vocal on War is Over was like discovering the secret identity of Superman.
So she only achieves memorable art in collaboration? Got it.
@@bend3rbot Thoughtless snark, ah, thanks for reminding me I'm on UA-cam.
I can't get past the hypocrisy of Imagine and John & Yoko
I think many diehard Beatles fans already knew this. John and Paul have stated it on record in several interviews that the lyrics of Imagine were derived from Yoko's poem. But I do think casual fans would be hearing this for the first time.
Whose voice did you think it was?
“And Ringo…………………….well, he’s just happy to be here.”
Out of all the documentaries of the Beatles I’ve watched, this one is my favorite.
He brought a suitcase of beans to avoid spicy food 😂😂😂 a man of great taste
@@vinslungurHe served the music incredibly well. That's all you could ask for from a drummer. Not ego driven, musically driven.
“Dad, Dad, Dad, please stop fighting…”
-Ringo
@@mcbonezs457
Ok
Like John and Yoko, Ringo is a complicated human being who did good and bad things.
Not excusing what he did to his wife, but he has shown remorse for it and got treatment for his alcoholism.
I swear every Beatles fan goes through a phase where they learn that four of the most famous men to ever exist did some horrible things, and it breaks their brain. We forget that they weren't literally Jesus, they were just bigger than him 😉
Honestly I'm shocked we don't have any WORSE substantiated stories about them.
@@dellybird5394 "I'm shocked we don't have any worse substantiated stories about them"
FOR REAL! Considering their level of fame and how young they were, it could be A LOT worse. Makes me think of the Led Zeppelin groupie and the mud shark
you know the video is about to be fire when you get the suicide prevention disclaimer beforehand
i didn't get one 😮
Hahahahahahahahah m8
Yeah its right under the video. 'Hey so uh. Cobaaaain..' "DONT DO IT'"- You tube.
@@Ocidad You’re ngmi.
Witness herrrr!!! Witnessssss!!!!!
Superb!!!!
"Nobody ever said anything about Paul having a spell over me when I was with him for a long time. Or me having a spell over Paul. They didn't think that was abnormal. Two guys together."
Don't worry John, it's just that nobody had invented AO3 yet
hmm
As much as I hate the ppl who post 2 ppl from the past as gay, it’s not nearly as stupid as the Yoko haters
@@SebastianHackeado “heavily edited“ ofc it is! Who tf is gonna watch over 300 hours of footage ? And I don’t like how you insinuate the bs about Yoko. Are you not watching the video?
@@SebastianHackeadoLinda was absolutely also blamed by fans for their breakup. She was also called manipulative and ugly, and even attacked by fans when the band was still together. This is a well known thing among people who have studied the history of the Beatles, but I can absolutely see how it’s easy to not know about as any talk about that petered out after she died, and the Yoko hate just got stronger and stronger.
There are many sources that speak about how both women (“the wives”) were blamed for the breakup of the band, with many people believing that a feud between the two women was response for the dissolution of the band. Her family’s influence on Paul was also cited, especially the conflict between them and Klein. And just generally the unsubstantiated belief that she helped pull him away from his devotion to the band. There was also a lot of public hatred and criticism of Linda for being in Wings with Paul, from many different angles. The public hatred of Yoko was always stronger, but the unfounded hatred of Linda CERTAINLY existed.
She was also publicly shamed for previous relationships she’d supposedly had with other famous men, and was referred to as a groupie stealing Paul away from the virtuous Jane. People didn’t believe she deserved Paul. Fans went berserk on their wedding day out of hatred for her. And just like people blamed Yoko for John’s heroin usage even though he was already using, people blamed Linda for Paul’s pot smoking even though he already smoked.
In 1980, John Lennon himself spoke about the abuse Linda received from the public and the media. You can find it in the book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. He believed it was because she was a woman. Yoko has also said that the world blamed the breakup on her and Linda, in the letter she wrote that was published in Rolling Stone about Linda after her death. She said the fans needed a scapegoat and they chose the two of them, and that it could not have been easy on Linda.
So you are mistaken about Linda. She was prey to the misogyny of the world as well and the prevailing narrative in society of a woman as a succubus who controls and destroys men. This narrative about her just wasn’t as extreme as the one about Yoko and it isn’t spoken about much anymore.
@swansonjoe7121 you know if they ever release all 300 hours of recording footage the fans would buy it in a heart beat. The Beatles are still a cash cow
See, I was never a Beatles girlie, strictly a Pink Floyd fan born and raised, yet the end of this document is making me so impossibly emotional I'm not quite sure how to describe it. Almost like I've lost a distant friend, like there's now a hollow space where my heart was just a few hours ago. You've left me with so much to think and feel about, I suppose I owe you some gratitude. I just genuinely don't know how to express it.
i have that exact feeling this was so incredibly moving
in regards to the hatred of Yoko, I really don't think it's easy to overstate how easy it is to dismiss her based on the fact that people just think she's weird. people tolerate odd in a cutesy way, but the second weirdness becomes uncomfortable or awkward people react with a kind of violent hatred that I don't think they consciously understand or even notice.
I think to a certain degree if you get too weird you cross into the uncanny valley even as a real human.
The second weird is associated with confidence and self awareness, suddenly people don't like it so much.
If Cynthia is to be believed she was pretty obsessive. I don’t think she was an awful person but she doesn’t seem like a very great one either. I’m glad John and Yoko were happy together, especially given John’s tendencies beforehand but I don’t think the hatred can just be explained by the fact she was uncomfortably weird. Maybe part of it was that Lennon kind of underwent a personality shift in this time. And the ego issues in the band happened to come to ahead. Yoko wasn’t to blame but she was there, and newly so and couple this with the fact John and Yoko were an affair at first and that John abandoned his family and I think this explains the hatred. As well as the fact she’s just some woman and it’s easier for the fans, a lot of them older men, to just blame it on some woman than the clashing and strong personalities of the most famous and respected rock/pop stars, life-long friends
@amelianannette972 I don't think it's weird. She has a confidence that hasn't been based on anything. That makes people uncomfortable. And because Rolling Stone hipsters want to be cool, they pretend to "get it" even though there is nothing of substance to get.
"i really don't think it's easy to overstate how easy it is to dismiss her"
this sentence fries my brain.
People: Fans today are out of control. They act so terribly due to parasocial relationahips.
Fans in the eighties: Sending death threats to a recent widow because they were still mad at a band break-up from the previous decade.
(Not defending current terrible fans but this video made it very clear that is not a recent problem.)
@Cassie-pt7mt exactly 😂 trying to make it seem like current fans aren't just as obsessive and wild is insane to me. They still do the same things and are even more obsessive because of social media and how it's so easy to have access to celebrities and their lives now
Entertainers have been murdered by their fans (or anti-fans) every decade since lennon.
Let's see, Christina Schaeffer, Selena, Dimebag Darrell, Christina Grimmie. Only the 20s I can't think of anyone, but decade not over.
@@GoofRebelMusic Given how many celebrities have had stalkers apprehended trying to enter their residence, I wonder if that is just because famous people tend to have more security now, not a lack of trying. Poor Christina Grimmie was more vulnerable because she was a relatively new celebrity in terms of money and broad fame, and so far as I know did not have a security team to protect her. But thanks to her fame beginning on the Internet, certain people had been aware of her long enough for there to be danger.
@@BleedingLiar17 Definitely did not mean to imply fans are not just as bad now, just that there is a certain tone on conversations I've seen about obsessive fans and parasocial relationships where people act like pushy, rude, and potentially dangerous fans are a brand new phenomenon.
And certain aspects of fan culture are new, the Internet makes the unwell behavior a lot more visible and allows fans and anti-fans more access to their target of love or hate and to spread conspiracy theories more quickly.
But the root of the issue is probably as old as fame and what Ono went through, both before and especially after John's death, is a really stark argument for that.
Some things don't change (sadly)
I'm Syrian, I was only 8 when the war started, the story Yoko told of her and her brother imagining dinner reminded me of the things my younger sister used to tell me during the tense first days when things changed forever. Her being the mind behind "Imagine" makes so so much sense, what a beautiful mind and a beautiful person. I never knew much about her before, but now thanks to this phenomenal documentary, I feel.... Changed.
Welcome back, Lindsay.
Shit sorry to hear that your Syrian lol
@@jonathanramos8414 Read the room, asshole.
@@jonathanramos8414what happened to Syria is a tragedy for our whole generation. I'm so saddened by what happened to your nation, by what keeps on happening, by the future that doesn't look much better.
@@jonathanramos8414 So am I it's like being born into hardcore minecraft lol
@@fallingphoenix2341 The future is bleak, but I can try to create my own light at least. What happened would take lifetimes to repair, but I have hope that something good is going to happen. I don't know when, but just saying it could even make it happen.
I was recommended this video by the algorithm, as I’ve been a Beatles fan for a while now. This was so well-edited, well-spoken, and just really good.
Hey, I paid for a Nebula subscription SPECIFICALLY to watch this, and now you have the audacity to upload it to YT for free? Awesome! Really glad you're comfortable enough to upload on here again, you have been sorely missed!
I literally got one yesterday just to see this video, im so mad but im glad more people will get to watch it
@@felentelechy yeah I got mine last month! But yes, this is genuinely one of the best video essays I've ever seen and I'm really glad everyone will get to experience it
A lot of time youtuber have you play to see things sooner then everyone else but careful not to make it exclusive so it's "pay for it to see it earlier" over "pay to see something no one else can see" Did she ever mention she would never put these vids on youtube? I know she quit youtube because of drama ...but she didn't fully Joecat it.
Nebula is the best place for quality content these days, thank goodness.
It feels like a 3-in-1 for me - I got to see it early (yay!), support her making more video essays (yeah!), and now she’s comfortable posting on youtube again (YEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH)
I did not realize Yoko Ono was still alive today, and 91 YEARS OLD.
Born in 1933, like my mom and Hitler came to power. My mom turned 91 yesterday. She tells me that I look revolting. Imma Beatlemaniac since 1964. I met George in 1977. He will always remember me, as will Ringo, who I met in 1990.
@@dennismason3740 What on earth did you do to George & Ringo?
@@dennismason3740 Your mom and Hitler came to power together?
@@theelusivepyroshark5119 - not TO them, but FOR them - a little subtle funny pantomime. I was a dishwasher in Lahaina, Maui, 1977, on a break, early afternoon, no customers, I'm eating a baked potato and I hear my boss's voice - "Mango (my nickname as I lived pretty much on mangoes) - I'd like you to meet George Harrison" and I looked up to see George standing 3 feet away and I spewed potatoes and George smiled. My boss was mortified and he hustled George out of my influence. That comedic gesture is called a spit-take. George and I exchanged no words. Ringo later, my fingers hurt. If you want to see where it happened look up Longhi's Restaurant online, it probably burned down with the rest of Lahaina 2 years ago.
I knew she was alive but damn, had no idea she's been alive since '33
Lindsay: "For thousands of years I lay dormant! Who dares disrupt my slumber?"
Random guy: "You know Yoko broke up the Beatles, right?"
Lindsay: ...
Is this a dbza reference?
@@samoppedisano3994Power Rangers, I think?
@@EviePontecorvo That would be, "After ten thousand years, I'm free!" (possibly with a side order of *_Who Disturbs My Slumber?_* of Disney's Alladin fame), yeah nah this one's a more niche internet trash meme.
@@samoppedisano3994of all the places she could have dropped the vid she chose here... in the middle of the artic
Lindsay: "And I took that personally..."
Yoko's treatment of Julian Lennon after his father's death did a lot to bolster her negative image. Making a child buy back his last letters to his father at auction is cruel.
Yeah, I though she was going to talk more about the children and the testament.
I'm quite skeptical about that interview
Julian and Cynthia's treatment by John was absolutely disgusting. I know people feel some type of way about him, but Paul actually tried to be a father figure for Julian when John basically abandoned him. That's what the song hey Jude is about. Paul wrote that for Julian specifically.
" For a man to be guilty, he has to have never done a single thing right. For a woman to be believed, she has to have never done a single thing wrong."
Okay?? Still doesn't mean she broke up the beatles?? John himself hit his wife so did Ringo yet why are they so revered while Yoko gets shit for something she didn't even do??
@@dreamyvelvets6081It’s not an endorsement of all the hate she gets. It’s context about a complicated person
Only funny joke I've ever seen about Yoko was in the Simpsons when she ordered "a single plum, floating in perfume, served in a man's hat" and turns out she turned it into a sculpture at her exhibition! I genuinely love that she has a sense of humor
I was young when that came out and it was my first exposure to Yoko so I thought that "yoko onno broke up the beatles" was because she made such weird art she fascinated John away because I thought the Beatles music was boring.
@@dismurrart6648 Based Yoko?
Slight correction, that wasn't her that made it - another artist did and she included it in an exhibition featuring lots of different artists making art inspired by hers.
@@seamussmyth1928 Well its not yoko ono in the simpson episode. its another artist.
You missed the best part of the gag, which is when Moe just pulls it out from under the bar already prepared
For those who didn't watch this on Nebula when it first came out, you are in for a treat. This is one of the best video essays I've ever seen.
It's a Lindsay Ellis video. Being one of the best video essays is the norm.
100% agree.
It really is ridiculously good.
Ikr I might just have to watch it again
i dont even like the beetles and its my favorite lol
Not gonna lie. Yoko is legit "My haters are my motivators." That's pretty badass.
I keep thinking of her song Death of Samantha: "Every day I thank god, That I'm such a cool chick, baby"
That a hardass bar
Michael Jordan: "That's all I needed."
Now that's based.
Being inspred by haters gives an incentive to be an asshole.
This narrative you talk about (The infantilized male genius ruined by the woman) is really interesting to think about. Because there are a lot of examples of that or things that come near to it throughout history and storytelling. Adam & Eve, Helena of Troy, Mark Antony & Cleopatra, Romeo and Juliet, Napoleon & Josephine etc. The story of how a woman effected a man's destiny (for good or bad) seems to be a compelling one in our collective consciousness. To the point that we will mythologize real and present events to ends of being able to keep telling it in new and culturally relevant ways.
That aside, the way you've put this video together is impressive. I imagine this had to be really hard to collate and edit. It's not a clean chronology of events. Rather there seems to always be several things going on at once. Just choosing what to mention in which order could not have been easy. Though well done ultimately. Makes me want to see another installment from you involving another set of main characters. Like Marcia Lucas, George Lucas and Star Wars.
I don't think it's a 'compelling trope in our collective consciousness' so much as it is just 'woman bad. beware of woman' misogyny.
@@ShaCaro If you want to be reductive about it sure. But then tropes don't exist because you can always reduce them to their core drivers and say "see, not a trope afterall".
agree with everything you said, well put
can i ask how helen of troy & romeo and juliet are an example of this trope? i'm not sure i'm connecting the dots in my head
@@tallemajas In either story the central woman are ruinous for men in their orbit. Now with Juliet as well as Helen, it doesn't end well for them either. So one might think that it's not quite the same kind of story. But actually it's just a further extreme along the same lines. The idea that even they cannot survive themselves. And that when they no longer have a man to devour. Their purpose has come to an end. And they must meet their end through one means or another.
Seeing John Lennon vehemently insist that his black friends gave him permission to say the N-word is a level of cringe that you can never truly prepare for.
John Lennon said and did many unsavory things, including beating his first wife and allegedly berating Epstein for being gay, worried that it would tarnish his rise to fame. But you're absolutely right, cringe to say the least and I'm a bit surprised Yoko hasn't pulled it from the available catalog.
I had to go 'oooh NO' out loud. Hearing somebody use 'my black friends' and 'straight white guys (sic)' that many years ago rlly got me
He tried, and for God's sake, he failed miserably.
Lindsay was voicing my thoughts. “John? John, please stop.”
@@Sailormac2Forreal, literally speaking my inner monologue, haha
Kid me used to be so confused when I heard women around me state they will never dated musicians. As I got older, I figured it was because of the traveling they did, long-distance relationships, etc. Now I'm almost 34 and it hit me that another reason, not often talked about, is how fans behave so grossly about the wives or girlfriends of their favorite male musicians.
It goes both ways, female musicans almost have it worse with their husbands because it's so normalized to just pretend a celebrity isn't a person
There's been so many times musicans have to tell their fans to back off their partners it's insane
I thought it was because of the drug abuse and early deaths.
Yup. Even when those romantic partners are _themselves_ famous performers. As someone who was a teenager at the same time as Justin Bieber, I can tell you that I have never, in my lifetime, seen hatred of the sort that Selena Gomez received from 'Beliebers' while she was with Justin.
_OMG 😃 You're back!_
In all honesty for me personally it wasn’t the fans when I was dating a musician (but tbh he wasn’t a rockstar or something, just someone who is well know within the scene where I live). It’s the songs they (maybe) write about you. The fact that people I don’t even know can listen to quite intimate stuff about me is insanely uncomfortable.
My dad was a huge fan of The Beatles and I’m proud to say that he didn’t buy into the Yoko broke up the band narrative. He was obsessed with and had an encyclopedic knowledge of Beatles lore both before and after they broke up. He thought Yoko and her art were weird but he embraced it in the same way he embraced a lot of the weird shit the Beatles members put out after the breakup. Like he’s the only person I’ve ever known to like Temporary Secretary as a song. Crazy.
Also, glad to have you back on UA-cam ❤
Temporary Secretary is a freakazoid banger, McCartney's id on full display. I love it.
Your dad’s a real one 🤘🏻
@@aSwineofCulture part of one of the best albums ever too
Temporary secretary stars hitting eventually. The biggest sleeper banger ever
It's taken me 3 weeks to get round to watching this. It's a really brilliant piece of work. Thank you.
I really appreciate the idea you've put forth about how fans and viewers allow these fully conscious adult people to become infantilized by some "bad influence," rather than accepting that people are fallible and will inevitably do things we don't like. Especially realizing that so much of it is rooted in misogyny.
Thank you for such a thoughtful analysis. It's led me to reevaluate a lot of how I consume media and celebrities.
I think you are still kind of doing it by simplifying it as people just being “bad”….
There is a world where Johnny Depp can admit he was wrong, seek help for his anger and substance abuse and rehabilitate himself by showing true growth. Heard and any other victims are not obligated to forgive, but no person deserve to be totally given up on, as long as the way are able to honestly admit wrongdoing.
For people so concerned about “the poor men”, they sure are opposed to any form of growth….he isn’t an orc. He is a person dealing with psychological issues in all the wrong ways with the entire world enabling him at every stage. In _some_ ways, he is a kind of victim. But we likely won’t get to see the timeline where Depp chooses to be a good person. Which is sad for all of us….but I just can’t be the kind of person who decides whether someone is right or wrong based entirely on if I want to enjoy their art or not.
It's a similar impulse to saying that a woman forced a man to be abusive or that an irresistible seductress forced a man to cheat. It's an assertion that men are rational and natural leaders but lose all agency when challenged by a "difficult" woman.
Exactly. Women get blamed for almost everything.
What a glorious return. This makes up for the Beatles breaking up.
Mr Brest, when compare Beatles and beetles video?
its so weird to see all corners of youtuber converage today
Just like Starting Over.
Did you know they broke up because Yoko Ono?
Very savvy of Lindsay to make her youtube return with a nice, easy, non-controversial subject that people don't have a lot of entrenched opinions about!
To be fair, this is also OUR collective opportunity to be more considerate of a valued contributor 😊
tbh millenials and younger generations (the majority of yt viewers) don't consider beatles as some holy grail and Lennon is very present on the internet, usually as not the greatest of guy. And while i am happy that LE is back, as andromeda didn't really capture me, Yoko Ono defense vid is hardly a novelty or controversial.
@@Telimency "Lennon"🤨
@@mechanicaldavid4827fixed thank you :)
"They didn't think that was abnormal, 2 guys together" - John Lennon
he is so funny
"You know Yoko broke up The Beatles right?" is to Lindsay Ellis what "Lion King is a ripoff of Kimba" was to YMS
What is YMS?
@@thedoublechip YMS stands for the channel Your Movie Sucks.
I'm *so old* I remember this (ripoff) rumor and eventually having to go to Suncoast to get a copy of Kimba because no rental stores had a resonable selection of foreign films (not even incredibly popular anime) in stock. Even then, it was only available to buy on VHS.
(Disk was a thing but still slim for anything without *massive* following.)
[Bones creaking at the thought.]
I love how true this is and I love you
Wait, it wasn't?
My heart skipped a beat when I got this notification.
Saaame
I know I immediately opened UA-cam to see if this was another trailer and saw the length and immediately ran to get headphones.
@@kiragane99 me three!!!!
Same
Facts
That montage of hacky televised jokes about Yoko honestly made my stomach turn. I am truly grateful to you for putting together such a bold and uncompromising video about Yoko and her art, and I truly hope this both exposes her work to a wider, more honest audience and makes people think twice the next time they spew vitriol for the Hated Woman Attached to Powerful Man du jour.
i just don’t get the hatred, if you don’t like it or her it’s fine, but why such visceral hate
norm macdonald made so many yoko ono jokes it made me briefly believe oj was innocent
This was phenomenal. I wish they could randomly show your videos on TV so it could reach more people (who desperately need to see them!)
What a fantastic video. I love taking cultural “facts” and proving them as misconceptions. All the themes & examples flow so well together and the editing is great. Incredible work and I can’t wait to see what’s next.
When’s the mold video dropping
I didn't expect to see you here
Oh word?
What a delightful suprise to see you here!
@@darlingdoloresdaygirl what is you on?
I was in an experimental "school" in Syracuse when we were enlisted by Yoko to be "security" for the opening of her first museum exhibition at the Everson in Syr NY. We met her in a room a day before; and she came out with John who stayed back and silent and she spoke about her work. She spoke about what it meant to her and why it was tactile... the importance of the interaction of the 'viewer' who walked thru ... and she was polite, and business, and direct. At no time was she an asshole. And her exhibit was quite beautiful and interesting, and very unique. I ended up on the stairs between the offices/ auditorium and the 1st floor so I got to watch the press and their back and forths and watch the lovely pair go from the offices to the piano in the auditorium and I realized... they are really short. Thank you , Lindsay, you kick ass. *hug*
Yoko was weird. Maybe she can do art but she sang like a cat was being tortured. She couldnt be lacking confidence going on stage with a Beatle sounding like an alley cat.
@@tubester4567 There are times that Yoko 'used' her voice as an instrument, pointedly NOT as a singing tool as most would; that's the artist in her. That's her pushing the boundaries which I respect whole heartedly. Fly for instance, is a gorgeous piece of vocal Dada and btw, fantastic for acid trips. On the other hand she has a gorgeous voice as you can hear in her work with John on his later and important pieces. So, I think your statement, though honest, is subjective and not a true view of an artist's range and work. But, that's my opinion. :)
@@tubester4567 ... kind of an odd thing to say when less than 15 minutes into the video there's a clear example of her being singing quite decently on a record, but alright.
@@tubester4567 spotted the sexist
@@tubester4567 She had an OK voice. The screaming and wailing was a choice. I don't care for it but she could sing when she wanted to.
One word that always comes to my mind after watching your videos is "thorough." You create such a sense of narrative satisfaction, you manage to cover every important perspective/idea on a subject in a way that makes the experience of watching a video feel complete.
Apparently she left a ton of shit out to craft this vindication narrative?
I remember when I first learned of the beetles, and I asked my mother why the band broke up. She told me that they had been friends, but just weren’t anymore, so they decided to split.
I find it incredible that people just have a hard time realising this. To me, its clear that as they grew older, the beatels just found different tastes, and wanted different things, and so they decided to stop. I find it kinda sad that people just point all of the blame on Yoko, and not them just becoming so different from each other.
Lindsay being on YT again is like seeing Gandalf at Helm's Deep.
Feels good man.
"I come back to you now at the turn of the tide..."
dear Lindsay Ellis,
as an Iranian living in poverty and sanctions with no way to access this exclusive essay, thank you so much for eventually making it available for me, you really made my day madam❤
Same thing coming from Russia! Wish i could've bought the lifetime subscription to nebula back when it was possible in my country. I was a teen but still
I hope you have happiness in your life- I wish you well.
Unrelated but I was started watching this vide at the Imam Khomeini airport, when I was leaving Iran, *using a VPN ofc. And my first thought was, I’m glad I’m wasting the Islamic Republic’s internet for good.
Incredible video Lindsay but I also want to shout-out that fabulous thumbnail from Skutch. What a talent!
Like your Beatles videos too.
Thanks for your reply, was trying to figure out the artist of this thumbnail.
I'm so happy to see you're comfortable enough to post on UA-cam again but also I think you've grown and grown as a video essayist. I'm not a big Beatles fan but this is intensely interesting and engaging 😊 welcome back!!
This made me re-remember how good video essays can be
Especially with how many lazy video essays we’ve been getting lately.
Dude I cannot believe how many channels I'll tune into, watch 20 minutes of a vid, just have learned literally nothing. it's insane.
That bit with Courtney crying while reading Kurt's letter hit me deep in my soul.
Yeah, that genuinly felt so real. Especially when she started swearing at him for leaving. If that was all an act, she's a damn good actress.
@sparksparkle I did get it. I'm just saying it cuz people still believe she was the evil witch.
@@ofanichanI still low key think Courtney had something to do with it. To many inconsistancies
@@dewfan4I don’t think she had anything to do with it, but her and Kurt’s relationship was much more toxic and on its last legs than John and Yoko’s. It’s a little jarring hearing John and Yoko were also doing heroin, because compared to Kurt and Courtney, they look like members of the upright citizens brigade.
I had read descriptions of the recording, but never actually heard it. By the end, I was sobbing. How could anyone accuse Courtney of killing her husband when her raw pain there is so palpable?
never was a big fan of Nirvana, but I read "Sing Backwards and Weep", an autobiography of the vocalist of Screaming Trees, Mark Lannegan, who went from touring with Alice in Chains (as he was best friends with both Kurt and Layne), to... being a homeless heroin and crack addict and dealer.
But anyway the point is, he was saved... by Courney Love, who somehow managed to locate him and offered him a exclusive detox and recovery all paid for by her, vreated specifically for musicians and artists struggling. She had nothing to gain from this. Mark was never a big star besides Seattle grunge fans. His most recognisable contribution to grunge is probably being a part of few songs on the Mad Season album... and he was COMPLETELY forgotten by then, nobody cared, nobody would even recognise him as he looked like your typical junkie hobo. He didn't have the star power for her to be like "Imma get him clean and squeeze him for money once he starts releasing music again..
She did it because she lost her husband to heroin, and lost herself to heroin, so she spent time helping out her husbands old friends to get clean, and fellow musicians who were never big and could never afford proper detox. And I never heard about this before, and I never heard anyone taking about this meaning she did it without any media or public attention.
I never understood all the hate she got. I truly believe it's rooted in misogyny. Kurt and her both suffered from addiction, and Kurt Def had his demons.
@@eddielouisemoran5881A lot of people can't comprehend suicide. That is a sign of health I suppose, but they miss the point and try to seek a rational explanation where there often isn't one.
Depression feels very clear and rational, but it will completely screw up your emotional and rational intelligence.
Courtney had made herself a perfect target for all kinds of accusations. Her public persona was that of the white trash rock bitch. She even copied the style of Nancy Spungen. It is so damn easy to blame her, because she looked and behaved like a hot mess.
What makes me so mad is that most guys who blamed and moralized over Courtney, probably dreamed of a woman like that: beautiful and destructive, a girlfriend who doesn't give a fuck and can party harder than any of your male friends. That kind of woman (stereotypically) is very seductive, but still men tend to hold them at a higher moral standard just because they are women. They get a pass, but they don't get a pass.
I believe Courtney was a bit of that, but she was also a loving partner and a mother. She was growing out of that destructive phase and being a couple years older than Kurt, she had begun to face her demons at a point when he just wasn't ready for it.
Courtney lost her husband at what? 30 years old. The whole world's attention was directed at her, and a lot of Nirvana's fans almost felt like their own personal loss was just as big or more than Courtney's tragedy.
Fuck 'em.
@@eddielouisemoran5881Misogyny is a big part of it. Marie Antoinette was portraited as a devilish woman because Louis was in love with her and didn't have official mistresses. Every unpopular policy of louis was her fault because that evil woman was controling him with lust and the help of devil. Very old story.
Even though academics have debunked this portrail, in the collective unconscious she was still evil.
@@eddielouisemoran5881 It's absolutely rooted in misogyny and Courtney's own unapologetic personality rubbing people the wrong way because; yeah, we all just LOVE a strong female figure.
@@eddielouisemoran5881 I can't speak of that but what I know - as someone who was an opiate addict for 10 years, out of that 10 heroin for about 4 - is that... you're just waiting for death. You're waiting to die, want to commit suicide but have no balls to do it so you try everytime you've got some.more cash on you by trying to shoot as much smack as you can but usually it doesn't work... until it does.
But the dream is to have enough money and a good enough connection to get a "złoty strzał" as we call it in Polish - a golden shot, the perfect high which is so strong it puts you over the edge and kills you.
And so I know people said "well why didn't he simply OD on heroin if he wanted to kill himself?!" And I can imagine that after multiple unsuccessful ODs which were prooooobably on purpose... I can imagine a guy who tried to "golden shot" himself few times and it never worked or someone saved him, he did another "golden shot" in private, and woke up as it didn't work again (hence why "experts" said he had so much opiates in his body it wouldve killed an elephant- yeah no shit, not only he was a junkie, he was a MILLIONAIRE junkie, his tolerance must've been ABSURD, im talking multiple grams a day), just grabbing a shotty and offing himself.
And honestly? I'm on methadone for 3 years now, have a great white collar job with a good salary, got my family and friends, but I'm 1 out of 10, and for people who can't stay clean on methadone or subs or don't want to substitute, it's more of a 1 out of 100 chance to get clean - not to be happy, but to get clean. Happy? Thays more like 1 out of 1000 or 10000. I won the lottery despite being extremely unlucky with gambling and in life in general. And I can 10000% imagine Kurt thinking, "I was NEVER happy in my life ever and heroin was the only thing bringing me peace but that stopped working a long time ago, this is the end".
I'm not saying I condone it... but I totally understand.
Thank you for attending my TED talk.
I think about Yoko's dress performance piece every time I am vulnerable on the internet
The look in her eye
The idea of strangers touching you… and you just take it.. shudders
You get it. I am one of the few Beatlemaniacs that loved Yoko’s art. People like Laurie Anderson owe Yoko so much.
@bhusar1 As a much younger on and off Beatles listener. I had the luxury of the internet and attending countless museum exhibits of all forms as a kid. Warhol led me to the Velvet Underground, John Cale's involvement with Theatre of Eternal Music led me to Fluxus, Fluxus led me to Buddhism (intermittently). It's kind of ironic how I grew up in a family that went with the narrative that all things avant-garde was bullshit and Yoko was the prime motivator in their breakup due to them encouraging creativity and most importantly, reading. Their methods of raising me was in direct opposition to their politics and views on society. Nowadays, we made up and they've finally begun to separate from their overall humanist attributes, endless curiousity, and their misanthropic cult-like trappings.
@@PaologuitareI loved that too! The strange juxtaposition between the r and b and her wailing was just perfect.
hbomberguys voice is like a jump scare. You never expect it. Not twice in the same year.
It's entirely too soon
yeah he exists in a youtube void to entertain you. He cant leave his hole until a videos done. Fuck him for lending his voice to this one. He should be working on his 2000000000 hour video on why james sommerton pooped his pants or whatever
Munecat as well!
If I had a nickel...
I 100% expect to hear HBG randomly anytime I watch a Lindsay Elis or contra points video
I love how you tied so many other celebrities' stories together (Britney Spears, Kurt Cobain, Monica Lewinsky) and found patterns between all of them, it's fascinating to see
Yoo BfDI . I gotta watch Yo vids again . Loved them as a kid
@@raymonddejesus4986 this video is about yoko ono, and moreso celebrity as a whole. They're talking about parallels between all of these examples, and there are a lot of them, because that is how the video is structured. The section on Lennon's death is just an opening, y'know, like how videos are structured.
@@rains00the isn't that the whole point she was making on "yoko ono broke up the beatles" lmao
@@katierasburn9571 you didn't watch 100 minutes of a video to think that was the only point made did you
Sometimes you see the randomest UA-camrs in other UA-camrs comments lol
This was so freaking good! Thank you for making it!
The uncut Nebula version is so worth it and I am happy to give this version more engagement to help promote that space! The video itself gives a lot of perspective that doesn't get talked about regarding Yoko. It is woth the watch for sure!
How much longer is the uncut version? I plan on getting nebula soon
@@ItsAllNunya It looks like it's the same length and I haven't watched both yet but based on the content she'd have to censor it's worth it if you can swing the $20 for an annual plan, especially since there are so many other videos, some from Lindsay.
@@scissorhands17 there's a bunch of people I want it for but a big reason has always been bc I know there's more videos from Lindsay and I know it's the safe option for her to keep making stuff. :oD
the comments, the jokes, the racism, the misogyny, so many people acted like everything was yoko’s fault. meanwhile when i actually read the beatles books as a teen obsessed with the beatles, i very quickly realized this was not the case at all. seems like a lot of these ‘fans’ of the beatles never bothered to do a tiny bit of research, cause it was always more convenient and enjoyable to them to pin everything solely on her.
also, people act like she was just an add on to john but when i was in university the lecturer talked about her art completely separately and without mentioning him at all.
Yeah, I think it's important to realise how many men people had to ignore in the process of honing in on Yoko. It suggests a motive.
As much as the Beatles were really a sum of their parts, many people always saw John as the “lead” and their “favorite”. Give this was the decades before 24 hour new networks and even longer away from social media, it was easy to craft a narrative of who a person was and John was scene by many as this insightful, caring, counter culture icon. His assassination just cemented that further to almost deify him. So in their mind he would never allow the “greatest band in history” break up and clearly someone manipulated him and Yoko, the quarky counter culture weirdo that she was, was an easy target. Especially because of good old fashion Asian racism
I was fully introduced to her through her art. When I found out about the Beatles, and I heard about Yoko Ono because of Lindsay’s Nebula announcement, I was like, “it can’t be THAT Yoko Ono” and just went about my day assuming there were just 2 famous Yoko Onos out there, wow what a coincidence. Must be a common name lmao.
It's crazy cause, I was never a beatles fan, but I just remember tv shows even cartoons basically making jokes about how it was her fault.
Honestly between the fans that SHOULD have known better, and general pop culture feeding this lie, Yoko really never stood a chance.
@hannahthecritter I don't care for your woke and revisionist opinion. Race and sex have nothing to do with it. Yoko was and is an evil and opportunistic parasite that managed to ensnare John Lennon, break up his marriage with Cynthia, ostracized him from the other Beatles and guided him like a dog on a leash to the point of him calling her "mother" of all things. John might have had a stellar solo career, the Beatles may have lasted a little longer, and he would still be alive today if Yoko never came into his life.
After everything the internet has done to hurt Lindsay, her making a POINT of making this version for UA-cam is really brave imo
She had already released a teaser of "Yoko and the Beatles" on UA-cam (?) and linked it to her Twitter account a few months ago. That has been disappeared or made private since this was put up (I can't find it on Vimeo or the unlisted UA-cam website.)
"Brave" is not the word I'd use. What's the word for "Did you guys ever stop to think that maybe you wouldn't act this way towards me if I were a dude?? And, like, y'all are supposed to be feminists".
Yeah when it got to the part about women and fame it felt deeply personal to her.
Back story? I'm not up on Lindsay's Internet history.
@@amidala3927 she's kind of had a hate mob for a long time, but she got cancelled completely a year or two ago on twitter- I'm not super inclined to go into details because imo the backlash was a lot worse than she deserved, and some of it involves painful stuff in Lindsay's past. Things got bad enough that she withdrew from UA-cam pretty much entirely; this is the first video she's posted here in quite some time.
Holy shit. This was such an amazing essay. It encompasses so much in so many ways. I’m so glad you made it, shared it, and that I had the fortune to stumble upon it.
THE QUEEN HAS RETURNED -R
hi red
What is this, a crossover episode???
Red commenting on an ellis video? A surprise to be sure but a welcome one
My thoughts exactly! Also, good to see you over at this part of UA-cam, Red!
As soon as i watched “Lindsay Ellis” in my feed, I thought exactly the same
one factor not mentioned here as to why other women, like britney, got a critical re-evaluation while Yoko did not is that Yoko didn’t have that much of a fanbase in the mainstream, independent from her ties to john lennon and the beatles. People don’t really stan her. Contrast this with britney, who obviously had tons upon tons of fans of her specifically
Ya but Monica Lewinsky has absolutely no fan base and she got a re-evaluation
@pl8710 I like some of Monica's reevaluation could be due to general anti-Clinton feelings now
1:12:10
Maybe because Yoko wasn’t anything until she hooked up with John Lennon.
@@georgelucas2571 just because Yoko wasn’t known in the mainstream doesn’t mean she wasn’t known and respected at all. York was and is widely respected in the fine arts realm, and fine arts doesn’t aim to be mainstream. I personally knew of her and her work before I knew of John Lennon. It all just depends on the perspectives you operate in.
The most impressive thing here is that Lindsay got so mad over a boomer's comment in a coffee shop that she broke up a 4 year long iatus
She's been active the whole time, just not here on UA-cam. And it's presumably her agent who has insisted she post on UA-cam.
@@humblegamer7876 She's been active the whole time, I'm aware of the cancel b.s. She didn't HAVE to leave UA-cam. She chose to. But she was producing content elsewhere.
@@amypetty5013 Yeah I thought she was posting on Nebula
Arigato, weirdo ass boomer. You were such a freak you singlehandedly brought Lindsay back to UA-cam.
@@humblegamer7876 she's been posting on nebula for a while, the opening chapter of this video she uploaded here like last year I think? Or closer to January. And the full version was already on nebula.
I watch a lot of content on UA-cam. Probably too much. A lot of video essays. Since watching this for the first time, I've watched it three times in 24 hours and will probably keep re-watching it tomorrow. It's the best, most powerful video essay I've ever seen. You're simply the best of the best and you keep getting better.
when mac miller passed away, a lot of people blamed ariana grande, even though they weren't together at the time. she'd attempted to tell people that she was not responsible for his behavior a few months before that, but it clearly did not work. i still see people blaming her for it today, and they can never really articulate why they think she's responsible beyond, "she broke up with him." they have no sympathy for her whatsoever and only take his struggles seriously.
@@shawnfoster4506 it was ruled an accidental OD
I'm not even an Ariana fan but it's incredibly obvious how much his death affected/still affects her, even though they were separate when it happened. I can't even fathom losing someone you loved like that, having it affect you so much, and having millions of strangers hound you for years about it being your fault with 0 consideration to your own personhood. And for Yoko it's been decades. It's truly cruel (edit: I meant Courtney Love, not Yoko, though it still applies to Yoko too)
To take it a little further, like Yoko Ono and Courtney Love, Ariana Grande also has done some questionable things. The donut incident, the blackfishing, and the messiness of dating Ethan Slater make her someone that is acceptable to hate in the public eye. Because she's done these other things, it's easy to assume the worst regardless of evidence
@@emmaarmo379 LOL the donut thing is so funny because i've seen a lot of people online realize that like...... it truly was not the end of the world the way everyone thought it was. now that clip of her talking about it on the news and obviously not caring at all gets reposted and made into edits with megan thee stallion playing over it
@@emmaarmo379I don’t know who Courtney Love is but I think the only Ariana Grande controversy that was actually somewhat worth talking about was that Donut licking incident.
I did a report in high school to clear up the rumors about the Beatles because my mom and I were huge fans. Everyone said I was wrong. Thank you, Lindsay for doing the work I did long ago. ❤
@@amyweston4640It's funny how angry people are now coming out of woods to insist that no, they weren't manipulated by a bunch of sociopathic assholes only thinking about making a quick buck, they didn't just jump on vague gossips, because it gave them an easy scapegoat, no, they've always been right and you're wrong waaah >:(((
But it's entertaining that besides childish stomping and loud "nuh-UHHH", you all provide nothing of substance.
@@amyweston4640 How are they wrong? Provide something to back up your statement.
This was amazing, one of the very best video essays I’ve ever seen. The twist from a Beatles documentary to the larger message regarding fame’s insidiousness cemented this video as your best imo.
This video has become my number 1 "play in background" pick. I've watched it right through with my full attention probably a half dozen times, and god knows how many more. I think it's some of your finest work.
I knew almost nothing about the Beatles before this and even was misinformed about some other topics touched on and I am so incredibly glad you came back to do this video
So anyone who doesn’t know: the famous line “it’s better to burn out than fade away” is from Neil Young’s famous song “Hey Hey, My My” (not originally from Def Leppard as some thought). Neil Young was quite disturbed by this as he wrote about the horrors of big H, which was about his bandmate, in “Tne Needle and the Damage Done.” Kurt was a big admirer of Young’s music.
Young later wrote the song Sleeps with Angels about Cobain.
@@shawnfoster4506 Kurt Cobain suffered from a chronic undiagnosed stomach problem that caused severe pain constantly, (iirc I read the autopsy showed actual scar tissue in his stomach from whatever he'd suffered from), which had been acknowledged since he was a child. He started with pain kill3rs then graduated slowly til he reached H, which is usually how it happens for people who suffer chronic pain and can't get relief from anything else other than strong 0piate medication. (This was also back when 0piate pain meds were just on the market, prior to the crack down by the govt, so doctors were pushing them HARD around that time, which is what got so many people addicted to them in the first place & caused the current "crisis", bc drug manufacturers assured everyone they weren't addictive. [Look up the Sacklers.])
So my speculation, (as someone his age who went through this exact situation, as did many people our age), is he was probably taking medicine prescribed by a Dr before moving up the 0piate ladder to the big bad H bc after taking them for a while your body will build up a resistance & it takes more or something stronger to effectuate the same relief.
But that's justy speculation/theory on it. It was known he was on H at the time; Courtney tried to get him to rehab but he refused to go. She later blamed herself bc she knew how much pain he was in, & felt like it was her fault he took his life bc she wanted to get herself clean for their baby/family/her career/etc. but he probably felt like he needed it for his pain.
Hope that makes sense. ✌🏻
@@shawnfoster4506 Yes.
@@shawnfoster4506 Kurt used _a lot_ of heroin. It's speculated from the medical report that the amount of it in his system would've killed him even if he hadn't moved on to the 12 gauge shortly after his last hit.
you mean Lennon was disturbed by it
As someone whose favorite group is The Beatles, by a large margin, it’s sad how their mythology has set so many lies in stone. People seem to forget that new things are uncovered, with the bombshell Get Back releasing only a few years ago. Like the odd way people seem to jump on the nature of John and Cynthia’s relationship as a little tidbit always struck me as disingenuous. It’s important to acknowledge John’s disgusting action as well as his later search for atonement. Just like the boomer, it seems odd how real people are reduced to little fun facts and gotchas. Such a shame, cause there’s so much to dig your teeth into, if you just lay down your preconceptions.
I just dont understand why so many people insist on seeing the world as black and white and simply refuse to acknowledge that their favorite artists are human and that therefore are complicated beings. Why is it so hard to accept that someone who did bad things can make really good art, and that someone who is good can also have done bad things and vice versa?
@@liaspooked4980 I don't think it's a new thing, but it's certainly a prevalent trend for people to be seen as either demons or angels, either perfectly good, a victim, a waif, a tortured genius, or else a villain, a betrayer, someone fundamentally rotten. If that's the structure you're trying to fit everyone into, then the idea that one of the 'angels' could have done something genuinely bad becomes inconceivable, because that would automatically cast them out of the 'angel' category and into the 'demon' category, and ruin their entire legacy. Therefore John hitting Cynthia cannot be mentioned.
On the flipside some people do accept that he hit her, and as a result they have fully recast him in the demon role. For them, any discussion of the idea that he may have genuinely changed his ways, apologised, not repeated the incident, and any discussion of where his attitudes sat within the context of the time period becomes tantamount to defending an evil abuser, and in turn defending all abusers and the general concept of abuse. Even adding a hint of nuance is seen as an attempt to re-cast him back in the the 'angel' role (since these two positions are apparently the only ones available). I've even seen people in this comment section doggedly repeating that he *must* have beaten and abused Yoko, despite her never making any claims of that kind.
Of course domestic violence is a very heavy topic, and it's understandable that some people will be triggered by it and will not be open to a nuanced discussion... but I don't think that fully explains the level of polarisation. The same angel/demon dichotomy gets applied all over the place for all kinds of reasons - in fact we can see the same casting get applied to Yoko and everyone else involved, depending on who's telling the story.
At the end of the day people are complicated. People are not static, they change, and they contain multitudes. I'm not particularly a fan of either John Lennon or Yoko Ono or anyone else here, it's just a general issue I see applied in all these debates - I saw a huge amount of this during the Depp/Heard debacle, where Amber Heard being a (very) complex victim and Depp being perceived in some ways as sympathetic or vulnerable (the tortured genius role), led to them being recast in people's mind with her as the villain and him as the hero. Once they were cast in those roles, any new piece of evidence could be dismissed or exaggerated to reinforce that picture. It's an incredibly destructive tendency.
I also wanted to add nobody gets mad at Ringo for doing the same thing. Ringo was violent to his second wife while drunk. Ringo managed to get better, and John I think was being sincere and trying to become a better person, but he didn't get to prove it because he was killed.
I still don't know why Ringo gets no backlash. Hell, even George gets more backlash for being a cheater.
@@liaspooked4980 because people are scared of what *might* happen if they're wrong. We lionize so many people, ideals, etc., that for some, when you pull just a little at the thread, it all unravels
@@autumntaylor2533 yeah but I just feel like living with that world view just makes you bound for dissapointment, does it not? Because most of the artists you like are eventually going to show their not so great sides during your life time. I wonder how people are able to continue with the black and white ilusionment for so long, even after life has proven over and over again that it's a farce.
Also good on ya for licensing some of the actual music for this vid... it gives is such a pro vibe, you don't realise how much it's missing from most youtube documentaries.
I was today years old when I found out John Lennon and Yoko Ono are the ones who wrote and performed a very Merry Christmas… I’m surprised and face palming I never put it together lol
It's called "Happy Xmas (War is Over)".
I always thought he sang it with a children's choir for some reason
@@M123Xoxoso there is a children's choir for the last few verses. But the main female vocals are Yoko. I remember because the recording on the radio has them all clapping at the end and it's definitely more than 2 people lol.
The Queen has returned..
all bow down
she was technically never gone, she has been active on nebula for a long time
Long live the Queen
Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl, after all
The real version of this has been I. Nebula for months
I can see why she posted this one outside of Nebula. It's absolutely a masterpiece of modern documentary-esque internet videos. It's consistent and beautiful, but funny and heartfelt.
Like the Beatles music.
That's why i felt it's a huge loss when she went away. Her hobbit documentaries bring to light many injustices done by the studio towards the new zealand people
And unlike some "video essayists," she didn't rip it off wholesale with no acknowledgement whatsoever from other creators.
@@WolfHredanice vagueposting
@@khatunamezvrishvili6211 it could've been more vague. But considering how thoroughly both Todd and Harry have torn that asshole apart, it only feels right to be a little more specific with who I'm talking about.
Lindsay, this might be your best work yet.
Already saw this video on Nebula, BUT I’LL DO IT AGAIN
Same. We're so back.
shame same
Yesss
Very Ray Holt of you and I love that for you.
How much better is the uncensored ?
So stoked to see this one getting a wider release outside nebula. A powerful video that deserves to be seen by as many people as possible 🙌
Exactly!
Exactly!
One thing that always stuck with me about Yoko was a quote from a popular 90s show that had a vampire that looked oddly enough a bit like Billy Idol and in one episode the vampire said this…
“And when they (The Beatles) broke up, everyone blamed Yoko, but the fact is, the group split itself apart.”
The quote always stuck with me, but I didn’t read much about Yoko, but now watching this I now know why the quote stuck. Thanks Lindsay!
"popular 90s show that had a vampire that looked oddly enough a bit like Billy Idol"
It would have been much easier to just say "Spike from Buffy"
Seriously haha lol AM I THIS OLD@dungeonsanddobbers2683
Forever knight?
The episode in question was outright called "The Yoko Factor", too.
@@dungeonsanddobbers2683 Sorry, was in a silly mode when I wrote that description. I was going between that Billy Idol reference or call him William the poet.
I've had this video sitting in a tab since the day I saw it had released. I was never really a Beatles fan, despite hearing so many of their songs, especially at a younger age. I've known hardly anything about the band, let its members, and especially about Yoko Ono. I'm writing this simply to say thank you, for changing that.
The line that formed from her childhood's imagined meal to her tweet about the concept of a chair unburned is so straight and true and crystal clear. If I had known nothing about her life I would think that it was a quaint and interesting little thought experiment, but now I see that thread that must trace back through most of her work, if not her life.
Having watched this, I wish to say so much more, though I can hardly put it into words.
So, if nothing else, thank you for showing me such a truly thoughtful woman.
Being interested in contemporary art completely changes everything about how you see Yoko Ono. She is an innnncredible performance artist. Her work is good and smart and bold and raw and also not particularly strange looking at the annals of other performance art being made at the time. The idea that so many people hate her is baffling to me.
Modern/performance art fans seek out on purpose, but I think Yoko's proximity to the beatles introduced her work to an audience that was never looking for that sort of thing and weren't primed to appreciate it.
@@hexx2211 show every Beatle’s fan Seedbed before they want to start mocking Yoko for being too out there!!!!!!!
Fr, growing up I only vaguely knew of her through her connection to the Beatles, but the first proper thing I saw about her (bc neither of my parents were Beatles fans) was in college when I was doing my theatre degree and we were learning about performance art and the professor played us some clips from the piece where they cut her clothes off. I saw it, was moved by it and we had a meaningful discussion about it in class. Had no negative feelings about her and though I didn't dive deeper into her work, always remembered the one I saw. Not until I watched this video did I find out the hatred went so deep for so many people!
Even if Yoko had "broken up the band" or any of the terrible things people accuse her of, the way people have gone after her for decades over her relationship and some perceived slight against a music group they like is just insane.
Unfortunately, people tend to get crazy especially dealing with the biggest and most influential band of all time. Look at how insane and deranged Taylor Swift fans get the moment you criticize her.
I knew (without proof) that "Yoko Ono broke up Beatles" was just a meme. I didn't know that it had specific authors.
well you see: she is a woman
Not arguing against you, but how do you know something without proof?
@@barkbark479 Doesn't that mean you just believe it strongly? I mean I guess anything we think we know is ultimately just a strong belief, but I thought "know" was specifically reserved for "I've seen proof"
@@prw56bc to anyone who knows anything abt the Beatles can tell something like that makes no sense and it’s a lot more complex politics to break up a behemoth like that. Common sense
@@barkbark479 But I mean, you said you feel the same as someone who proclaimed to "know" something without proof, that sounds like a strong belief.
When I describe a belief or weak belief I'd probably say something like "I think", but he believed it strong enough to say "I know", which implies perceived certainty. If that isn't a strong belief I don't know how to describe one.
Absolutely outstanding piece of media. Changed my perspective in a lot of stuff. At first, I thought you were going to play devil's advocate, and when the credits showed up, I understood how harshly we forget that humans are humans at the end of the day. Truly masterful storytelling, writing and editing. Every chapter not only contributed so much context to the main narrative, but also enhances the watching experience as a hole. I ended up looking more of Yoko's work, and was fascinated for what I found. Thank you for such an amazing video, S-tier youtube recommendation for sure!
the beatles: creative differences between john and paul, business disputes over the running of apple corp, george feeling unappreciated, george and ringo frustrated at paul's perfectionism, the simple fact that they were growing apart both as people and as artists who wanted to pursue their own paths
boomer beatles fans: ...yoko
Gen z: Ohhhh so THAT'S what that one phineas and Ferb episode was referencing
Eh, blame the female fans.
Every "boyband" has the issue of members growing up out of the band image.
Its why disney, japan and korea's pop culture machine always keep those things hidden as it breaks the fantasy.
@@vonshroom2068Sir, you're clearly illiterate. So how is it you're typing?
boomer beatles fan: not yoko.
@@pepperypeppers2755 Well we must be on the same level of literacy as you clearly understood me.
♥Brian. RIP. This guy deserves more attention. If you've been in, and/or worked with a lot of musicians, you know just how important people like that are for artists. Really seems like the changes and downfall of their relationships can be tracked with Brian's departure.
glad that you decided to put this up on here; a voice speaking out against the horrendous misogyny that gets thrown yoko ono's way always needed to be on a larger platform like youtube.
It blew my mind watching Get Back and seeing the reality of the dynamic between the four of them vs the very sexist anti-Yoko narrative that's been told over the decades. I watched that whole thing, she didn't say a word! They were completely directionless. Paul, was trying to run the whole show, dismissing George and Ringo's contributions at every turn while he and John were in their own world together, and Ringo was just trying to keep it light and fun. I wasn't that surprised when George walked.
@@HollyberrystreatsYeah my dad spent so long ranting about her during the movie and I just remember thinking “wtf she’s not even doing anything”. Like it was clear the guys weren’t happy and she was just a 3rd party.
The Johnny Depp part is labeled “most rewatched”. This makes so much sense.
Thank you for covering this.
From an historical perspective, the narrative of the "bad wife" goes much, much further. As far as I know, it was a common cliché among Roman historians to blame the faults of "great men" upon their wives.
That's so true. I was reading Suetonius' 'The Twelve Caesars' a few years ago, and right after he finishes the portion on Caligula he feels the need to go on this out of nowhere "but did you know he dressed up as Venus and acted like a lady? And also that his mistress was feeding him a love potion which made him insane", and I genuinely burst out laughing
Also the wives or mothers of certain Roman Emperors that pretty much poisoned Emperors or prospective Emperors to install their own son as Emperors so they can pretty much rule Rome via making their Emperor son a puppet to their whims.
But that also just showcases the issue of patriarchal societies that it forces women like that to do things like that.
Also, their mothers.
Basically the definition of the original definition of Tudor History, too. People, for a long time, thought at least one of the wives deserved their deaths. Good to see how much humanity has learned from its mistakes.
‘It’s the woman’s fault’ is the cornerstone of the creation myth in Western Civilization’s foundational religious text.
Imagine the Beatles were mature enough to simply say "we need a break" in 1969
I don't think that would have changed what happened to John and George, but it definitely would have helped Yoko's reputation
Too much too young has a way of ruining people
band breakups obviously had happened before them but they literally didn’t figure it as a solution b’c bands taking a break just wasn’t something bands did in the 60s. they set the bar for what a band breakup is in our minds
they only got as close as “hey let’s do solo albums but when we do beatle albums we’ll all have equal share of writing the songs (4 paul 4 john 4 george if im not mistaken) plus Ringo gets two songs”, and even then that was between John and George, they never told Paul about that idea.
they were always going to breakup in the way that they did.
In a different timeline they had seperate careers and had a reunion album every 7 years or so.
Not everyone can be Fleetwood Mac
Just going through the first nine minutes of this video, I can’t even imagine the absolute living menace people were to Yoko after her husband died (and on top of that she still had a kid to take care of). She basically had to constantly live her life wondering who around her would be the next book, the next tell-all. She would have had very few people who treated her like a human being.
@@amyweston4640 And you obviously haven't watched a bit of this video. If you had, you'd know that this is just bs.
@@amyweston4640You must be miserable.
@@amyweston4640 Why are you so quick to jump in here and out yourself to be one of the lame brained numbskulled half witted wretched warts that Lindsay is criticizing in this video. Can you even breath on your own?
@@Quotenwagnerianerthere’s tons of video footage of her wailing. Watch the clip of Chuck Berry reacting to her. It’s indisputable…
@@oohjon1537just because you don’t like someone’s version of self expression doesn’t mean they deserve harassment at all let alone to the degree Yoko experienced.
Comments brimming with people talking about the content of the video but I just have to say I really appreciate the organization, tone, and story telling of the piece. For it's 90+ minute runtime it both sets up and answers the questions posed in the intro while also exploring a variety of other related information and being a few mini documentaries about other related stories. It builds its case in much the same way as any other essay but the end result feels more artistic and implied because it doesn't rely only on explicitly making every single connection. The implicature gives the whole thing a more artistic vibe and I enjoyed that.
we're so back it's like it wasn't ever over
Lindsay will always come on top
I've already watched it on Nebula, but I'll watch it here again to make sure the youtube algorithm learn something good.
yoko's tweet about the burning chair was really touching to me for a very personal and specific reason. my mom's friend and a family friend recently died of cancer last year. even after months and months of her body physically being gone, not once did it ever feel like she and who she was really left. she was more than a body, more than simply a woman, it was... her, something so complex and real and even problematic at times (as overused as that word is) that her dying isn't enough to snuff out my "idea" of her. memory is all we have. it's how we know anything ever existed at all.
This is beautiful. My grandfather died of dementia earlier this week and reading this was really comforting
I'm really sorry for your loss. I had to think of one of my best friends who died in may when I read the tweet. the way she can't ever be really gone, because of her memory and the impact she had on everyone and everything around her.
thank you for writing this comment
I agree with the other comments. Thank you for this perspective. My sister was sick for many years before she passed. Your comment made me think of her.
i cried the instant i read the tweet on screen because it made me think of my mom. it's been two months, and the proverbial chair in my mind is as real as ever.
I could listen to Remember Love play for 10 hours, it’s one of the most beautiful yet simple songs I’ve ever heard. John’s guitar work is immaculate and it showcases Yoko’s tender side that the public doesn’t seem to hear enough.
That, Listen the Snow is Falling, I want my Love to Rest Tonight, Growing Pain, and Goodbye Sadness are some of my favorite Yoko Ono songs.
Thank you for this thoughtful, in-depth video essay! 🩵
So Baby Boomers screamed so incessantly during Beatles performances that:
-They didn't hear the music
-The Beetles couldn't hear themselves and quit touring
-Future generations can't enjoy the live recordings
I feel like there's a metaphor here somewhere
Beatles.
Somewhere..
... the boomers ruined the future for their own enjoyment?
Makes me glad for the more controlled screaming of fan chants. I can actually hear BTS.
It continues with K-pop performances X'D I'll never go see a concert... impossible to ear them lol
Best quote I've heard about Yoko and the Beatles was I believe from William Bennett of Whitehouse:
'The Beatles were the worst thing to happen to Yoko Ono'
This William Bennett must have been an American.
Yeah that sounds like something he'd say lol
@@JoylibelleEnglish musician, Whitehouse is a power electronics band, an extremely abrasive kind of noise music.
@@Joylibelle nice generalization
i cant believe im agreeing with a member of whitehouse
One thing I've noticed is how a lot of casual fans love entertainers while also holding them in contempt. My dad was a huge fan of Blondie, so I was surprised once when he described her as stupid. He liked her music and her image and what her art made him feel, but he didn’t actually respect her or the work that went into what she did. This seems to apply especially to female artists, who I think are often seen as “lucky” to be famous, while men are seen as being famous for their specialness. Yoko is easy for many to caricature and “other”. She’s a foreign and “new” wife, hot on the heels of a spurned wife, she’s a conceptual artist, she’s opinionated. She’s not one of us.
How did your dad came to the conclusion that Debbie Harry is stupid? Did he had a particular moment of her in mind?
@@sparkle_jump_rope_queen He said that he’d seen her in an interview and she sounded stupid. He didn’t say which interview and I’ve no idea which one he would have had in mind. It may have been that she was just talking in a lofty way about her process or something and he dismissed this as “stupid”; I think like a lot of people, he liked the art without appreciating what went into it, or taking it seriously as “real” work. Like the guy in the Dire Straits song, “Money for Nothing”.
@@Paologuitare What?
@@Paologuitare Oh, you’re a crazy person. Sorry I engaged.
she was never as bad as anyone made her out to be. she's also not as great as this video suggests. john and yoko were not a fairytale romance love affair, but they were also not evil when combined.
I can't tell you how many times I cried during this video. I feel like pretty much every Beatle, and everyone closely associated with them, has been villianized at some point in history, but with the glaring exception of Klein and all of the Lennon vultures (like, literal vultures), this video did an excellent job at humanizing all of them.
As someone who has grown up with the Beatles and Wings, and has been heartbroken by many of the things that have come out against both McCartney and Lennon, it's extremely refreshing to see such an honest take on them- not sinners, not saints, just humans. People who made mistakes, but who deeply loved music and whose intentions were often well-meaning.
Also it goes without saying that Yoko has always deserved better by us. What a weird person to hatesink on.
Lindsay is back. And with a topic that I’d rather hear NOBODY else break down than her. I’m a happy man currently
She's been back on Nebula
This video was posted on Nebula a few months ago, but I agree, it's so, so, so, so nice for Lindsay to return