Post by erik on Sept 23, 2022 8:55:25 GMT -5
This week's Pop Music Hits Spotlight focuses on one of the many anthems of the anti-Vietnam war and peace movement that John Lennon made into a rallying cry for his generation.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE (John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band; Apple; 1971)—Of the four members of The Beatles, it was John Lennon who was without question the most outspoken. This sometimes got him into trouble, as in the case of a 1966 interview where, in a quote taken out of context, he marveled that it seemed the groups was actually more popular than Jesus Christ—a quote that set off a spasm of indignation in the Bible Belt of America, with the burning and crushing of Beatles’ records (although by any stretch of the imagination, the gist of what Lennon had said was true). Later on, however, partly under the influence of his second wife Yoko Ono, he started taking more overtly political stands, especially with his searing hit “Revolution”, the flip side of the Beatles’ “Hey Jude”. He took it a step further on his own with the 1969 protest anthem “Give Peace A Chance”, recorded with a live audience during his and Ono’s “Bed-In” for peace in Montreal. But his anthems intended to bring about peaceful and decidedly non-violent revolution and to continue the path of positivity; to him, apathy did nothing good in the world, and people shouldn’t feel that things were going to hell because Flower Power didn’t work. This was illustrated even further when Lennon, some six months after the Beatles called it quits, and his new backing group The Plastic Ono Band recorded a powerful new statement song called “Power To The People”, which became as much of an anthem as “Give Peace A Chance” had been, and what “Imagine”, released later in 1971, would be. While it could be argued that there could be a hectoring tone of sorts in Lennon’s political songs, “Power To The People” nevertheless struck a big enough chord to become a #11 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1971. Soon enough, however, his and Yoko’s affiliations with virulent anti-war activists like Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman, and Bobby Seale would bring him into contact with the virulent nastiness of Richard Nixon’s administration, resulting in a fight to stay in America that would not end until his 35th birthday in 1975.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE (John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band; Apple; 1971)—Of the four members of The Beatles, it was John Lennon who was without question the most outspoken. This sometimes got him into trouble, as in the case of a 1966 interview where, in a quote taken out of context, he marveled that it seemed the groups was actually more popular than Jesus Christ—a quote that set off a spasm of indignation in the Bible Belt of America, with the burning and crushing of Beatles’ records (although by any stretch of the imagination, the gist of what Lennon had said was true). Later on, however, partly under the influence of his second wife Yoko Ono, he started taking more overtly political stands, especially with his searing hit “Revolution”, the flip side of the Beatles’ “Hey Jude”. He took it a step further on his own with the 1969 protest anthem “Give Peace A Chance”, recorded with a live audience during his and Ono’s “Bed-In” for peace in Montreal. But his anthems intended to bring about peaceful and decidedly non-violent revolution and to continue the path of positivity; to him, apathy did nothing good in the world, and people shouldn’t feel that things were going to hell because Flower Power didn’t work. This was illustrated even further when Lennon, some six months after the Beatles called it quits, and his new backing group The Plastic Ono Band recorded a powerful new statement song called “Power To The People”, which became as much of an anthem as “Give Peace A Chance” had been, and what “Imagine”, released later in 1971, would be. While it could be argued that there could be a hectoring tone of sorts in Lennon’s political songs, “Power To The People” nevertheless struck a big enough chord to become a #11 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1971. Soon enough, however, his and Yoko’s affiliations with virulent anti-war activists like Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman, and Bobby Seale would bring him into contact with the virulent nastiness of Richard Nixon’s administration, resulting in a fight to stay in America that would not end until his 35th birthday in 1975.