Two leading lights on the weirder side of alternative and art rock, it’s no wonder that Yoko Ono and Frank Zappa’s paths crossed. Whether loved or loathed, the figures pioneered a more experimental sound, encouraging the more mainstream acts around them to embrace something a little different.
While clearly respecting one another, the relationship between Ono and Zappa was always bound to be a strained one. While Ono was becoming the first lady of the Beatles, using her own artistic background to introduce John Lennon to more left-field sounds, Zappa was the unlikely king of Laurel Canyon.
Zappa’s log cabin was a key meeting for the LA music scene. In the hills of Laurel Canyon, the musician not only led Mothers Of Invention but also housed and helped plenty of other musicians. He put together the GTOs and turned Pamela Des Barres and her groupie gaggle into a band. Working with the likes of Alice Cooper, Jeff Beck, Captain Beefheart and more, Zappa’s social circle was a who’s-who of counterculture.
However, Zappa hated drugs. It’s often thought that an artist that wild and crazy must have been indulging heavily in the hallucinogenic heyday of the 1960s and ‘70s, but not Zappa. On the other hand, Lennon and Ono in the late ‘60s were major drug users, leading to a conflicting relationship between Zappa and the couple.
Ono would get further praise from Zappa, who thanks her in the liner notes for his 1993 album The Yellow Shark. While her contribution is unknown, it’s clear that after that, the baghead incident fostered a relationship of mutual respect, inspiration and seemingly a unique understanding of what the other was trying to do. Both pushing the limits of not only rock but music as a whole, they might have been a vitally affirming friend for one another.
That certainly seems to be the case for Ono, who said of Zappa, “We come from more or less the same background, the classical avant-garde, though in our work we expressed ourselves quite differently.”
Telling of a clear and strong respect for the artist, Ono continued, “As a composer, I felt a close comradeship to him amongst more rock-orientated singer/songwriters.” As an artist who never really gets his dues for his role in rock and his work pioneering the genre onwards into stranger and bolder places, Ono is demanding more praise for Zappa.
Ono knew everyone. Not only working closely with Lennon, McCartney and the rest of the Beatles, the Plastic Ono Band also brought in Eric Clapton, Keith Moon and more. As an artist, she’s been honoured as an icon to Anonhi, Kathleen Hanna and Sonic Youth, to name just a few. But for Ono herself, Zappa has always stood out as a leader. “He is one of the geniuses of our time and will always have a place there,” she said, adding, “He will go on and on and on!”
