John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band as ‘first-person music

Notes on the Politics of Self-Expression in Rock Music Since 1970

Bibliographic Data

ID7976137
AuthorsNicholas Tochka (0000-0002-0964-0827, The University of Melbourne, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume39
Issue3-4
Pages504-522
Publication date2020-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePopular Music (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0261-1430 • E-ISSN: 1474-0095
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0261143019000485
OpenAlexW3139416963
LanguageEN
References cited22

In late 1970, John Lennon began promoting his first post-Beatles solo album, Plastic Ono Band , which he described as ‘first-person music’ to Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner. This essay situates the album and two of Lennon's promotional interviews within an emergent politics of individualism in order to explore how self-expression became an aesthetic practice and critical value in rock music. The album's reception and promotion help reveal how key political values – on individualism, rebellion and self-expression – began to be newly articulated to certain kinds of rock musicians after 1970. By understanding that process of articulation, popular music scholars may consider the contradictory political consequences of the broader valorisation of ‘first-person music’ since the 1970s

Aesthetics · Art · Articulation (sociology · Expression (computer science · Individualism · Political science · Politics · Popular music · Promotion (chess · Rock music · Sociology · Visual arts · Diverse Musicological Studies · Law · Music History and Culture · Musicology and Musical Analysis

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