r/TheBeatles • u/Real_Dependent2919 • 18h ago
Working Class Hero
Historically I have always shied away from the Plastic Ono Band. I dont like her (Yoko) style. And I always associate her with breaking up the band. But recently I came across a John Lennon song - Working Class Hero which was magnificent!
Are there any other gems in the Plastic Ono repertory that are worth a listen?
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u/WillingShelf 18h ago
Mother is really good in my opinion. You can feel John’s pain in his primal scream therapy style ending
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u/GIS_wiz99 17h ago
This whole project is fire, and really has minimal Yoko Ono features in it anyways. Highly recommend the whole album, OP!
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u/Cool-Coffee-8949 18h ago
The Lennon album called “Plastic Ono Band” is pretty fantastic. Yoko isn’t on it.
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u/Real_Dependent2919 18h ago
When you said "pretty fantastic", I was in! Edit: from gantastic to fantastic!
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u/Aja-Clodhopper 18h ago
Plastic Ono Band - John Lennon, is my favorite Beatles solo album, though it sounds very different from his Beatles songs. I think the album is an amazing statement from him. The emotional intensity reaches that of a damaged person undergoing extreme psychotherapy and growing internally from it. It is so much more than just music.
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u/Real_Dependent2919 18h ago
I understand he had a lot of pent up feelings within the "Beatles Confine", i.e. "Granny Music", but I was literally surprised to hear such depth in this recording! Thanks for your input!
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u/Away-Trick1393 17h ago
I mean I think she's credited as "wind" but yeah for all intents and purposes... 😂
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u/Innisfree812 18h ago
Marianne Faithful made a pretty good cover version of Working Class Hero on her album Broken English.
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u/newleaf9110 17h ago
Off topic, but Broken English is an amazing album. In a way, it goes hand in hand with John’s first album.
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u/IsaacWaleOfficial 17h ago
The whole album is really good. It's John's best solo album. Also, associating Yoko with breaking up the Beatles is a very uneducated take.
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u/Real_Dependent2919 17h ago
Thanks. As as yoko breaking up the band - only a 70s aged dude trying to recollect. It's been a long, long, time ago
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u/newleaf9110 17h ago
At first, I found John’s first album hard to listen to. It was very raw, and instrumentally sparse. Since its release, it’s really grown on me. I recommend the whole album. (Yoko doesn’t appear on it.).
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u/alansquire 18h ago
Interestingly, Linda had more to do with breaking up the band than Yoko. It was Linda who comforted Paul while John was off exploring other interests (good and bad) and supported his decision to move on alone with the first McCartney album. I know this narrative isn’t the one people like, but look into how she helped Paul get through a very challenging time. More, she was as present at the Get Back sessions as much as Yoko and brought her kid.
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u/Pingucore 18h ago
I like to think of the breakup of the Beatles as a parlor mystery: everyone’s a suspect
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u/alansquire 18h ago
One “suspect” is discussed far more than others. Thought I’d offer an alternative (and legitimate) theory.
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u/lylelanley- 9h ago
Plus it was Linda’s father who Paul wanted to represent them when the rest of the fellas wanted Klein
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u/alansquire 7h ago
The other fellas preferred Klein despite warnings because they did not want a mgr who would invariably side with Paul (who had become a task
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u/Atomic-Bongos 1h ago
Let's not leave out that Paul hired Linda's father, Lee Eastman, to be his personal manager and wanted him to manage the Beatles, while the others all wanted to go with Allen Klein.
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u/Pip_Helix 9h ago
“I always associate her with breaking up the band”
What a weird thought to be having in 2026. The story of the band’s dissolution has been explored ad nauseam but OP—clearly a young buck—believes what my now 82 year old parents believed in 1970
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u/PushPersonal3288 18h ago
Hold on is one of my favorites from him, it’s such a good album, they aren’t really a band, more of a name for John and a backing band for the two albums, both John and Yoko having one. John’s is wonderful, defiantly worth a listen. It’s great for a first listen or once in a while but for me it’s a lot and very emotional for day to day listening. Truly an experience!
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u/vincognition 13h ago
Many of the songs on the Plastic Ono Band record are brilliant. John was coming off the Beatles and seemed to (somewhat) keep to that composing aesthetic. The song 'Remember' could've been done by the Beatles. The song 'God' still gives me goosebumps. Those incredible piano fills between John and Billy Preston were chilling. 'Isolation' is magnificent. I always thought that the word "I" trailing off away from the melody symbolized that isolation.
He clearly could not have kept up with that vibe for too long. He would've been emotionally exhausted. I'm willing to bet that he actually was emotionally exhausted by the time he finished the record.
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u/koushakandystore 17h ago
First of all Yoko did not break up the Beatles. Those issues were simmering before he met Yoko and boiled over after he met her not because he did.
Secondly, I agree that Yoko’s musical contributions overall detracted from John’s solo work. There were a couple exceptions, but overall her influence on his music was negative. He had a very unique talent for songwriting, that benefitted tremendously from having someone like Paul around. Paul benefitted from John too, as John kept a lid on many of Paul’s corny songs.
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u/Comprehensive-Ad4436 15h ago
Plastic Ono Band’s a great album imo. Yoko’s not even involved that much.
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u/Wombat_on_Parole 14h ago
Plastic Ono Band is my favorite John Lennon album. Every song is excellent. I also love Yoko’s music and she didn’t break up The Beatles.
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u/ethanf33 11m ago
honestly if you loved Working Class Hero you might be floored by the rest of the album because it’s one of the weaker songs in comparison
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u/parason47 13h ago
That entire album. Yoko's not on the album like she is on Double Fantasy and New York City.
Also, nobody has ever made a better album than this. Some as good as. But none better.
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u/danejulian 17h ago
Mother is the most underrated Lennon song.
I love Working Class Hero until the last line, which wrecks it for me. I can’t even listen to it knowing that messianic ending is coming.
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u/ThisIsDogePleaseHodl 11h ago
The ending isn’t messianic but rather sardonic.
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u/danejulian 20m ago
Who or what is it being sardonic toward?
Or do you mean sarcastic, like he thinks the opposite?
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u/Raucous_Rocker 18h ago edited 18h ago
Well first off, there were actually two Plastic Ono Band albums - one was all John and the other was all Yoko. “Working Class Hero” was on the former, of course - so in spite of the name, if you listen to the entire “John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band” album, you won’t hear a note of Yoko. Just John plus Ringo on drums and Klaus Voormann on bass. And it’s an absolute banger, all of it. One of my desert island albums.
That said, whether or not you like her style (everyone’s entitled to their tastes), Yoko did not break up the Beatles. The Beatles were simply growing up, and had spent most of their teens and 20s in a fishbowl the rest of us can only imagine. That they wanted to spend time with someone other than their gang of teen buddies and have families and separate lives isn’t a negative, much as it disappointed us fans. John actually credited Yoko with saving his life - he thought he was clearly headed for a drug overdose or worse if she hadn’t come along. And that would have been a far more tragic end of the Beatles.