Radar

The Radar Lovebug Transistor
2002-01-21 02:29:42 (UTC)

Gorillaz: Plastic Ono Band realized...

Gorillaz: Plastic Ono Band realized

So it came to my attention today while sitting around
trying to find something interesting to think about that
Gorillaz isn’t really as original as everyone would like
them to be. The concept of a fictitious or nonexistent band
has been around since the late 60’s when John Lennon and
Yoko Ono were in the depths of their conceptual
collaboration (i.e. Bed-ins and Bagisms). Long before Damon
Albarn picked up his first microphone, John and Yoko were
working on a conceptual band of their own, The Plastic Ono
Band. Now, the concept was never brought to full fruition
and the name was soon after given to John’s first solo
album and later to his supporting band, but enough thought
went into this idea to show their intentions (“enough
thought” for LennOno concepts is typically no more than a
sketch by John and one or two lines of text on the drawing,
so don’t think there’s a thesis on the conceptual
possibilities of an invisible band).

The idea behind the Plastic Ono Band was to create a music
group that could only be appreciated for the music. There
were no faces to put on posters, no names to write on
notebooks, no heroes to idolize or scream at on the runway
of JFK airport. The only physically existing elements were
four rectangular, person-sized fiberglass cubes with
speakers imbedded in the front. The concept was that these
four boxes would be placed on a stage behind their
respective instruments and the show would commence as any
rock and roll show, only without all of the pretentious
flaunting and posing. Naturally, being plastic boxes, the
members of the band wouldn’t be able to give press
conferences or create controversy or turmoil within and
without the group, so there wouldn’t be any of the human
obstacles to overcome that other bands have to deal with.

However, like most of John and Yoko’s concepts, it’s a half-
assed idea and would never really work. I mean, they could
sell albums just fine because it would be real people
making the music, but who the fuck wants to watch a plastic
box with a guitar strapped to it for two hours? Maybe a
group of faux intellectual downtown art types, but
certainly not a sellout crowd at the Fillmore. These
problems resulted in the idea never coming to full bloom.

And now, thirty years later, we’ve got a cartoon band who’s
live shows consist of a 20-foot movie screen showcasing
the “band” in various situations, while the soundtrack
blares from behind. So, what’s the difference? Well, thirty
years of kids growing up on comic books and anime instead
of Dick Clark and “Leave it to Beaver”. The public today
has become so used to watching and connecting with 2D
characters that no one seems to mind that their new-fangled
rock gods don’t exist any further than a piece of paper or
a computer screen. But therein lies the key to explaining
why the Plastic Ono Band could never have worked and
Gorillaz is hitting so big… characters. The members of
Gorillaz aren’t just plastic cubes wheeled onto a stage and
left standing. Though they may only be ink and 1’s and 0’s
in reality, the image of someone embodying the essence of a
band member is what the public needs. They need that poster
on their wall, they need that name to write on their
notebooks, they need something to idolize. And a pretty
little drawing running around is a lot easier to like than
a plastic box.

So it looks like once again John and Yoko were just one
step away from really hitting something. I mean, it is a
nice idea to think of people finally just being able to
love the music for what it is and not worrying about what
the person playing it is wearing or who he’s sleeping with,
but didn’t we learn a long, long time ago that video killed
the radio star? And no matter how much it hurts to say it,
if you want to go anywhere these days, you have to have an
image; the public is just too goddamn stupid to accept
anything else.

And by the way, this fictitious band thing… my friend Baker
and I thought of that two years ago.

1-04-02




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