Lennon's "Plastic Ono Band" Started Something
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The new December 2013 U.K. music magazine "Mojo" features Joni Mitchell on its cover and inside the 50 Greatest Singer-Songwriters or its also "the fifty best singer songwriter albums"--the article praises John Lennon's 1970 "Plastic Ono Band" album as the very "first" of that kind (another Beatle or solo Beatle "first"?)--is it, really? Would really like to get my paws on this mag. After "Plastic Ono Band," it says, many songwriters really started spilling out their guts in confessional odes based on themselves, on their own lives--Joni Mitchell really tore it up, she's the first one I'd think of when it comes to this introspective genre. But actually I should first have thought of Lennon, it seems. "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard" seems like McCartney's major contribution in this vein, and thereafter he continued to come out with more revealing intimate glimpses into his psyche and personal life. Here and there. Did he miss the boat back then or is he contributing to this grand tradition? The Seventies was known as the "Me" decade...John Lennon was certainly into himself and his own life quite openly, loudly and with great intensity.
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Paul should have included a few more rockers on "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard," but it's still a corker
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Joni Mitchell seemed obsessed with herself, in many of her songs. So it was Lennon started all that. Hadn't known that before. The Fabs together and solo started right many trends.
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Put Joni Mitchell on the cover and then say John Lennon was the "first" singer-songwriter? That doesn't make any sense.
Plastic Ono Band came out in late 1970. She put out her first album in'68, recorded her beautiful and deeply heartfelt classic "Both Sides, Now" in '69. She was the first, unless they are counting John's work with The Beatles. But then you have to also include Bob Dylan, who influenced Lennon. But Joni was certainly a major artist of the 20th century. She is one of the most important and influential women in music history. 
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That's what they did--something about it didn't seem quite right, to me and thanks for explaining. I thought "Plastic Ono Band" came out in 1970, or '71
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Don't forget Neil Young. Starting in the late 60's, through the 70s, no one was a better confessional songwriter. 'After the Gold Rush' & 'Harvest' are genius works.
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SusyLuvsPaul:
That's what they did--something about it didn't seem quite right, to me and thanks for explaining. I thought "Plastic Ono Band" came out in 1970, or '71
Dec. 11, 1970
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I also think POB influenced the whole contemporary music in one way or another- not just one genre. FOr example, a similar album is Korn's S/t debut from 1994. Now, Korn is a metal band but it's similar to POB in that it's intensely personal and emotional, and quite uncomfortable to listen to at times. Both albums also deal with childhood traumas to some extent.
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Bob Dylan??? 1st ???
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Arcade Fire has one whole album with songs dedicated to mourning, to grieving the band members' dead loved ones. They were inspired, knowingly or unwittingly, by Lennon's heart rending, hair-raising epic shrieking anthems to his mother on the classic Plastic Ono Band. "Julia" on the White Album certainly sounds more genteel. ("Let It Be" is also a work of gorgeous genius.)
