Yoko Ono Recruits Clapton, Paul Simon for Plastic Ono Band Show

Yoko Ono has recruited Eric Clapton, Paul Simon, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon, Bette Midler and more artists for the first Plastic Ono Band show in 40 years: a special concert on February 16th at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. The "new" Plastic Ono Band will be comprised of Ono's son Sean Lennon plus Japanese musicians like Cibo Matto's Yuka Honda, Yellow Magic Orchestra's Haruomi Hosono and Cornelius, who also worked on Ono's 2009 album Between My Head and the Sky.

Both Clapton and bassist Klaus Voorman, who's also confirmed for the Brooklyn event, were members of the original Plastic Ono Band that featured on the album Live Peace in Toronto 1969 and the "Cold Turkey" single, while drummer Jim Keltner played on Lennon's Imagine disc. Rounding out this eclectic crew of performers are Paul Simon's son and recent Breaking artist Harper Simon, Martha Wainwright, Mark Ronson, the Scissor Sisters and Justin Bond. Tickets for the Plastic Ono Band event go on sale tomorrow, January 12th at the BAM website.

Check out the Plastic Ono roster as it stands now:
Yoko Ono
Eric Clapton
Paul Simon
Harper Simon
Thurston Moore
Kim Gordon
Scissor Sisters
Klaus Voorman
Mark Ronson
Martha Wainwright
Sean Lennon
Cornelius
Yuka Honda
Haruomi Hosono
Jim Keltner
Justin Bond

Related Stories:
• Yoko Ono Plans Memoir About Life with John Lennon
• New Photos of Lennon and Ono's '69 Bed-In Come to Woodstock
• Yoko Ono Helps Rock Hall Explore John Lennon's New York Years

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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