![\"What](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/What-is-the-worst-vocal-in-rock-and-roll-history-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Far Out)<\/p>\n
Wed 27 August 2025 17:30, UK <\/p>\n
Opinions on bad music are about as subjective a matter as you could ever get, and quite rightly so. It\u2019s very true that one man\u2019s trash is another man\u2019s treasure \u2013 but with that said, you can\u2019t deny that there\u2019s some efforts in rock<\/a> that are utter duds. <\/p>\n I\u2019m sure there are many toe-curling tunes which instantly spring to mind for you as I say this, whether it\u2019s Debbie Harry in her later years or some of Axl Rose<\/a>\u2019s more nails-against-the-chalkboard songs. But above them all is Yoko Ono \u2013 a woman whose artistic legacy precedes her, but whose actual music has a lot to live up to.<\/p>\n This is not to dismiss the indisputable societal dynasty she built up with John Lennon, combining rock music with peace efforts, and subsequently changing the face of the world forever. Despite this, there\u2019s no point in trying to skirt around the elephant in the room \u2013 Ono has hardly ever been the most prolific vocalist, and some of her mid-career efforts stand as a howling testament to that. <\/p>\n One of these is the 1985 song \u2018Hell in Paradise\u2019, taken as the opening track to the album Starpeace. In some ways, it\u2019s about as peak 1980s a track as you\u2019ll ever find \u2013 complete with a dance beat and a suitably strange new wave-esque video to go with it \u2013 but in others, it\u2019s a fever dream of space age confusion, with Ono\u2019s vocals wearily, and only just, keeping things together. <\/p>\n Ironically, \u2018Hell in Paradise\u2019 is actually one of the singer\u2019s most commercially successful songs, having charted at number 16, but this is largely a red herring in the poor quality of the track itself. Ono\u2019s voice was always famed for being thin, tinny, and hardly an effervescent force, but the tune exposes this in the most brutal way, as her vocals are mostly overpowered by the backing, and for major portions of the song, she struggles to stay in tune. <\/p>\n Of course, it all comes back to the point of artistic subjectivity in interpreting this. Ono\u2019s songs, not least \u2018Hell in Paradise\u2019, often acted more as beacons for a political cause as opposed to an out-and-out rock hit. The whole concept of Starpeace as an album was to protest the \u2018Star Wars\u2019 missile defence system being introduced by Ronald Reagan, after all. Perhaps to her, vocal perfection was far less important than truly hammering home the message she wanted to send<\/a> \u2013 and through everything life had taught her up to this point, music was vital to saving the world. <\/p>\n Although \u2018Hell in Paradise\u2019 may not have represented Ono\u2019s finest hour through its lacklustre \u2013 ahem, half-missing \u2013 vocal performance, it\u2019s almost as though a reputation as a peace martyr and a partnership with the most famous Beatle puts her under the protection of an unscrutable shield. Funny, right? In the end, Ono\u2019s legacy may not be remembered for the voice that completely turned the heads of the world, but a stance on life and a campaigning spirit that certainly did.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out) Wed 27 August 2025 17:30, UK Opinions on bad music are about as subjective a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3936],"tags":[77,269,2535,16,15,8346],"class_list":{"0":"post-378187","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-rock-music","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-yoko-ono"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115101940204115166","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}