10 Biggest Love/Hate Albums In Rock Music History
7. Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins - John Lennon And Yoko Ono
In many ways, the debate surrounding Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins is embroiled in its back-story. The Beatles were nearing the end of the road by 1968, when this album was released. Tensions in the band were high, compounded by John Lennon's relationship with Yoko Ono which, to a greater or lesser degree (opinions vary) added an extra strain on the band.
This was Lennon's first record away from The Beatles, and the first of a set of three linked works with Ono. As such, expectations from both public and the press were running high. Whatever they had expected, Unfinished Music No 1 was a shock.
The album offers two extended, interlinked pieces, very little of which resembles music in any conventional form. Ono screams, distorted, out-of-tune instruments clatter and clang, and the whole thing passes by in a strange fog of found-sounds and disjointed fragments.
A radical influence on pop history, a brave avant-garde ambient suite, or self-indulgent nonsense? As with every entry on this list, only the individual listener can decide.