Jon Anderson interview.

[Yesspaz]

Originally Posted by TheFish

Jon: They're playing music that I didn't write so what do I care?

Jon: They just went out as Yes, and obviously, without me or Rick, they're not really Yes. It's just that when people pay to see their favorite band, they want to see who they want to see, of course.

Jon is one of my favorite musicians of all time, but he's a total tool sometimes. These two quotes are such crap. By his definition of Yes, there are TEN Yes studio albums that he's on that are not "Yes" because Rick's not on them. Guys, get out a sharpie and scratch out the "Yes" logo on Yes, Time and a Word, The Yes Album, Relayer, 90125, Big Generator, Talk, Open Your Eyes, The Ladder, and Magnification. Jon's ego is more bloated than any two other musicians not named Dennis DeYoung.

As for the "They're playing music that I didn't write so what do I care?" bit - this is so ridiculously hypocritical it makes me want to find Jon and smack him upside the head, except I've got him by 130 pounds and he'd likely explode. Jon fought to get "Rhythm of Love" played on the OYE tour, and "Hearts" on the Ladder tour, even though Steve Howe wanted nothing to do with it. Rabin played Howe; Howe played Rabin and Banks. Alan's been playing Bill stuff for years. Every keyboardist has been playing other people's stuff. Poor, poor Jon for being asked EVERY TOUR to do "Tempus Fugit" and refusing because "I didn't write it and that Yes album doesn't count." Bullcrap. To quote Jon himself:

Watch from where it starts to 1:19.

[Yesspaz]

Another bit of the interview I found interesting, for what it's worth:

Jon: I believe in great music.

SoT: Of course—you're an artist.

Jon: I love Mahavishnu, Weather Report. I love some new songs now and again. I enjoyed Nirvana and bands like that. I've seen U2 and Bruce Springsteen. They're great! There's great music out there, but don't hit me over the head and say, "you've got to have a hit record." Of course I'd love to have a hit record. I mean, my voice is on a #1 album right now.

SoT: The new Kayne West, right?

Jon: Yeah. It makes me feel like "hey, I wrote a rock opera twenty years ago and I've got to get Kanye West to sing on it. Or rap on it." He's got a great producer.

SoT: A lot of hip-hop artists these days sample music you wouldn't expect them to even know about, I think. I remember hearing from someone that Kayne West sampled King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man." How unexpected do you think that is for these artists to go back decades and sample progressive rock and relate genres?

Jon: I think some of their producers have their heads screwed on because it reaches so many different people. They've woken up and realized that there are different kinds of music; it doesn't have to all be about sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, and bling-bling.