30th Anniversary of John Lennon's Death

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I'm quite surprised no one started a thread on this. Then again, many people who post here were not yet born in 1980.

I was only six at the time, and so I really didn't know who John Lennon was. I do remember that day though - technically I guess it was the day after, as he was killed fairly late in the evening and I was probably already in bed. For all I know, many people probably did not even know it had happened until the next day, unless they happened to watch the late night news.

I remember my mom was very sad that day. In hindsight, she was probably crying before I woke up, as my parents always woke up about one hour before they got me up for school.

As an aside, why do we typically refer to assassins by their first, middle and last names? I have no idea what John Lennon's middle name was, but I know his assassin was Mark David Chapman. Lee Harvy Oswold. John Wilkes Booth. Why do we do this?

 

I don't know what Balthasar Gérards middle name is.

 

I'm mainly shocked that it was 30 years ago. Lennon would be what, 70 now? Is McCartney that old?

 

He would be 70 - and yeah McCartney has to be about that age as well.

 

Lennon was a helluvan artist and an earnest, sincere human being. In that sense his death is a tragedy, as is the death of any honest person. But I've never quite understood the near worship he receives.

 

Have you been watching Conspiracy Theory lately?

Haha! Rep'd!

 

I think because it is a very painful memory, and writing about it doesn't help much, Aldeth. It's like ripping open an old wound.

 

Agreed, but the "worship" is probably partially due to the fact that he died young-ish. I bet if Elvis or Marilyn or James were alive now, they might be no more worshipped than someone like Elizabeth Taylor or Cliff Richard is now.

The Beatles were awesome.

 

I find that statement rather surprising. His death is significant, whether you were a fan of his work or not. The closest thing I can come up with as a corrolary is that while I'm no Michael Jackson fan, I will certainly remember many details about his death. Granted the timeframes we're talking about aren't even close. Lennon's death was 30 years ago, while Micahel Jackson died a year ago this past summer.

It's one thing to not like the guy - it's quite another to write-off the event as insignificant.

I do like a lot of his music, but I certainly don't have any level of worship for the guy. While I don't understand worship of any famous people, I think there is an obvious reason why you and I don't feel that way about Lennon - we simply weren't old enough to get be emotionally invested with his life at the time of his death.

Thinking about the timeline, Beatlemania struck in the early 1960s. His solo career began in the mid-70s. To be a fan of his while he was writing music, you'd have to be into music at least by the mid-70s - I'd guess you would have to be around 10 or so. So I wouldn't expect anyone under the age of around 45 to be a huge fan.

The joke is on me - other than news and sports I don't really watch TV. I have heard of this show, but I've never seen a single episode.

 

I'm a fan and I'm under 45. You don't have to be alive when songs are first released to be fans of them. There's heaps of stuff I like that predates me.

 

BTA - Fair enough - I just interpreted "couldn't care less" to mean... welll... just that.

HB - yeah, but you wouldn't have been one of the worshipping fans...

 

Funny, do you guys have the same complaints about "worshipping fans" in the sports section of SP? Seems to me you guys rattle on about how great some of those players are all the time.

 

I do enjoy some of the Beatles and Lennon songs but not enough to say I'm a fan. Regarding commemorating his death, personally, there are some people who are greater than him that we don't commemorate, so I see no reason why I should think of Lennon on his death anniversary.

 

I think it comes down to how you define a "worshipping fan". Regarding Lennon, I see 40 year old video clips of girls screaming and fainting at the height of Beatlemania as soon as they walked onto the stage or into the room.

While I'm certainly a sports fan, my fandom doesn't approach those levels. I usually watch the games on TV - I have only occassionally attended games in person, which I think is a pretty good equivalent of purchasing a concert ticket. My favorite team is the Steelers, and I've been to two Steelers games in my life (one at the current Heinz Field, and the other at the old - and now imploded - Three Rivers Stadium).

Generally speaking, I spend about three hours per week (the length of a typical game) watching the Steelers during the football season. I would think that if you are fan of someone's music, you'd spend at least that long per week listening to that music. I really don't think either of those activities would qualify as worship.

 

You mean screaming like this?



Or how about this?



I'm not saying your are one of these guys, Aldeth. I only wanted to point out that people don't complain over "hero worship" in sports like they do in other things, for some strange reason. In fact, a lot of these sports clowns are supposed to be "role models," which is about the same thing. Could we think of John as an important "role model?"

 

@Chandros, those are far from remarkable... at least from the news that I've read and seen. For a long time, I have known football (soccer to Americans) to be the most violent spectator sport for the simple reason that it's the fans who gets injured or even killed because of "fans war".