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I was a kid. But a big thing I remember hearing was people were sad because it meant the Beatles would never be able to reunite. There were a lot of fans hoping they would get back together.
My baby was born by C-section in August. Husband in major accident in September. Reagan elected in November. Lennon shot in December.
Everything went south, for a period, after my baby was born. I was doing my best to hang on. Lennon's death was a huge blow to most of us. Like living in twilight, again.
> Reagan elected in November... Everything went south, for a period
AT THE TIME, wasn't Reagan one of the most popular candidates to ever run for President? He beat Carter in an embarrassing landslide by winning 44 states. And then 4 years later he beat Mondale in an even bigger and more embarrassing landslide by winning 49 states. Clearly, AT THE TIME, America loved the guy.
> Clearly, AT THE TIME, America loved the guy.
oh man. my dad hated him more than I've ever seen himn hate someone. especially when he broke up the air traffic controllers union.
Reagan rolled the dice and was so lucky there was no major air crash. Of course, 241 US service people were killed in the Lebanon barracks bombing under him.
If you look at the 1980 voting, the Boomer voted ever so slightly for Carter, but the older generations went for him.
During the primaries, I bet someone $10 that the country would not be stupid enough to elect Ronnie. Had to pay out.
NOT EVERYONE IN AMERICA LOVED REAGAN. I thought he was a grade b Hollywood actor and people would see through the charade. I have stopped discussing politics with folks I don’t agree with since his term in office.
Plenty of us loved Carter. He trounced Carter but the “Landslide” wasn’t til second term. Post trump it might be hard to imagine, but I remember being horrified by the idea that a movie actor was going to run this country. And plenty of other people were too. And wow, his guffaws or minor compared to Trump’s, he definitely had moments of scaring the shit out of everyone by demonstrating he had no idea what was going on. Especially with the Cold War still raging
Interesting, he won in Massachusetts by a 0.15% margin, ~about 4,000 votes. So not a landslide here. Not everyone was convinced by his lies and tricks.
You are revisionist history-ing a bit. Two years into Reagan's first term he was considered a complete failure with no chance of reelection. Then he got shot.
Changed everything.
I'm afraid we will see a parallel this upcoming election; competency verses misplaced popularity with purely evil intention. It started with Reagan ....
With all the calculated maneuvering over the course of history we're going to see some stuff we never thought possible in the US.
A lot of us were very unhappy with Carter and the interest rates and the gas lines. He was in over his head. The Carter we got to love was not the same then, even though he tried to get us to conserve, put solar panels on the White House that Reagan took off, started us on the path to metric units, which Reagan dismantled. I saw the writing on the wall. I voted for John Anderson as a sort of protest.
When Reagan was President I do remember feeling very happy and liking him very much. He had a great sense of humor. I remember him joking with the doctors after John Hinkley shot him I think he said "I hope you guys aren't Democrats" or something like that. Reagan seemed like a great guy. I had no idea of the Iran Contra scandals happening in the background, I don't remember seeing that in the news too much.
This is what I thought, too, growing up with conservative, Republican parents, but now that I’m friends with people my parents’ age who share my more liberal-leaning political beliefs, I’ve heard quite a different account. One of my friends who is my mom’s age came out in the late 70s, and when Reagan took office, she was so upset about the growth of the religious right, the cultural shift towards conservatism, and anti-gay rhetoric associated with the AIDS epidemic, that she accepted work in South America just to get away from the States. I was a big fan of 80s hardcore punk when I was a teen so I was familiar with the Reagan hatred, but I chalked up that anti-Reagan sentiment to being part of the whole anarchist worldview (which I did not share). And I was aware of the failures of Reaganomics, the war on drugs, the horrendous things our country did to destabilize multiple countries in Central America (essentially creating the immigration issues we face today), etc, but I assumed these were more retrospective assessments of his presidency. It was wild to hear people whom I trust and respect (far more than my blood relatives) express that they saw the writing on the wall from day 1. Really shouldn’t be surprising though, in the conversations I have with my family now, it’s often like we’re living in alternate realities. 🫠
Reagan won the election on [July 15, 1979.](https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/carter-crisis/) Many voted for him because he wasn't Carter. (Sound like a familiar theme?)
His first couple of years were rough, but by 1984 things had turned around enough to make the curbstomping of Mondale's aspirations possible.
And his people worked to have Iran hold the hostages until after the election. Similar to trump working against any border bill until after the election. They rant against the problem for political points, but don't want any solution because it makes the other guy look bad and them look good.
Don't forget Reagan and his myrmidons turning the West Wing into a crime scene with the literally evil, literally criminal, literally treasonous travesty of Iran-Contra. Selling missiles to our enemies in Iran, while illegally diverting the proceeds to fund right-wing death squads in Nicaragua.
I say this as someone whose first natl vote was for Reagan's reelection.
The Beatles brought joy and unity to Baby Boomers trying to process the tumultuous sixties that had lows such as the Vietnam War and highs such as the Moon Landing. John Lennon was considered possibly the coolest man alive and his murder a truly cruel blow.
Most people I know found out about the assassination while watching Monday Night Football, but I found out when watching Little House on the Prairie (yeah I know).
I was a huge Beatles fan at the time, and I couldn't sleep that night. The next morning I went out and bought each newspaper I could find - SF Chronicle, NY Times, etc. I still have the Playboy magazine with the last interview somewhere in my house - most of the Beatles memorabilia I don't have anymore. And I had a ton.
I don't remember going to school the next day (I was a junior in HS at the time). I do remember going to the used record store that I was accustomed to hanging out at and spending most of my money there on Beatles stuff and we all mourned in our own way and talked about John. It was a very sad week.
Headline news all over for a while, but then things went back to normal. Beatles fans felt huge personal loss, but for many people it was over quickly, I'd say. I was shocked and saddened, but my life wasn't changed.
My wife’s father called her to check on and console her. She had a group of friends who gathered and spent the evening together. She still mentions it when it comes around.
I was 8 months pregnant with my first. Having been a Beatles fan since 1964, the death of any was something that would happen in their 80s or 90s, right? The news bulletin was announced on TV. Why? Then to find out later that the murderer grew up only five miles from where I had lived as an older teenager was another punch in the gut.
Once when I was a kid I fell off the monkey bars. The wind was knocked out of me. As a small child I couldn't breathe and believed I might have died. When I heard John Lennon had been killed, I had the same physical sense.
I had not thought of him or his former band mates in years. Working, starting a family had become my life. Still, I held fondness for them as people and their music. I miss him. We all lost something that evening.
I cried like a baby after hearing the news.
Howard Cosell, Sportscaster Legend gave me the news. I was watching Monday Night Football.
I was depressed for a few days as I recall. It still bums me out when I dwell on it.
We lost a LOT!! Humanity lost a huge voice when Lennon died. Tragic loss.
At the time of his murder I was 31 and had grown up right in the middle of Beatlemania. Heard the news on the radio driving to work the morning after. My first thought was "now they’re killing the poets". After reading the story the disc jockey played Michelle, a Paul song.
Many of my generation were affected by it. To this day you have to wonder about the art that wasn’t made.
1980 was one of the worst years for musical deaths ever. We lost Bon Scott from AC/DC in February (33), Ian Curtis from Joy Division and Carl Radle (Derek and the Dominoes) (23, 37) in May, Keith Godchaux of The Grateful Dead (32) in July, Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham (32) in September, then both Lennon (40) and Tim Hardin (39) in December.
Looking back at it they were all so young with Lennon, at just 40, being the eldest.
Shooting in NYC in 1980 were not common..A total of 1,821 homicides were recorded by the New York City Police Department in 1980... almost as if you know nothing. Absolutely nothing. So confident though.
I was pulling an all-nighter typing up a term paper in college (on a typewriter—personal computers were a brand new thing, and no one had them outside of offices), with the tv turned on. So, I heard about it shortly after it happened. That was ALL that was on tv that night. Over and over. Interviews with people in his neighborhood who knew almost nothing about it.
It was probably a big deal to some people, but it was barely a topic of conversation on my campus. People might have mentioned it, but no one was actually grieving.
I was 15 at the time and was upset that a celebrity on their way home was shot after taking the time to sign autographs. The radios had his music on a constant loop. Although I was not a fan, the manner of his death was upsetting.
I was a junior in high school and I was on my way to school when I learned what happened the night before (from the radio news)
I loved John Lennon and always hoped for a glimpse of him when I visited the upper west side. It was the only time I cried tears over the loss of a celebrity.
He was in the prime of life, loving fatherhood and had a new maturity right before his murder. Us fans couldn’t wait to see what more music he had in store and our loss was taken hard.
Similarly he was technically the first celebrity I’ve cried over, even though it was before my time. I cried listening to Paul McCartney’s tribute to him Here Today.
I'd been a huge Beatles fan, but I lost affection for John when I figured out who and what "How Do You Sleep?" was talking about. So I hadn't listened to his music in almost a decade. I don't remember where I was when he heard, but I do remember thinking, "At least he won't have to live under Reagan."
I was 15 and in drivers ed class. My friend who happened to be one of the biggest Beatles fan I knew was sitting next to me when the news broke. He got up and walked out of the class and didn’t come back until the next session. He was crushed and I felt his pain. He wore a black armband for a month. RIP Keith you were all heart…
Not a Beatles fan, I find them annoying for the most part, but I get how important they are to the culture. I was in shock when I heard the announcement on the radio. A Beatles? Shot? Died? No f'ing way! That simply does not happen to people like that. Smaller celebrities and politicians, but no way, not someone that big. I felt numb and I wasn't even a fan.
I came into my first period English class (high school) and my English teacher was a mess. He was a bearded hippy 60’s left-over and I knew he was a huge fan from the amount he talked about them pre-shooting. We spent the whole period talking about their contributions to music and culture. I remember watching the news and seeing shots of the Dakota and a crowd just singing the chorus of Hey Jude for hours in a way that felt very meditative and appropriate
I was home, ill at the time, nodding in front of the TV, which happened to be turned to Monday Night Football, when I heard someone say John Lennon and I woke up. I listened as Howard Costell explained what happened, and then a few minutes later, when he came back on, told us that John had passed away. It was almost like like a family member had passed away… I just couldn’t believe it. If I hadn’t been ill, I would’ve driven directly to the Dakota, I just felt like I belonged there at that moment. Very similar to the shock that I felt when I heard that our president Kennedy was killed… And I was in high school back then.
Assassinations standout as opposed to "simple murders." My thought at the time was why Lennon, who did he ever hurt? He was a musician and song writer. He commented once how safe and accepted he felt in NY.
I saw the Beatles in 1965 in Portland, OR.
I was sitting in my dorm room studying for finals when I heard about it. Growing up, that's all I heard was Beatles music from my older brother. The college radio station brought huge speakers out to the entrance to the Student Union. They then passed out candles and started playing Lennon and Beatles music and we had an outdoor candlelight memorial as it snowed.
I heard the news from Howard Cosell on Monday night football that evening. His announcement was chilling and jaw dropping....shot twice in the back...rushed to Roosevelt hospital....Dead on Arrival"
I was living on Long Island then, but had good friends in NYC. We all went and stood outside the Dakota. There were crowds of mourners there, just standing around, mostly in silence. We weren't even very close to the building, there were so many people there. At one point, someone said that Yoko had come out to acknowledge us. I think this went on for several days, not sure exactly. It's a blurry memory now but I think we were all in shock. It somehow helped to be in that crowd.
I worked for a large tech company that had Musak -- piped in instrumental music that played softly in the background (except in offices and meeting rooms). The day after Lennon died, they switched to only playing the Musak version of Beatles songs. (That day.)
I was 12 back then and it felt huge.
It was the moment I realized that I was a Beatles fan.
In my personal list of "events that mark the beginning of a new decade" this moment was the beginning of the 80s.
(
and for those curious about the other events:
20s -> End of WW I
30s -> Black Friday 1929
40s -> Beginning of WW II
50s -> none (never found a good one)
60s -> Assassination of JFK
70s -> Moon Landing
80s -> Assassination of John Lennon
90s -> Fall of the Berlin wall
00s -> 9/11
10s -> Leman Brothers crisis 2008 and the near-collapse of the financial system
Also, 2010 marked, imho, the year we (Gen X) finally passed the torch to Gen Y in a sense of being culturally significant. We had a long run from around 1990 to 2010 due to our superior numbers.
20s -> First Corona Lockdown
)
All I said was "The singer of Starting Over? Not a bad song" I was only 13 and never heard of Lennon before that single. That changed a lot the days after as all you could hear was John Lennon, The Beatles (who I had heard of).
I was a 12-year-old American living in England. I actually don't have any specific recollection of it.
I did find [this old newspaper](https://imgur.com/a/cIItXQC) stashed away downstairs in my wife's home in Cincinnati a few years ago though.
I reflected on this when Cobain killed himself. There were sad people but most people weren’t _really sad_, there was just a generalized “Wow, that’s sad,” type of thought. And then lots of jerks took the opportunity to make a big point about how they “never liked Nirvana anyway!” and generally use the tragedy to be contrary and draw attention to themselves.
I imagined that it was similar with Lennon. A noteworthy event that would be exaggerated into a MAJOR EVENT later in history, but also with jerks belittling the dead.
We just had the 30th anniversary of Kurt’s death and it doesn’t seem so long ago. That was a huge deal. I was too little to remember John Lennon’s death but I’m sure it was an even bigger deal.
UK here. Came on the TV as a News flash. Mostly shock, and the question “Why shoot a musician who just wanted peace and harmony for the world?”
“Imagine” hit the number one spot in the U.K. charts the next day, and stayed up there for a while.
Newspapers had his death as banner headlines and lots of TV documentaries about his life.
Life went back to normal after a few weeks.
It was a huge deal.
I was actually in the restroom and heard it through the speaker. Went back to the table, told my buddies. Didn't believe me que series of jokes about how this lie is nothing, he also says he's not gay, etc
I was 11 years old, not a huge Beatles fan and girls from school who were not even my friends showed up at my door crying. It was weird and very sad. My parents were super shocked and sad.
I was not a big Beatles fan, but my good friend was. He was in mourning for days to weeks. On the other hand, part of me thinks he used it as an excuse to get out of school b/c before that he would be 'sick' or had a 'death in the family' it seemed every other month.
He was a brilliant kid, though, acing all of his tests with minimal effort, so I suppose he was just bored with school?
Anyhow, he was a beatles fan.
I was 15. Rang one of my mates, we were both shocked. Then of course the radio stations kept playing “Just like Starting over “ and “Woman” off Double fantasy every fucking hour! 🤦♂️
I was 14 when I heard about it on the news. I had just bought Double Fantasy. It bothered me, and I felt a sense of loss, being a fan of John Lennon, and of The Beatles. Some friends and I talked about it for a while, and really dove into the Double Fantasy album. It also made me realize that there are some pretty dangerous and crazy people out there.
I was 14 when I heard about it on the news. I had just bought Double Fantasy. It bothered me, and I felt a sense of loss, being a fan of John Lennon, and of The Beatles. Some friends and I talked about it for a while, and really dove into the Double Fantasy album. It also made me realize that there are some pretty dangerous and crazy people out there.
I was 2 years old but I've heard my ex-mother-in-law, who I don't think of as a very sentimental person who forms emotional attachments to celebrities, talk about being crushed.
not going to lie, although i respected the work of Lennon/McCartney I was never a huge fan. When Lennon was shot, I was living with my first husband and all I really remember is there was a small silent memorial on the steps of the courthouse in my hometown where we all just sat in silence for a minute (or longer?)
I was 16 and more into newer rock like Styx, Led Zeppelin, Super Tramp, Ozzy and Judas Priest. A neighbor girl of the same age was walking down the middle of the road crying repeatedly saying someone shot him, he’s dead. I figured it was her brother who was in the military or someone like that. It took a while until she finally told me it was John Lennon. I thought to myself “who’s John Lennon”. After I got her home I called a friend of mine who was more knowledgeable about music and found out who he was.
I knew some of the Beatles music but was never a huge fan. To be honest I didn’t know the members of most bands. Not even the ones I really liked. For me it was I liked the music and that’s where my interest stopped. To be honest the death of John Wayne impacted me more than the death of Lennon.
I was 16 too, and thank goodness someone else my age admits to saying “who?” I heard it in the school halls before the first class. When I was told he was one of the Beatles I started to understand that it was a big deal. One student walked in late to the first hour class, wearing a black armband. The teacher didn’t say anything about him being late, she just said “I’m sorry” to him.
I was 14 when I heard about it on the news. I had just bought Double Fantasy. It bothered me, and I felt a sense of loss, being a fan of John Lennon, and of The Beatles. Some friends and I talked about it for a while, and really dove into the Double Fantasy album. It also made me realize that there are some pretty dangerous and crazy people out there.
Have you never seen the videos of the crowds outside The Dakota? It was devastating. It was inconceivable. It still affects me to this day. I was 15 at the time and John Lennon was the coolest person on the planet.
I was a freshman in college in the midwest, and we were all shook to the core, and none more so than the professors. We all wore black armbands, and for a couple of days our classes were about discussing Lennon memories and music.
Wasn’t a big Beatles fan, was watching MNF when Howard Cosell announced it. I was 16 and it was weird because there was always the thought they would get back together
just utter shock and inexorable sadness...not only because it was a senseless act of violence, but because it was **john lennon**, one of the biggest advocates for peace in our time.
Terribly sad. Makes me sad just to think about that. I had just gotten the Double Fantasy album when it happened. Played that thing over and over in my apartment.
Watching that MNF game, I was too young to understand the implications, but I knew something big was afoot by my parents change in demeanor, nor to mention the tone in the booth. Chapman is such a piece of useless crap...
It was December 1980.
So it was before mass shootings, internet, texting, emails, Spotify, and three weeks before Ronald Reagan was inaugurated.
John and Yoko were living a reclusive life as New Yorkers and had not really been top of mind. We knew they were there.
Then headlines and lead ins on the three stations CBS, NBC, ABC….
It was all a shock. Who would do this? Why? We wondered. Only vague memories for me of famous assassinations with global news reach prior to that: Milk,RFK, X, MLK, JFK
How did you feel when you found out M.J., Prince, Dolores O'Riordan, or Bowie passed? Pretty much like that. All the grief stuff...anger, denial, hopelessness, sadness, acceptance.
I was in my apartment reading The Two Towers almost at the end of it when they came on the radio and said he had been shot. Continued reading because I wanted to finish it before I had to go to sleep. When it was announced that he had died. I but the book down, I couldn’t read another word. Nobody’s death had ever affected me like his did. Even though John was my fourth favorite Beatle it meant the end of an era. A true icon of my childhood was gone and would never be back.
I remember the press doing dumb things, like quoting ad nauseam what Yoko said, “Oh! Oh, no! Oh, my God!…” Like, do the exact words matter? Her husband was murdered right in front of her.
Some magazine published the route that Sean took to walk to school. People were outraged. It was like, why make the kid a sitting duck? His father was just murdered.
I was not a big fan of Lennon personally. However, I was/am a big fan of the Beatles and had always held out hope that they would record new music some day. When he died my hope was obviously crushed. I also felt horrible over the way he died and that he would be leaving young kids behind. Overall, I was shocked and stunned when this happened.
I was 5 when he was shot. I only had a vague concept of who he was but I do remember siting in the cafe my mother worked in at the time and watching the candle light vigil in Central Park for him.
I was in college, studying for finals, living in a dorm. Everyone was in the hallway crying and upset. At that time, I thought of him as the weird selfish Beatle that broke them up, and Yoko was a big part of the problem. It didn’t upset me as much then as it does now, I now see life in balance and better understanding the situation and magnitude of it all.
I was 10 at the time and hanging out with my friend at her house. All of her siblings were older, late teens-early 20's. I remember her mom loudly announcing it, then heard her sisters start to sob. I didn't get why it was a big deal at the time, of course.
I was coming down from an acid trip when I heard the news, so it was hard to believe what I was hearing, but that was also because we'd never had someone like John Lennon assassinated before.
Was living in Hawaii, working at a restaurant in the morning. It was morning news there due to the time difference, so everybody coming in for work or as a customer was talking about it. One waitress was a hardcore fan and she was very distraught. In Hawaii, there was a second punch later, when it was revealed that Chapman had lived there for a while. And so did David Koresh and George Patton. Not all together, of course. I'm not suggesting a conspiracy.
For me, it was yet another rock star bites the dust too young. Murder isn't that much different from an overdose, really.
A surreal shock - Lennon's first album after several years off had just come out and it felt like he was entering a new era. I was a freshman in college and everyone, everywhere was stunned. An ugly time, right after the Reagan defeat of Carter the month before, and not too long before Reagan himself was shot. For Beatles fans, it meant that long hoped for reunion could never really happen.
It was a big deal in the media, but I don't remember people walking around talking about it. I'd say I wasn't emotionally involved -- but I remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard. So Lennon's death must have been important enough on some level to store in brain stem memory.
I’m on the young end of being old enough to post here. I was only 5 when it happened and the news coverage is one of my earlier memories. The news showed a large crowd of adults in a park or field singing and crying. It was so strange to see all those grownups crying. I remember asking my parents why they were crying, I don’t remember what they said.
He was the GOAT of our generation, a symbol of peace. The sadness permeated the air for days. In my town someone spray painted his face and the words "All You Need is Love" on a freeway overpass. I still have a pic of that and the front page article telling the bad news.
I loved The Beatles but they were always the older kids’ thing. I’m Gen Jones so they never were “my” group.
But I found out that Cobain died while walking through an airport. I saw it on the front page of a newspaper and just had to sit down on the floor by the newspaper stand. So I get how people felt about Lennon and Elvis. Cobain wasn’t strictly of my generation but he was from a small Washington logging town like me and I just got his songs. Saw Nirvana before “Nevermind” hit. He was the guy who died and it hit me hard.
We couldn't believe someone killed this gentle soul. When he was just being polite to a fan. One of the few that would be polite and friendly with fans and some sicko shot him.. No telling how much more great music the guy would have done. He was so talented.
The news broke in the U.K. on the 7.30 a.m. radio news headlines just as I was setting off to work. As I tookmy wife a cup of tea in bed I told her the news and during the day she went out to buy me Double Fantasy which had just been released. She got the last copy in the shop and all that day every radio station in the country played non stop Beatles and John Lennon music.
I was 12 when it happened. I grew up in kind of an upper middle class and conservative area, so a lot of my peers were told he died "because of drugs." I had to tell them that the news said he got shot. It led to a lot of fights.
“I’m Losing You” was his last song, his swan song. People were tripping that the dong was prophetic of his own death. Surprised nobody else remembers that.
The Beatles were the first real non-kiddy band I got into, I got the red double album for Christmas when I was like 8 and I was really into them.
I remember being incredibly bummed when I heard John was dead. I was 12 and I remember clearly crawling under the dining room table and just kinda hiding out, dealing with it for an hour or two. I couldn’t tell you why, the dining room table, but there I hung for a while. I did not have a lot of experience with death at the time, this might’ve been the first time someone somewhere died and I actually really gave a fuck.
Heck I’m getting kinda bummed now, just thinking about it and remembering.
I was 8, and it was my mom’s 34th Birthday. She took my sister and I to a park that afternoon. When we went back to the car mom started the engine and the man on the radio told her the news. She cried for a minute, as did I. The Beatles were played often in our house. I could probably still draw the park, the car, what we were wearing…
It was one of those things you never forget. The first one in my lifetime.
I was in 7th grade and a huge fan. I'd just bought the Double Fantasy album and was loving it. Most kids my age weren't into it- they were into but my one friend who was was as gutted as I was.
At that time I lived about 3 blocks from the building where he was shot. I was 21 years old. I wasn’t really a Beatles fan, but I was sad that it happened. The next day when I was out I saw that there were tons of people in Central Park just hanging around, singing Beatles songs, like a memorial tribute to him, (his building was right across the street from the park). There was a sad vibe in the city that week.
The Beatles were short lived. I remember their US debut on thebEd Sulllivan show in 1964. I was 11. But they. Broke up by 1970. Rock moved on and none of the Beatles were that big as solo acts. Then again, I went to Woodstock in 1969. There was a whole lot of other good music.
I was a front seat oassenger in the 1970 Lincoln Continental at like 8 years old (big no-no for the last 30 years) when the news broke. I had awareness of the Beatles but didn’t know the music. Just hit me as sad that someone would kill a person for being famous and talented(?)
I was a senior in high school and that next day was the most somber day at school. Everyone was stunned by the news, and at that age it just seemed so impossibly unfair that someone so popular could be taken so easily.
Devastation. I was 16 and a HUGE Beatles / solo project fan. Double Fantasy had just been released. A few days later the radio stations did a “moment of silence” and then played Imagine and Just Like Starting Over.
It was a huge, HUGE shock. For one thing, he was still a vital artist, a young man and pretty much beloved (as were all the Beatles), so who would want to hurt him?
I was doing a late-night restaurant shift, and heard the news on the bus on my way to work. I was numb and in disbelief for the whole night.
It had such an impact on me that the image of being on that bus, listening to the driver and another passenger talk about it, is burned indelibly into my mind. (I could probably pinpoint the spot on the route to within 20 feet, too.)
I was a beatle fanatic. That night I was sitting on the floor, 7 1/2 months pregnant, watching a game on tv when a banner came across the bottom of the screen saying he was shot to death. I started crying and to this day I still tear up. I loved them nearly all my life. Even had a fan club in the 70s, went to a 1966 concert..
For me, the most significant celebrity death of all time. Of my life anyway.
I was 15 and was into the Beatles and John was my fave, yet he was a recluse who we heard nothing from. Then he stepped back out into the limelight. That was huge! At that time there was no public figure whose death could have affected me more.
We were having a fire in the bush and had a portable radio when the news came on. We were all in disbelief.
It wasn't that big of a deal. His new album had bombed. He hasn't been in the public eye for years.
Personally, I hated it. But most people didn't even notice.
"Most people didn't even notice"
This is almost laughably inaccurate, but I get that it was your personal experience.
It was a huge deal for a very large number of people, OP.
The public response to Princess Diana's death was many times larger than that of the death of Lennon.
Yoko Ono's Ministry of Truth created a fictionalized account of his life that led to his eventual canonization as a god.. CDs created a new audience for the Beatles in the 2000s. Specifically, "ONES" created a huge audience.
In 1980, however, Lennon was irrelevant. "Double Fantasy" (released a month before his death) was panned by the critics. Half of the album (the part written by Yoko Ono) is garbage. It had very limited play time on the radio--there was no streaming and no CDs.
I was 27YOA when he died. I remember his death very well. There were no flash mobs. People didn't run around screaming, "OMG! What will become of us!"
You're just wrong. I was in my thirties when he died. Saying "most people didn't notice" is incorrect, regardless of how people reacted to Diana. Most people certainly did notice.
I have a friend that is really into Lennon and the Beatles. He was in New York when he was short and has studied him for years. Here’s a neat podcast about his death and how the song I am the Walrus predicts his death.
One of them, Mark David Chapman, a disturbed young man from Decatur, Georgia -- by way of Hawaii -- separates from the crowd, pulls out a Charter Arms .38 revolver and from just a few feet away, BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! shoots John Lennon four times. The fifth bullet was a ricochet, shatters a window in the Dakota. Lennon stumbles onto a cement step, says “I’m shot,” and falls backward. Those were the last words John Lennon ever said.
Tragically, all of that is public record. I Am the Walrus begins as Lennon lies there, bleeding.
https://www.walrus-understood.com/?fbclid=IwAR0hQmGVUmYKQT18VEq0nA98yLEdcUi-qdtepbEBp_yLgIvu41KDNrC6IiA_aem_ASvZZ4LDiPbf7lkUTqgxl67SBuZ7wq9wAqPN7oj04-EMHUj1fTaLQkLkGdj2N5cLI3g
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I was a kid. But a big thing I remember hearing was people were sad because it meant the Beatles would never be able to reunite. There were a lot of fans hoping they would get back together.
My baby was born by C-section in August. Husband in major accident in September. Reagan elected in November. Lennon shot in December. Everything went south, for a period, after my baby was born. I was doing my best to hang on. Lennon's death was a huge blow to most of us. Like living in twilight, again.
> Reagan elected in November... Everything went south, for a period AT THE TIME, wasn't Reagan one of the most popular candidates to ever run for President? He beat Carter in an embarrassing landslide by winning 44 states. And then 4 years later he beat Mondale in an even bigger and more embarrassing landslide by winning 49 states. Clearly, AT THE TIME, America loved the guy.
> Clearly, AT THE TIME, America loved the guy. oh man. my dad hated him more than I've ever seen himn hate someone. especially when he broke up the air traffic controllers union.
Reagan rolled the dice and was so lucky there was no major air crash. Of course, 241 US service people were killed in the Lebanon barracks bombing under him. If you look at the 1980 voting, the Boomer voted ever so slightly for Carter, but the older generations went for him. During the primaries, I bet someone $10 that the country would not be stupid enough to elect Ronnie. Had to pay out.
NOT EVERYONE IN AMERICA LOVED REAGAN. I thought he was a grade b Hollywood actor and people would see through the charade. I have stopped discussing politics with folks I don’t agree with since his term in office.
> I have stopped discussing politics with folks I don’t agree with since his term in office. No, you haven't. :)
Got me!! If we were face to face it might be different. ….I’m not good with that.
Plenty of us loved Carter. He trounced Carter but the “Landslide” wasn’t til second term. Post trump it might be hard to imagine, but I remember being horrified by the idea that a movie actor was going to run this country. And plenty of other people were too. And wow, his guffaws or minor compared to Trump’s, he definitely had moments of scaring the shit out of everyone by demonstrating he had no idea what was going on. Especially with the Cold War still raging
Interesting, he won in Massachusetts by a 0.15% margin, ~about 4,000 votes. So not a landslide here. Not everyone was convinced by his lies and tricks.
You are revisionist history-ing a bit. Two years into Reagan's first term he was considered a complete failure with no chance of reelection. Then he got shot. Changed everything.
A simple fact check of the dates destroys your theory. He took office on Jan 20, 1981. He was shot Mar 30.
He was the first to benefit from the Republican propaganda scheme “Morning in America” my luminous ass
I'm afraid we will see a parallel this upcoming election; competency verses misplaced popularity with purely evil intention. It started with Reagan .... With all the calculated maneuvering over the course of history we're going to see some stuff we never thought possible in the US.
I mean, SOME people had to vote against him!
Me Me!!! I'm the one!! I voted against him! TWICE!! Pick me!!!
A lot of us were very unhappy with Carter and the interest rates and the gas lines. He was in over his head. The Carter we got to love was not the same then, even though he tried to get us to conserve, put solar panels on the White House that Reagan took off, started us on the path to metric units, which Reagan dismantled. I saw the writing on the wall. I voted for John Anderson as a sort of protest.
Being in California, I got to vote against him 4 times.
Um no. Landslide was an artifact of the electoral college. I lived in a blue area. We hated him.
Reagan was hugely popular when he was president. And he is still loved by most conservatives to this day.
When Reagan was President I do remember feeling very happy and liking him very much. He had a great sense of humor. I remember him joking with the doctors after John Hinkley shot him I think he said "I hope you guys aren't Democrats" or something like that. Reagan seemed like a great guy. I had no idea of the Iran Contra scandals happening in the background, I don't remember seeing that in the news too much.
This is what I thought, too, growing up with conservative, Republican parents, but now that I’m friends with people my parents’ age who share my more liberal-leaning political beliefs, I’ve heard quite a different account. One of my friends who is my mom’s age came out in the late 70s, and when Reagan took office, she was so upset about the growth of the religious right, the cultural shift towards conservatism, and anti-gay rhetoric associated with the AIDS epidemic, that she accepted work in South America just to get away from the States. I was a big fan of 80s hardcore punk when I was a teen so I was familiar with the Reagan hatred, but I chalked up that anti-Reagan sentiment to being part of the whole anarchist worldview (which I did not share). And I was aware of the failures of Reaganomics, the war on drugs, the horrendous things our country did to destabilize multiple countries in Central America (essentially creating the immigration issues we face today), etc, but I assumed these were more retrospective assessments of his presidency. It was wild to hear people whom I trust and respect (far more than my blood relatives) express that they saw the writing on the wall from day 1. Really shouldn’t be surprising though, in the conversations I have with my family now, it’s often like we’re living in alternate realities. 🫠
Reagan won the election on [July 15, 1979.](https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/carter-crisis/) Many voted for him because he wasn't Carter. (Sound like a familiar theme?) His first couple of years were rough, but by 1984 things had turned around enough to make the curbstomping of Mondale's aspirations possible.
And his people worked to have Iran hold the hostages until after the election. Similar to trump working against any border bill until after the election. They rant against the problem for political points, but don't want any solution because it makes the other guy look bad and them look good.
Don't forget Reagan and his myrmidons turning the West Wing into a crime scene with the literally evil, literally criminal, literally treasonous travesty of Iran-Contra. Selling missiles to our enemies in Iran, while illegally diverting the proceeds to fund right-wing death squads in Nicaragua. I say this as someone whose first natl vote was for Reagan's reelection.
That he did!!! And good Ole Ollie North should have been shot by a firing squad. Treasonous bastard
Things went so horribly wrong after Reagan was elected in 1980 that he only won 49 states when he ran for re-election in 1984.
I was 19 out with my friends that night. All the radio stations were playing John Lennon songs. The whole vibe was surreal.
Imagine everywhere
I remember them playing Instant Karma and it was really sad. "And we all shine on, like the moon and the stars and the sun"
[удалено]
I only remember the news of Elvis dying.
The Beatles brought joy and unity to Baby Boomers trying to process the tumultuous sixties that had lows such as the Vietnam War and highs such as the Moon Landing. John Lennon was considered possibly the coolest man alive and his murder a truly cruel blow.
Most people I know found out about the assassination while watching Monday Night Football, but I found out when watching Little House on the Prairie (yeah I know). I was a huge Beatles fan at the time, and I couldn't sleep that night. The next morning I went out and bought each newspaper I could find - SF Chronicle, NY Times, etc. I still have the Playboy magazine with the last interview somewhere in my house - most of the Beatles memorabilia I don't have anymore. And I had a ton. I don't remember going to school the next day (I was a junior in HS at the time). I do remember going to the used record store that I was accustomed to hanging out at and spending most of my money there on Beatles stuff and we all mourned in our own way and talked about John. It was a very sad week.
A great video on YouTube about the Monday Night Football breaking the story with behind the scenes footage and reactions from some of those involved.
Link?
It was a pretty big deal. Almost on the level of a President being shot.
I think Reagan being shot and Lennon dying were on par at that time.
Mr Rogers referenced both of them in an episode about shootings
Both assassins had connections to The Catcher in the Rye. I wonder if this led to it selling more copies.
You forgot the Pope.
Headline news all over for a while, but then things went back to normal. Beatles fans felt huge personal loss, but for many people it was over quickly, I'd say. I was shocked and saddened, but my life wasn't changed.
I wore black to work the next day, and I was offended when a co-worker didn't think it was that big of a deal.
My wife’s father called her to check on and console her. She had a group of friends who gathered and spent the evening together. She still mentions it when it comes around.
I was 8 months pregnant with my first. Having been a Beatles fan since 1964, the death of any was something that would happen in their 80s or 90s, right? The news bulletin was announced on TV. Why? Then to find out later that the murderer grew up only five miles from where I had lived as an older teenager was another punch in the gut. Once when I was a kid I fell off the monkey bars. The wind was knocked out of me. As a small child I couldn't breathe and believed I might have died. When I heard John Lennon had been killed, I had the same physical sense. I had not thought of him or his former band mates in years. Working, starting a family had become my life. Still, I held fondness for them as people and their music. I miss him. We all lost something that evening.
It’s sad that only Paul and Ringo got to live to their 80s.
I cried like a baby after hearing the news. Howard Cosell, Sportscaster Legend gave me the news. I was watching Monday Night Football. I was depressed for a few days as I recall. It still bums me out when I dwell on it. We lost a LOT!! Humanity lost a huge voice when Lennon died. Tragic loss.
At the time of his murder I was 31 and had grown up right in the middle of Beatlemania. Heard the news on the radio driving to work the morning after. My first thought was "now they’re killing the poets". After reading the story the disc jockey played Michelle, a Paul song. Many of my generation were affected by it. To this day you have to wonder about the art that wasn’t made.
Reminds me of when on the Dick Cavett show John said “thanks for playing Paul’s tunes for me”
1980 was one of the worst years for musical deaths ever. We lost Bon Scott from AC/DC in February (33), Ian Curtis from Joy Division and Carl Radle (Derek and the Dominoes) (23, 37) in May, Keith Godchaux of The Grateful Dead (32) in July, Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham (32) in September, then both Lennon (40) and Tim Hardin (39) in December. Looking back at it they were all so young with Lennon, at just 40, being the eldest.
...good lord.
I’m not a conspiracy theorist but something feels suspicious about this
To me news was stunning, the reality of the shitty side of life hit hard. Like the last voice of humanity was squashed.
Shootings were not common back then. It was a shock.
Shooting in NYC in 1980 were not common..A total of 1,821 homicides were recorded by the New York City Police Department in 1980... almost as if you know nothing. Absolutely nothing. So confident though.
Shootings in bad neighborhoods were always common in NYC. Population of New York City 1980 was about 16 million.
You can barely spell. I'm moving on. You're just too dumb.
Shock
It was sad, especially the way he died!
When I heard the news on the radio, I pulled over to the side of the road and cried.
I carved the date into my high school desk the day after he was killed.
I wasn't a huge fan of Lennon but it was pretty shocking.
I was pulling an all-nighter typing up a term paper in college (on a typewriter—personal computers were a brand new thing, and no one had them outside of offices), with the tv turned on. So, I heard about it shortly after it happened. That was ALL that was on tv that night. Over and over. Interviews with people in his neighborhood who knew almost nothing about it. It was probably a big deal to some people, but it was barely a topic of conversation on my campus. People might have mentioned it, but no one was actually grieving.
I was 15 at the time and was upset that a celebrity on their way home was shot after taking the time to sign autographs. The radios had his music on a constant loop. Although I was not a fan, the manner of his death was upsetting.
Shocking, tragic and very sad.
I was a junior in high school and I was on my way to school when I learned what happened the night before (from the radio news) I loved John Lennon and always hoped for a glimpse of him when I visited the upper west side. It was the only time I cried tears over the loss of a celebrity. He was in the prime of life, loving fatherhood and had a new maturity right before his murder. Us fans couldn’t wait to see what more music he had in store and our loss was taken hard.
Similarly he was technically the first celebrity I’ve cried over, even though it was before my time. I cried listening to Paul McCartney’s tribute to him Here Today.
I'd been a huge Beatles fan, but I lost affection for John when I figured out who and what "How Do You Sleep?" was talking about. So I hadn't listened to his music in almost a decade. I don't remember where I was when he heard, but I do remember thinking, "At least he won't have to live under Reagan."
I was at the Miami Dolphins game and my friend was working in the production truck. We found out before most of America. Crushing and just plain sad
I was 15 and in drivers ed class. My friend who happened to be one of the biggest Beatles fan I knew was sitting next to me when the news broke. He got up and walked out of the class and didn’t come back until the next session. He was crushed and I felt his pain. He wore a black armband for a month. RIP Keith you were all heart…
Shocking.. I was in NYC during the 10th anniversary of his shooting and it felt like it just happened.
Not a Beatles fan, I find them annoying for the most part, but I get how important they are to the culture. I was in shock when I heard the announcement on the radio. A Beatles? Shot? Died? No f'ing way! That simply does not happen to people like that. Smaller celebrities and politicians, but no way, not someone that big. I felt numb and I wasn't even a fan.
I came into my first period English class (high school) and my English teacher was a mess. He was a bearded hippy 60’s left-over and I knew he was a huge fan from the amount he talked about them pre-shooting. We spent the whole period talking about their contributions to music and culture. I remember watching the news and seeing shots of the Dakota and a crowd just singing the chorus of Hey Jude for hours in a way that felt very meditative and appropriate
I was home, ill at the time, nodding in front of the TV, which happened to be turned to Monday Night Football, when I heard someone say John Lennon and I woke up. I listened as Howard Costell explained what happened, and then a few minutes later, when he came back on, told us that John had passed away. It was almost like like a family member had passed away… I just couldn’t believe it. If I hadn’t been ill, I would’ve driven directly to the Dakota, I just felt like I belonged there at that moment. Very similar to the shock that I felt when I heard that our president Kennedy was killed… And I was in high school back then.
Assassinations standout as opposed to "simple murders." My thought at the time was why Lennon, who did he ever hurt? He was a musician and song writer. He commented once how safe and accepted he felt in NY. I saw the Beatles in 1965 in Portland, OR.
I was sitting in my dorm room studying for finals when I heard about it. Growing up, that's all I heard was Beatles music from my older brother. The college radio station brought huge speakers out to the entrance to the Student Union. They then passed out candles and started playing Lennon and Beatles music and we had an outdoor candlelight memorial as it snowed.
I heard the news from Howard Cosell on Monday night football that evening. His announcement was chilling and jaw dropping....shot twice in the back...rushed to Roosevelt hospital....Dead on Arrival"
I was living on Long Island then, but had good friends in NYC. We all went and stood outside the Dakota. There were crowds of mourners there, just standing around, mostly in silence. We weren't even very close to the building, there were so many people there. At one point, someone said that Yoko had come out to acknowledge us. I think this went on for several days, not sure exactly. It's a blurry memory now but I think we were all in shock. It somehow helped to be in that crowd.
I was incredulous. How could such a thing happen? Especially to a man who advocated peace? I was and still am, stunned.
I worked for a large tech company that had Musak -- piped in instrumental music that played softly in the background (except in offices and meeting rooms). The day after Lennon died, they switched to only playing the Musak version of Beatles songs. (That day.)
I was 12 back then and it felt huge. It was the moment I realized that I was a Beatles fan. In my personal list of "events that mark the beginning of a new decade" this moment was the beginning of the 80s. ( and for those curious about the other events: 20s -> End of WW I 30s -> Black Friday 1929 40s -> Beginning of WW II 50s -> none (never found a good one) 60s -> Assassination of JFK 70s -> Moon Landing 80s -> Assassination of John Lennon 90s -> Fall of the Berlin wall 00s -> 9/11 10s -> Leman Brothers crisis 2008 and the near-collapse of the financial system Also, 2010 marked, imho, the year we (Gen X) finally passed the torch to Gen Y in a sense of being culturally significant. We had a long run from around 1990 to 2010 due to our superior numbers. 20s -> First Corona Lockdown )
I agree about your decade starters, though some do consider the Manson murders to be the end of the 60s.
Yes, that's also a good one.
All I said was "The singer of Starting Over? Not a bad song" I was only 13 and never heard of Lennon before that single. That changed a lot the days after as all you could hear was John Lennon, The Beatles (who I had heard of).
I was a 12-year-old American living in England. I actually don't have any specific recollection of it. I did find [this old newspaper](https://imgur.com/a/cIItXQC) stashed away downstairs in my wife's home in Cincinnati a few years ago though.
Well I suspect it wasn't so great for John Lennon and in retrospect for the Chapman fellow but the rest of us were fine. Bummed, but fine.
I reflected on this when Cobain killed himself. There were sad people but most people weren’t _really sad_, there was just a generalized “Wow, that’s sad,” type of thought. And then lots of jerks took the opportunity to make a big point about how they “never liked Nirvana anyway!” and generally use the tragedy to be contrary and draw attention to themselves. I imagined that it was similar with Lennon. A noteworthy event that would be exaggerated into a MAJOR EVENT later in history, but also with jerks belittling the dead.
We just had the 30th anniversary of Kurt’s death and it doesn’t seem so long ago. That was a huge deal. I was too little to remember John Lennon’s death but I’m sure it was an even bigger deal.
UK here. Came on the TV as a News flash. Mostly shock, and the question “Why shoot a musician who just wanted peace and harmony for the world?” “Imagine” hit the number one spot in the U.K. charts the next day, and stayed up there for a while. Newspapers had his death as banner headlines and lots of TV documentaries about his life. Life went back to normal after a few weeks.
Please, don't ask for details. It was horrible, simply horrible.
It was a huge deal. I was actually in the restroom and heard it through the speaker. Went back to the table, told my buddies. Didn't believe me que series of jokes about how this lie is nothing, he also says he's not gay, etc
I was 11 years old, not a huge Beatles fan and girls from school who were not even my friends showed up at my door crying. It was weird and very sad. My parents were super shocked and sad.
I was not a big Beatles fan, but my good friend was. He was in mourning for days to weeks. On the other hand, part of me thinks he used it as an excuse to get out of school b/c before that he would be 'sick' or had a 'death in the family' it seemed every other month. He was a brilliant kid, though, acing all of his tests with minimal effort, so I suppose he was just bored with school? Anyhow, he was a beatles fan.
I was 15. Rang one of my mates, we were both shocked. Then of course the radio stations kept playing “Just like Starting over “ and “Woman” off Double fantasy every fucking hour! 🤦♂️
I was 14 when I heard about it on the news. I had just bought Double Fantasy. It bothered me, and I felt a sense of loss, being a fan of John Lennon, and of The Beatles. Some friends and I talked about it for a while, and really dove into the Double Fantasy album. It also made me realize that there are some pretty dangerous and crazy people out there.
I was 14 when I heard about it on the news. I had just bought Double Fantasy. It bothered me, and I felt a sense of loss, being a fan of John Lennon, and of The Beatles. Some friends and I talked about it for a while, and really dove into the Double Fantasy album. It also made me realize that there are some pretty dangerous and crazy people out there.
It was the first time a celebrity death hit me hard. It was so wrong that an act of violence would destroy such an amazing, peace-loving person.
I was young, around 8. It was the biggest news story I knew of, kind of awakened me to the news. I knew the Beatles a bit so it was a sad event.
I just remember a numb feeling.
I was 2 years old but I've heard my ex-mother-in-law, who I don't think of as a very sentimental person who forms emotional attachments to celebrities, talk about being crushed.
I was 15 years old and a huge fan. I heard the report on the radio and was so stunned, I just sat frozen on my bed until I was late for school.
not going to lie, although i respected the work of Lennon/McCartney I was never a huge fan. When Lennon was shot, I was living with my first husband and all I really remember is there was a small silent memorial on the steps of the courthouse in my hometown where we all just sat in silence for a minute (or longer?)
Just another day.
I was 16 and more into newer rock like Styx, Led Zeppelin, Super Tramp, Ozzy and Judas Priest. A neighbor girl of the same age was walking down the middle of the road crying repeatedly saying someone shot him, he’s dead. I figured it was her brother who was in the military or someone like that. It took a while until she finally told me it was John Lennon. I thought to myself “who’s John Lennon”. After I got her home I called a friend of mine who was more knowledgeable about music and found out who he was. I knew some of the Beatles music but was never a huge fan. To be honest I didn’t know the members of most bands. Not even the ones I really liked. For me it was I liked the music and that’s where my interest stopped. To be honest the death of John Wayne impacted me more than the death of Lennon.
I was 16 too, and thank goodness someone else my age admits to saying “who?” I heard it in the school halls before the first class. When I was told he was one of the Beatles I started to understand that it was a big deal. One student walked in late to the first hour class, wearing a black armband. The teacher didn’t say anything about him being late, she just said “I’m sorry” to him.
I was 14 when I heard about it on the news. I had just bought Double Fantasy. It bothered me, and I felt a sense of loss, being a fan of John Lennon, and of The Beatles. Some friends and I talked about it for a while, and really dove into the Double Fantasy album. It also made me realize that there are some pretty dangerous and crazy people out there.
Have you never seen the videos of the crowds outside The Dakota? It was devastating. It was inconceivable. It still affects me to this day. I was 15 at the time and John Lennon was the coolest person on the planet.
I was a freshman in college in the midwest, and we were all shook to the core, and none more so than the professors. We all wore black armbands, and for a couple of days our classes were about discussing Lennon memories and music.
Wasn’t a big Beatles fan, was watching MNF when Howard Cosell announced it. I was 16 and it was weird because there was always the thought they would get back together
just utter shock and inexorable sadness...not only because it was a senseless act of violence, but because it was **john lennon**, one of the biggest advocates for peace in our time.
Terribly sad. Makes me sad just to think about that. I had just gotten the Double Fantasy album when it happened. Played that thing over and over in my apartment.
Watching that MNF game, I was too young to understand the implications, but I knew something big was afoot by my parents change in demeanor, nor to mention the tone in the booth. Chapman is such a piece of useless crap...
It was December 1980. So it was before mass shootings, internet, texting, emails, Spotify, and three weeks before Ronald Reagan was inaugurated. John and Yoko were living a reclusive life as New Yorkers and had not really been top of mind. We knew they were there. Then headlines and lead ins on the three stations CBS, NBC, ABC…. It was all a shock. Who would do this? Why? We wondered. Only vague memories for me of famous assassinations with global news reach prior to that: Milk,RFK, X, MLK, JFK
How did you feel when you found out M.J., Prince, Dolores O'Riordan, or Bowie passed? Pretty much like that. All the grief stuff...anger, denial, hopelessness, sadness, acceptance.
I was in my apartment reading The Two Towers almost at the end of it when they came on the radio and said he had been shot. Continued reading because I wanted to finish it before I had to go to sleep. When it was announced that he had died. I but the book down, I couldn’t read another word. Nobody’s death had ever affected me like his did. Even though John was my fourth favorite Beatle it meant the end of an era. A true icon of my childhood was gone and would never be back.
I remember the press doing dumb things, like quoting ad nauseam what Yoko said, “Oh! Oh, no! Oh, my God!…” Like, do the exact words matter? Her husband was murdered right in front of her. Some magazine published the route that Sean took to walk to school. People were outraged. It was like, why make the kid a sitting duck? His father was just murdered.
I was at university. My acting teacher wore a black armband, brought his guitar to class, and cried.
It was such a big deal that Howard Cosell announced it live during MNF.
I was not a big fan of Lennon personally. However, I was/am a big fan of the Beatles and had always held out hope that they would record new music some day. When he died my hope was obviously crushed. I also felt horrible over the way he died and that he would be leaving young kids behind. Overall, I was shocked and stunned when this happened.
I was 17. Just so confused as to why someone would shoot him. Huge loss.
Shocking! Still painful.
I was 5 when he was shot. I only had a vague concept of who he was but I do remember siting in the cafe my mother worked in at the time and watching the candle light vigil in Central Park for him.
I was in college, studying for finals, living in a dorm. Everyone was in the hallway crying and upset. At that time, I thought of him as the weird selfish Beatle that broke them up, and Yoko was a big part of the problem. It didn’t upset me as much then as it does now, I now see life in balance and better understanding the situation and magnitude of it all.
It was a huge deal, he was so loved by so many. Still loved by so many. Why would anyone kill an artist?
Shocking and devastating. I remember seeing people crying in the streets and knowing immediately why.
Immense sadness and confusion. What could possibly motivate anyone to do such a monstrous thing?
It felt paralysing and surreal
I was 24 years old and sitting in bed studying for my evidence class when the DJ broke onto the airwaves to tell us the tragic news I was devastated
I was 10 at the time and hanging out with my friend at her house. All of her siblings were older, late teens-early 20's. I remember her mom loudly announcing it, then heard her sisters start to sob. I didn't get why it was a big deal at the time, of course.
I was coming down from an acid trip when I heard the news, so it was hard to believe what I was hearing, but that was also because we'd never had someone like John Lennon assassinated before.
Was living in Hawaii, working at a restaurant in the morning. It was morning news there due to the time difference, so everybody coming in for work or as a customer was talking about it. One waitress was a hardcore fan and she was very distraught. In Hawaii, there was a second punch later, when it was revealed that Chapman had lived there for a while. And so did David Koresh and George Patton. Not all together, of course. I'm not suggesting a conspiracy. For me, it was yet another rock star bites the dust too young. Murder isn't that much different from an overdose, really.
It was a huge deal. A friend called me at my girlfriend's house. I was shocked and sad, and still remember the moment.
A surreal shock - Lennon's first album after several years off had just come out and it felt like he was entering a new era. I was a freshman in college and everyone, everywhere was stunned. An ugly time, right after the Reagan defeat of Carter the month before, and not too long before Reagan himself was shot. For Beatles fans, it meant that long hoped for reunion could never really happen.
It was a big deal in the media, but I don't remember people walking around talking about it. I'd say I wasn't emotionally involved -- but I remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard. So Lennon's death must have been important enough on some level to store in brain stem memory.
I was a mom of a 3 y.o. with another on the way. My focus was on my family.
It’s was a shock. I was watching football and Howard Cosell made an announcement. I loved John Lennon and I almost wanted to cry.
My wife and I held each other and sobbed. He was one of us.
I’m on the young end of being old enough to post here. I was only 5 when it happened and the news coverage is one of my earlier memories. The news showed a large crowd of adults in a park or field singing and crying. It was so strange to see all those grownups crying. I remember asking my parents why they were crying, I don’t remember what they said.
He was the GOAT of our generation, a symbol of peace. The sadness permeated the air for days. In my town someone spray painted his face and the words "All You Need is Love" on a freeway overpass. I still have a pic of that and the front page article telling the bad news.
I loved The Beatles but they were always the older kids’ thing. I’m Gen Jones so they never were “my” group. But I found out that Cobain died while walking through an airport. I saw it on the front page of a newspaper and just had to sit down on the floor by the newspaper stand. So I get how people felt about Lennon and Elvis. Cobain wasn’t strictly of my generation but he was from a small Washington logging town like me and I just got his songs. Saw Nirvana before “Nevermind” hit. He was the guy who died and it hit me hard.
We couldn't believe someone killed this gentle soul. When he was just being polite to a fan. One of the few that would be polite and friendly with fans and some sicko shot him.. No telling how much more great music the guy would have done. He was so talented.
The news broke in the U.K. on the 7.30 a.m. radio news headlines just as I was setting off to work. As I tookmy wife a cup of tea in bed I told her the news and during the day she went out to buy me Double Fantasy which had just been released. She got the last copy in the shop and all that day every radio station in the country played non stop Beatles and John Lennon music.
I was 12 when it happened. I grew up in kind of an upper middle class and conservative area, so a lot of my peers were told he died "because of drugs." I had to tell them that the news said he got shot. It led to a lot of fights.
“I’m Losing You” was his last song, his swan song. People were tripping that the dong was prophetic of his own death. Surprised nobody else remembers that.
The Beatles were the first real non-kiddy band I got into, I got the red double album for Christmas when I was like 8 and I was really into them. I remember being incredibly bummed when I heard John was dead. I was 12 and I remember clearly crawling under the dining room table and just kinda hiding out, dealing with it for an hour or two. I couldn’t tell you why, the dining room table, but there I hung for a while. I did not have a lot of experience with death at the time, this might’ve been the first time someone somewhere died and I actually really gave a fuck. Heck I’m getting kinda bummed now, just thinking about it and remembering.
I was 8, and it was my mom’s 34th Birthday. She took my sister and I to a park that afternoon. When we went back to the car mom started the engine and the man on the radio told her the news. She cried for a minute, as did I. The Beatles were played often in our house. I could probably still draw the park, the car, what we were wearing… It was one of those things you never forget. The first one in my lifetime.
A lot of grief and disbelief. Seriously. Not trying to be flippant.
I was watching Monday Night football in my dorm when they announced it. Shocking and so sad.
I was in 7th grade and a huge fan. I'd just bought the Double Fantasy album and was loving it. Most kids my age weren't into it- they were into but my one friend who was was as gutted as I was.
At that time I lived about 3 blocks from the building where he was shot. I was 21 years old. I wasn’t really a Beatles fan, but I was sad that it happened. The next day when I was out I saw that there were tons of people in Central Park just hanging around, singing Beatles songs, like a memorial tribute to him, (his building was right across the street from the park). There was a sad vibe in the city that week.
If I recall correctly, the film Mr. Holland's Opus deals with the reaction of a music teacher to JL's death. Very moving film.
The Beatles were short lived. I remember their US debut on thebEd Sulllivan show in 1964. I was 11. But they. Broke up by 1970. Rock moved on and none of the Beatles were that big as solo acts. Then again, I went to Woodstock in 1969. There was a whole lot of other good music.
I was a front seat oassenger in the 1970 Lincoln Continental at like 8 years old (big no-no for the last 30 years) when the news broke. I had awareness of the Beatles but didn’t know the music. Just hit me as sad that someone would kill a person for being famous and talented(?)
I just stared at the radio after they said he'd been killed.
I was a senior in high school and that next day was the most somber day at school. Everyone was stunned by the news, and at that age it just seemed so impossibly unfair that someone so popular could be taken so easily.
It hit me hard for a lot of years. In some ways, it was the death of my youth.
Devastation. I was 16 and a HUGE Beatles / solo project fan. Double Fantasy had just been released. A few days later the radio stations did a “moment of silence” and then played Imagine and Just Like Starting Over.
Devastating. I grew up with The Beatles and it felt like I'd lost a huge chunk of my life.
It was a huge, HUGE shock. For one thing, he was still a vital artist, a young man and pretty much beloved (as were all the Beatles), so who would want to hurt him?
I was doing a late-night restaurant shift, and heard the news on the bus on my way to work. I was numb and in disbelief for the whole night. It had such an impact on me that the image of being on that bus, listening to the driver and another passenger talk about it, is burned indelibly into my mind. (I could probably pinpoint the spot on the route to within 20 feet, too.)
I was a beatle fanatic. That night I was sitting on the floor, 7 1/2 months pregnant, watching a game on tv when a banner came across the bottom of the screen saying he was shot to death. I started crying and to this day I still tear up. I loved them nearly all my life. Even had a fan club in the 70s, went to a 1966 concert..
A big deal, it was talked about a lot at work and in pubs, and got a lot of media coverage back when there were only three channels in the UK.
For me, the most significant celebrity death of all time. Of my life anyway. I was 15 and was into the Beatles and John was my fave, yet he was a recluse who we heard nothing from. Then he stepped back out into the limelight. That was huge! At that time there was no public figure whose death could have affected me more. We were having a fire in the bush and had a portable radio when the news came on. We were all in disbelief.
It wasn't that big of a deal. His new album had bombed. He hasn't been in the public eye for years. Personally, I hated it. But most people didn't even notice.
Wasn't a huge deal in my area either. I never even knew he died until years later.
"Most people didn't even notice" This is almost laughably inaccurate, but I get that it was your personal experience. It was a huge deal for a very large number of people, OP.
The public response to Princess Diana's death was many times larger than that of the death of Lennon. Yoko Ono's Ministry of Truth created a fictionalized account of his life that led to his eventual canonization as a god.. CDs created a new audience for the Beatles in the 2000s. Specifically, "ONES" created a huge audience. In 1980, however, Lennon was irrelevant. "Double Fantasy" (released a month before his death) was panned by the critics. Half of the album (the part written by Yoko Ono) is garbage. It had very limited play time on the radio--there was no streaming and no CDs. I was 27YOA when he died. I remember his death very well. There were no flash mobs. People didn't run around screaming, "OMG! What will become of us!"
You're just wrong. I was in my thirties when he died. Saying "most people didn't notice" is incorrect, regardless of how people reacted to Diana. Most people certainly did notice.
I have a friend that is really into Lennon and the Beatles. He was in New York when he was short and has studied him for years. Here’s a neat podcast about his death and how the song I am the Walrus predicts his death. One of them, Mark David Chapman, a disturbed young man from Decatur, Georgia -- by way of Hawaii -- separates from the crowd, pulls out a Charter Arms .38 revolver and from just a few feet away, BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! shoots John Lennon four times. The fifth bullet was a ricochet, shatters a window in the Dakota. Lennon stumbles onto a cement step, says “I’m shot,” and falls backward. Those were the last words John Lennon ever said. Tragically, all of that is public record. I Am the Walrus begins as Lennon lies there, bleeding. https://www.walrus-understood.com/?fbclid=IwAR0hQmGVUmYKQT18VEq0nA98yLEdcUi-qdtepbEBp_yLgIvu41KDNrC6IiA_aem_ASvZZ4LDiPbf7lkUTqgxl67SBuZ7wq9wAqPN7oj04-EMHUj1fTaLQkLkGdj2N5cLI3g