John Lennon
BORN: October 9, 1940, Liverpool, England
DIED: December 8, 1980, New York, NY
Out of all the Beatles, John Lennon had the most interesting -- and frustrating
-- solo career. Lennon was capable of inspired, brutally honest confessional
songwriting and melodic songcraft; he also had a tendency to rest on his
laurels, churning out straight-ahead rock & roll without much care. But
the extremes, both in his music and his life, were what made him fascinating.
Where Paul McCartney was content to be a rock star, Lennon dabbled in everything
from revolutionary politics to the television talk-show circuit during the
early '70s. After releasing a pair of acclaimed albums, John Lennon/Plastic
Ono Band and Imagine, in the early '70s, Lennon sunk into an infamous "lost
weekend" where his musical output was decidedly uneven and his public behavior
was often embarassing. Halfway through the decade, he sobered up and retired
from performing to become a house-husband and father. In 1980, he launched
a comeback with his wife Yoko Ono, releasing the duet album Double Fantasy
that fall. Just as his career was on an upswing, Lennon was tragically assassinated
outside of his New York apartement building in December of 1980. He left behind
an enormous legacy, not only as a musician, but as a writer, actor and activist.
Considering the magnitude of his achievements with the Beatles, Lennon's
solo career is relatively overlooked. Even during the height of Beatlemania,
Lennon began exploring outside of the group. In 1964, he published a collection
of his writings called In His Own Write, which was followed in 1965 by A
Spaniard in the Works, and in 1966, he appeared in Dick Lester's comedy How
I Won the War. He didn't pursue a musical career outside of the group until
1968, when he recorded the experimental noise collage Unfinished Music, No.
1: Two Virgins with his new lover, avant-garde artist Yoko Ono. Two Virgins
caused considerable controversy, both because of its content and its cover
art, which featured a nude photograph of Lennon and Ono. The couple married
in Gibraltar in March 20, 1969. For their honeymoon, the pair staged the first
of many political demonstrations with their "Bed-In for Peace" at the Amsterdam
Hilton. Several months later, the avant garde records Unfinished Music, No.
2: Life with the Lions and The Wedding Album were released, as was the single
"Give Peace a Chance," which was recorded during the Bed-In. During September
of 1969, Lennon returned to live performances with a concert at a Toronto
rock & roll festival. He was supported by the Plastic Ono Band, which
featured Ono, guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Klaus Voormann and drummer
Alan White. The following month, Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band released
"Cold Turkey," which was about his battle with heroin addiction. When the
single failed to make the Top Ten in Britain and America, Lennon sent his
MBE back to the Queen, protesting Britain's involvement in Biafra, America's
involvement in Vietnam and the poor chart performence of "Cold Turkey."
Before the release of "Cold Turkey," Lennon had told the Beatles that
he planned to leave the group, but he agreed not to publicly announce his
intentions until after Allen Klein's negotiations with EMI on behalf of
the Beatles were resolved. Lennon and Ono continued with their campaign for
peace, spreading billboards with the slogan "War Is Over! (If You Want It)"
in 12 separate cities. In February of 1970, he wrote, recorded and released
the single "Instant Karma" within the span of the week. The single became
a major hit, reaching the Top Ten in both the U.K. and the U.S. Two months
after "Instant Karma," Paul McCartney announced that the Beatles were splitting
up, provoking the anger of Lennon. Much of this anger was vented on his
first full-fledged solo album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, a scathingly
honest confessional work inspired by his and Ono's primal scream therapy.
Lennon supported the album with an extensive interview with Rolling Stone,
where he debunked many of the myths surrounding the Beatles. Early in 1971,
he released another protest single, "Power to the People," before moving
to New York. That fall, he released Imagine, which featured the Top Ten title
track. By the time Imagine became a hit album, Lennon and Ono had returned
to political activism, publically supporting American radicals like Abbie
Hoffman, Jerry Rubin and John Sinclair. Their increased political involvement
resulted in the double-album Sometime in New York City, which was released
in the summer of 1972. Recorded with the New York hippie band Elephant's
Memory, Sometime in New York City consisted entirely of political songs,
many of which were criticized for their simplicity. Consequently, the album
sold poorly and tarnished Lennon's reputation.
Sometime in New York City was the beginning of a three-year downward spiral
for Lennon. Shortly before the album's release, he began his long, involved
battle with US Immigration, who refused to give him a green card due to a
conviction for marijuna possession in 1968. In 1973, he was ordered to leave
America by Immigration, and he launched a full-scale battle against the
department, frequently attacking them in public. Mind Games was released
in late 1973 to mixed reviews; its title track became a moderate hit. The
following year, he and Ono separated, and he moved out to Los Angeles, beginning
his year-and-a-half long "lost weekend." During 1974 and 1975, Lennon lived
a life of debauchery in Los Angeles, partying hard with such celebrities
as Elton John, Harry Nilsson, Keith Moon, David Bowie and Ringo Starr. Walls
and Bridges appeared in November of 1974, and it became a hit due to the inclusion
of "Whatever Gets You Through the Night," a song he wrote with Elton John.
At the end of the year, John helped reunite Lennon and Ono, convincing the
ex-Beatle to appear during one of his concerts; it would be Lennon's last
performance.
Rock & Roll, a collection of rock oldies recorded during the lost
weekend, was released in the spring of 1975. A few months before its official
release, a bootleg of the album called Roots was released by Morris Levy,
who Lennon later sued successfully. Lennon's immigration battle neared its
completion on October 7, 1975, when the US court of appeals overturned his
deportation order; in the summer of 1976, he was finally granted his green
card. After he appeared on David Bowie's Young Americans, co-writing the
hit song "Fame," Lennon quietly retired from music, choosing to become a
house-husband following the October birth of his son, Sean Lennon.
During the summer of 1980, Lennon returned to recording, signing a new
contract with Geffen Records. Comprised equally of material by Lennon and
Ono, Double Fantasy was released in November to positive reviews. As the
album and its accompanying single, "(Just Like) Starting Over," were climbing
the charts, Lennon was assassinated on December 8 by Mark David Chapman.
Lennon's death inspired deep grief from the entire world; on December 14,
millions of fans around the world participated in a ten-minute silent vigil
for Lennon at 2 p.m. EST. Double Fantasy and "(Just Like) Starting Over" both
became number one hits in the wake of his death. In the years after his
death, several albums of unreleased recordings appeared, the first of which
was 1984's Milk and Honey; perhaps the most substantial was the 1998 four-disc
box set Anthology, issued in conjunction with a single-disc sampler titled
Wonsaponatime. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
There are few details of the short life of musical genius John Lennon that
haven't been virtually memorized by his disciples. A bare-bones precis of
his existence would include his poverty-stricken Liverpool childhood, his
formation of the Quarrymen, aka the Silver Beatles aka the Beatles in 1961,
the world-wide fame, the drug-and-religion experimentation, the controversial
alignment with Yoko Ono, the 1970 Beatles breakup, the five-year retirement
(1975-80) to raise son Sean, and his senseless murder outside New York's
Hotel Dakota in December of 1980.
Lennon's film career, though but one small aspect of his creative energies,
is worth a brief recap. First there were the films with his fellow Beatles:
A Hard Day's Night (64), Help (65) (in which for two delicious seconds Lennon
shamelessly plugs his recently published book of doggerel In His Own Write),
Yellow Submarine (67) (that's Lance Percival doing his speaking voice, but
that's Lennon in the vocals), Magical Mystery Tour (69) and Let It Be (70).
There was Lennon's one-and-only solo acting assignment as a bespectacled
British Tommy in How I Won The War (68) -- in which, as he watches his guts
spill out of his body, he turns to the camera and says ominously "I knew this
would happen. Didn't you?" There were the oddball, home-movielike projects,
made with his friends and with Yoko Ono, of which Bottoms (an engaging if
pointless study of the human derriere) is the most entertaining. And, best
of all, there was the posthumous, lovingly assembled Imagine: John Lennon
(88), including the famous 1969 anti-war "Bed-In," the TV confrontation with
ultraconservative cartoonist Al Capp, never before seen footage of Lennon
at home and at work, and of course several plaintive renditions of the title
song. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide