John Lennon 1940 - 1980

bluediesel | 14:54 Sat 09th Dec 2006 | News

28 Answers

Well, it's 26 years today since John Lennon was shot dead on his New York doorstep. I read earlier this morning of a mass shooting in a Chicago office. Have we really learnt nothing from the assassination of that great man?

Has Iraq passed the point of no return?

Are we burying our heads in the sand?

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johnlambert

Nox?
Linkin Park? me too!!!!!!

noxlumos

Cue Twilight zone music...lol

bluediesel

Question Author

The 'lesson' to which I refer is surely as plain as the nose on our respective faces, i.e. that we should by now have done something to restrict the gun laws in this country and indeed elsewhere. I appreciate our constitutional right to bear arms and that this is a sensitive issue for American citizens as a consequence of that fact; but then again, we are already beginning to talk of the electric chair in the past tense as 'cruel and unusual punishment.' I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who were once ardent supporters of the chair, but have been persuaded that such a method of capital punishment is - perhaps - abhorrent. Why can't we harden our attitude towards firearms as well?

I am truly astonished that I should have to fight my corner like this when it comes to John Lennon, and I sincerely thank those precious few who have rallied to my cause. As for Jimi Hendrix, he too was a supreme musician and I worship the man - but let us not forget that he too was 'only' a rock musician and that his death was brought about by excess. I suspect that there are many out there who would compare him and his music unfavourably with that of so called 'classical' musicians such as Beethoven, Vivaldi and Liszt. Indeed, Liszt was regarded in his day as a womaniser and no more than a piece of musical fluff - in the same way as most people on this site seem to regard John Lennon. It's all relative - I implore you to reconsider Lennon's work (and for that matter the great Jimi Hendrix)before consigning him to the same musical trash can as people did Liszt all those years ago.

bigmalc

In fact, Liszt was a vituoso, a true master of the piano. And, with hindsight, I feel I didn't give enough credit to Lennon in his partnership with McCartney. He did, after all, compose 'Tomorrow Never Knows' and 'A Day In The Life' - magic. Don't forget, though, that Hendrix made one of the most audacious statements in musical history with his decontruction of the 'Star Spangled Banner' at Woodstock.
Some have compared the Beatles to Beethoven in terms of influence on music. Beethoven was the political 'pop' of his day.

noxlumos

I'm on the verge of eating my own hands in angst with the comparing of John Lennon to Liszt! God bluediesel, you're resonsible for me getting back on hard drugs. Quick get me some mind altering drugs I can't cope with this horrible real world where people think the Beatles are akin to Liszt... kill me now.
Apart from that, almost unforgiveable comparison, I didn't realise you were in the States.I'm UK based and we do have gun laws here preventing the carrying of handguns etc. Yeah tragedy he died, and the odd few things he did I liked, but please don't compare him to Liszt again or I might have you hunt you down and kill you :) Lol.

BigDogsWang

OK - so he abused his kids. But he was a troubled musical genius, so it's OK.

So he beat up his girlfriends. But at the same time he wrote about peace and love, so equilibrium restored.

So he kicked a man half to death. So what! Doesn't make him a bad guy does it?

bluediesel

Question Author

Noxlumos, I'm not trying to compare John Lennon with Liszt at all; if any comparisons have to be drawn then they really have to be like with like, and quite clearly that is not the case in this context. What I am saying, though, is that Liszt was trashed in his own day as mere 'pop' - I agree with you absolutely that this was an utter travesty, and I don't mean to denegrate Liszt in any way - it hardly needs saying that he was a very, very great musician of some genuine profundity.

But then, with the passage of time I have no doubt that the Beatles too will be similarly honoured - rightly or wrongly, depending on your point of view. I say that only because they are already a hugely influential part of popular culture, in exactly the same way as were both Beethoven and Liszt in their own day - they didn't emerge from some sort of vacuum, after all. I hope and trust that I don't have to fork out for my bullet proof vest just yet, noxlumos; but at the risk of incurring your wrath yet further, there are two heritage plaques affixed to the walls of two adjacent London terraces, one commemorating (quite rightly) Friedrich Handel and the other (again, very properly) Jimi Hendrix ....

Regards,
bluediesel