JOHN LENNON ... share your favorite videos & pics! (and memories where you were Dec 8 1980)

[napkinz]

1969




1967




1966

[Happyhippychick]

1. Thanks for the reminder. I still miss him. I was 15, living in NY when he was killed.

[Warren Religion]

74. I was 17, watching the Tonight Show

NBC actually waited till after Johnny signed off before breaking the news.

[MadHound]

2. I was in a radio station when John Lennon died,

I was a DJ and on Monday evenings the station always played a new album in its entirety. The album that I put on that particular Monday was Double Fantasy. About three quarters of the way through the first side both the AP and UP teletypes rang their Important Breaking News alert bells. I rushed into the newsroom and read of that horrible tragedy.

I made the announcement when the first side ended, hardly able to keep from breaking down on air. The rest of my shift, the rest of the night was instantly devoted to Lennon's music. The saddest night in my radio career.

[Wilms]

3. Dear Prudence

[napkinz]

7. I love that song

[cherish44]

4. I was 13...

Everything changed after December 8, 1980.I remember I was up late listening to the radio when the news came on. I stayed up all night crying. Cried for days and still cry when I think about it. His music has been the soundtrack to my life in so many ways.

[HangOnKids]

22. I heard Cosell report the news

I was 21 and pregnant with my first child, I was only 3 months then with the first grandchild in my family. I called my Mom bawling my eyes out, I could not speak, just sobbing and she thought something happened to the baby. I finally choked out that Lennon was killed, my Mom was a HUGE Lennon fan, and she broke into tears as well. I went back to my folks house that night and my Mom and I slept together, and wet the bed with tears.

[napkinz]

48. six years earlier Howard Cosell interviewed him on Monday Night Football

I also read that night Ronald Reagan was also at that game and sat and talked with John Lennon. I can't imagine what the two could have talked about but I would love to have been a fly on the wall.

[Bozita]

81. Cosell on MNF

I ran from my mancave to tell my wife. The program she was watching was interrupted a few seconds later.

It was true!

Even today, it's hard to believe.

[jerseyjack]

5. I was at a Springsteen concert in Philadelphia.

We learned about it in the parking lot and had a long ride home listening to tributes on the radio.

[brucefan]

46. I went the next nite

what an emotional show

[babydollhead]

6. 9 days before, four of my friends died in a car accident

I was in eleventh grade.
when I heard the news about john lennon being killed, the first thing i thought was,"I'm glad my friends don't have to live in this fucked up world anymore"

[Moses2SandyKoufax]

8. LOL a remembrance thread for one of the most notorious woman-abusers to ever live.

I'll bet anyone, any amount of money that the vast majority of folks posting their "fond memories" in these memorial threads were/are some of Chris Brown's harshest critics.

[oberliner]

9. Wow that was quick

Even a post about remembering John Lennon isn't safe!

[hobbit709]

18. Unlike Chris Brown, Lennon changed

Apparently you're one of those that carry a grudge until they die of old age and them have them stuffed and mounted.

[WillyT]

20. Who The Hell Is Chris Brown ???

[napkinz]

23. Didn't he try to kick the football but Lucy pulled it away?

An often-used analogy in politics today.

[WillyT]

36. I Thought He Played For The Vikings...

[sabrina 1]

54. He's a singer who assaulted his girl friend, Rhianna a few years ago.

Chris Brown and Rhianna

[WillyT]

66. Actually... I Knew That... It's Just...

putting Chris Brown in the same sentence as John Lennon had me a tad pissed off.

And yeah... John had his issues... but he did the very thing we want people with issues to do.

He learned, evolved, and made the world a better place.

[anneboleyn]

78. yes. Why Chris Brown suddenly came up...whatever.

[WeekendWarrior]

21. I love it when people

define a man by salacious tell-all books that may or may not be true.

We saw the results of Chris Brown's abuse. Show me photos of Cynthia or Yoko looking like they've been in a car wreck and we might have something to talk about.

[napkinz]

28. Lennon/Beatles ... shitty music?

Really?

Really???

[Politicalboi]

32. Shitty music?

Compared to WHAT? Do you like the crap they play today? Where all you need is a mic that produces your voice, and someone else who writes them and a bitchin video is ALL you need today. Elvis and the Beatles will ALWAYS be remembered, I can't think of ANY shit today that will be remembered 50 years from now.

[napkinz]

33. did you notice also his/her attack on "aging hippies"?

I'm wondering why someone like him/her even comes to DU.

[HangOnKids]

34. Post is hidden

Last edited Sat Dec 8, 2012, 10:17 PM - Edit history (1)

And this very angry person is blocked from this thread. Thanks jury!

[Hassin Bin Sober]

57. Jurry applied the asshole clause.

[go west young man]

25. Wow. What kind of post is that? Especially for a DU'er.

You must have been reading Goldman's ridiculous diatribe that incidentally Cynthia and Yoko both sued him for libel for. Do you seriously think Yoko Ono (an amazing creative independent woman in her own right) would have stood by John for so long had he not been a kind man? I suggest you read John's book "Skywriting By Word Of Mouth" to truly understand who he was. Your post on today of all days is just bloody sad. Couple that with who the fuck is Chris Brown?

[HangOnKids]

27. LOL a CRAP on an ICON Post

Really? Been here for a number of years it appears M2SK, yet you take the time NOW to crap on a memorial thread. Whatever gets you through the night.

[Moses2SandyKoufax]

31. Just sick and tired of blatant double standards.... n/t

[HangOnKids]

35. See ya later dude

I realize you can not reply and thank the jury for that!

[hoboken123]

39. I don't think you know what a double-standard is

Chris Brown's abuse was seen in photos, there may have been a criminal investigation( I have no idea).

I don't recall anything similar for Lennon.

/maybe try this on a Mel Gibson thread, you'd probably hook some there

[go west young man]

40. Can you cite specific examples?

I would like to see how you equate Lennon to this guy Chris Brown.

[edbermac]

42. I love his music, but Lennon was a shit sometimes to a lot of people, male and female.

Towards manager Brian Epstein, producer George Martin and his bandmates as well.

[thucythucy]

45. I can think of quite a few far more "notorious woman-abusers"

Jack the Ripper, for one.

Anyway, Lennon freely admitted to his abusive past, reformed his ways, dedicated his life to spreading a message of peace, embraced feminism as the wave of the future, and eschewed patriarchical gender roles. Had he not been gunned down, he might have gone even further. As it is he did a lot of educate men on how wrong, and how pervasive, misogyny is.

I wish all "notorious woman-abusers" would do as much to reform themselves and the society around them.

[rug]

58. You think the guy that wrote this song was an abuser of women?

[progressoid]

77. So I guess you'll be getting rid of that KINGS avatar then?

former L.A. Kings hockey player-turned-assistant coach was arrested in Washington D.C. for allegedly sexually abusing a 21-year-old woman -- his own daughter.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2010/05/21/nhl-coach-mark-hardy-los-angeles-kings-hockey-sexual-abuse-daughter/#ixzz2EWj8sFK0

[99Forever]

10. The most important song in my life.

This World could use some John Lennon more than ever, these days.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. I had just bought his latest album.

Had spent days listening to it and skipping over the Yoko songs. His stuff on that album is brilliant. But her stuff was never appealing to me. And Double Fantasy had a John song, then a Yoko song, then a John song and on and on. . . . Wondered why they couldn't have put all of his stuff on one side and hers on the other. LOL

So I remember having to get up, move the needle on the record past the Yoko song and sit back down to listen to John's song. Then again at the end of that song. I eventually made a cassette tape of John's songs I played in my car.

This one brings back the most memories. Played it for my son many times. He was 2 when John died.

Also love this. Can't ever hear it enough.

[hobbit709]

16. I was working in the Beer Garden at the Armadillo

My favorite Lennon

[HangOnKids]

37. Yep!

Words to live by. Lennon just nailed it.

[MichaelMcGuire]

50. Got to agree

[WinkyDink]

12. I heard the news as I drove to my teaching job.

[Tikki]

13. I spent most of that Monday trying to wrap my head around Sunday's late night...

announcement of the death of Darby Crash (The GERMS) and then after returning home
Monday evening, from walking the doggie, my husband was sitting in front of the television
and appeared to be in shock.
That is when he told me of the announcement of John Lennon's murder. It was all
just too much; I broke down and cried.


Tikki

[go west young man]

14. I remember watching the news on TV

and wondering who would do that kind of thing to such an amazing person as John Lennon. It busted my illusions and shattered my dream world as I thought the world was evolving beyond war after Vietnam. It also made me realize we all have to dig deep our whole lives to overcome fear and hate and ignorance and that the battle goes on forever. It's almost 2013 an we still act like we just crawled from the primordial swamp but John Lennon gives me hope for a brighter future. He always fought for peace and that's what I like about DU. We work together and fight for peace. Raising a glass for John Lennon today. Cheers.

[WillyT]

15. Jealous Guy - With Many Memories In This Video...

[IcyPeas]

17. I was home in Queens, N.Y.

listening to tv and the radio. Vin Scelsa was a dj on WNEW back then and he had people just calling in all night long. It was just unbelievable.

The day I would rather remember was when I saw John and Yoko in an International House of Pancakes in Cos Cob Connecticut. My knees were shaking and all I could do was try and peek at them while I was eating my pancakes. I was too starstruck to actually say anything - even just hello.

[IMG][/IMG]

[napkinz]

19. 50 years ago ... ("all those years ago")

[Politicalboi]

29. I was going to be 20 the next day

My sister in law shares her birthday with Jim Morrison on the 8th. I was here in Ca so it was around 8 pm here and I was driving but I didn't have the radio on. I walked into my house, and my dad told me Lennon was shot. I then turned on the radio and listened to Jim Ladd play The Beatles and John Lennon songs, including without edit Working Class Hero. Jim Ladd himself used the work fuck and fucking while on the air that night, and he still had a job the next day.

Needless to say, my birthday was miserable.

[spanone]

30. johannesburg, south africa....sad world day

[patrice]

38. Living, with 2 kids <10 y.o., in the garage of the house that my husband & I & a general

contractor had just built, with sweat-equity. We had sold our house in town and had to move into the new house, before it's windows were installed (by us), so we put everything in the garage and camped on the living room floor, as we did the work of making the new house weather tight and I painted its interior while my husband went to his regular job.

I heard the news of what had happened to John Lennon on public radio. Probably permanently marked by the death of Robert Kennedy in 1968, I can't say that I was shocked that anyone so fine as John Lennon could have been the object of someone like Chapman, but I was surprised by the news anyway, surprised that somebody had just walked up out of the clear blue and killed him for no reason whatsoever. His death really colored the whole holiday season that year with sadness.

I'm trying to remember when John Lennon's funny little Christmas tale had come out in small holiday hard-back editions, whether it was that year, or sometime in the '70s, but I always liked that funny little story and was reminded by the 1980 holidays of John's gentle, quirky, very funny sense of humor expressed in the Christmas wishes that he wrote into that odd little holiday tale.

[werknotgoin2takeit]

41. Thank you for this thread

I grew up listening to the Beatles, as a kid I had a crush on Ringo-- don't judge. My mum was in love with Paul so his music with Wings alongside the Beatles in the late 70s dominated the house. So I have loved the Fab Four since before I can remember. I was 11 when John was shot and my memories are mostly of how my mum took it. It wasn't until I was older did I realize what a treasure had been stolen from me, all the music that now I would never get a chance to hear. Even though I too love Paul, it took Lennon and their collaboration, to bring his genius to fruition. I think it was both together that drove them to such heights of brilliance. After the Beatles, John's music was still so brave. Paul was all "silly little love songs" (nothing against that, the world needs those too) but John's music spoke to deeper truths. The world needed his voice, he was dangerous, thus he had to be silenced and we are the poorer for it.

As some of the above posters pointed out, crassly and unnecessarily IMHO if you want to bash John start your own thread, John was not without his demons. He did change and evolve over the years as we all do. He went through abandonment, incredible fame at a young age, drug addiction, and struggle to understand his place in the world. These are things that make him human. As you see him near the end, he had become a shy soft-spoken man, a gentle man who thought that our world could have peace if we really wanted it. John Lennon was a credit to the human race and his legacy is that he will never be forgotten. Excuse me now, I think I want to go listen to "Imagine".

[anneboleyn]

82. Hi, wngtti, I was 8 -- young also! Beatles-loving GenXers

As you put so well, we Xers learned later what a loss it was to the world. So arbitrary, such an empty act, and such a tragic loss.

[lame54]

43. Jeff Beck Was A Fan...

[kewhawaii]

44. I was in living in Tokyo

Lennon, of course, was very big in Japan. Happened on my birthday, the 9th. International dateline and all. So yeah, I am always reminded of his death. It sucked; always will.

[napkinz]

47. Keith Richards remembers John Lennon

[madinmaryland]

49. I was in college and mourning the election of Ronald Reagan and the destruction he

would unleash on this country.

[Kolesar]

59. I had gone away to college

Those two events really bummed me out. I don't think I recovered until Clinton was President.

[madinmaryland]

62. I was not a Beatles fan, and while his death saddened me, it did not have a big

impact in my life.

[MichaelMcGuire]

51. working class hero

As soon as you're born they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool
Till you're so crazy you can't follow their rules
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

When they've tortured and scared you for twenty odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function you're so full of fear
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still peasants as far as I can see
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

There's room at the top they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

If you want to be a hero, well, just follow me
If you want to be a hero, well, just follow me

[limpyhobbler]

52. Maybe my favorite Lennon song........God

I was a little kid when Lennon died. His music has had a big influence on me.

[Faygo Kid]

53. "Ladies and gentlemen: THE BEATLES!"

I was watching Monday Night Football when Howard told the world. From happier days:

&feature=related

[napkinz]

61. I wish I could have experienced the British Invasion

I missed out!

Everything I know about the 60s is from films and footage, from what I've read and heard.

[WinkyDink]

63. It cannot be imagined, seriously. H.S. kids with TRANSISTORS, changing stations to find the Beatles,

Searchers, Kinks, Stones, Hollies, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Cilla Black, Petula Clark, the Dave Clark (hubba-hubba!) Five, Manfred Mann, the Troggs, Peter and Gordon, Chad and Jeremy, Freddie and the Dreamers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Lulu,.............

It was a time!

[Faygo Kid]

64. In many ways, they saved us, after the JFK assassination

The darkness was indescribable after the JFK assassination, and then in the spring, four moptops from England changed the world. I'm sorry you missed it, but I missed the Renaissance. We are of our times, and just as I enjoyed listening to Glenn Miller - my Mom's generation - the Beatles belong to you, too.

[napkinz]

65. Well I had disco

I don't see anyone wishing they had lived through that period

I feel cheated.

As Sally said in "The Great Pumpkin" ... I want restitution!

[WillyT]

69. Well... I Lived Through Both... And...

I was in the 3rd Grade when The Beatles appeared on the scene... Ed Sullivan Show...

Loved them dearly... love them still.

But remember... Disco (I was in my early 20's) was happening during the height of the Sexual Revolution.

So there's that.

[napkinz]

70. OK, I love the Bee Gees

But I remember 1979 ... every station playing "Tragedy" ... again and again and again and again. And that was followed by Anita Ward's "You Can Ring My Bell" ... which was played again and again and again!

Disco song after disco song after disco song ... with only ONE rock/pop song in the entire mix. I remember, it was the Doobie Brother's "What a Fool Believes."

It was such a relief when The Knack broke through with "My Sharona" and the whole new wave thing started. And in 1980, finally, disco had died.

[WillyT]

71. It's The Whole Shebang...

I took a lady home one night for an aperitife...

As we chatted and she looked over my album collection... Over 400 LP's... I Was a college DJ...

She raised her glass and said, "Billy... you're a musical whore."

I laughed my ass off,and asked her to explain why.

She said, "You have Pavarotti to Pink Floyd, The Kinks to The Knack, Dave Brubeck to Dave Mathews."

I gave her a great big hug, and considered it quite the compliment.

[Hayabusa]

75. That's really a good word for it

save for the fact that we're paying them for the music... Oh well. I didn't live through any of it, as I was born in 1984. But the world lost a tremendous talent that day, that I do know.

[Texasgal]

55. This is one of my favorites.

Rip John.

[marybourg]

56. Don't remember where I was.

[Kolesar]

60. All we are saying

Is give peace a chance.
It's pretty simple.

[LeftInTX]

67. I worked at this awful job. On my way to work, I thought I heard something about John Lennon

When I got to work, I asked a few people about it. But they were very rude and refused to talk about it.

I sat there all day wondering about John Lennon.

[LiberalElite]

68. Night School

I was attending college at night and didn't find out until the next morning - heard on the radio about John Lennon being shot and my immediate reaction (from shock) was "which John Lennon?"

[napkinz]

72. It was just about at this moment that it happened

As I remember it, it was around 11 pm.

Heard it on the radio and then Monday Night Football just a minute later.

[Bonobo]

73. 1980 really was the year everything changed.

We had moved from Long Island to the Chicago suburb of Skokie that year. I was 14. My world turned upside-down in so many ways.

The town on L.I. was a pretty blue-collar town populated mostly by Italian-Americans and it was rather anti-semitic. Skokie, on the other hand, was filled with Jews. But that year, the Nazis marched there...

I was used to long-haired teenagers with Zeppelin shirts and patched jeans in the style of the 70's. It seemed that I was launched into another world because when I got to Skokie, I was in a world of poofed out hair for girls and mullets or short hair for boys. Instead of jean jackets, they were wearing Members Only jackets and instead of Led Zeppelin, it was the Pet Shop Boys and Flocks of Seagulls.

And instead of Jimmy Carter, it was Ronald Reagan. Yes, the world changed. My 3 older brothers and sisters were gone to college and the house was empty. I was 14 and just turning to my own exploration of the music I had grown up hearing my older siblings blast from their speakers. Queen, Zeppelin, Bowie, Zappa, Tull and yes, John Lennon.

Double Fantasy had come out and I took the opportunity to go deeply into the old albums my brother Adam left. Plastic Ono Band and all that great Lennon. I loved it. Absolutely loved it. Listening to Isolation when I felt so Isolated. "Daddy don't goooooo!" when I felt the pain of my own dad leaving. I really connected to it.

And then, one cold December day, I came downstairs and my mother told me the news. Nothing had ever hit me so hard. It was so senseless. I couldn't understand. It was a splash of cold water in the face. So this was the world that was awaiting me as I entered the world of adults.

14 years old and the world had really changed.

[anneboleyn]

76. Ian Curtis (of Joy Division) killed himself in 1980 also. Dark days...

I was very young when Lennon was murdered (and I had never heard of Joy Division or Ian Curtis at that point but would later respect them as musical geniuses -- obviously not the Beatles, but who could match that blend of talent and creativity?). Now -- thirty two years later -- Lennon's death is just so sad. Such a loss.

[anneboleyn]

79. Now I often think of Sean & Julian...

And of course Yoko lost her husband when he was murdered right in front of her. As I have gotten older I notice that I really feel for Sean and Julian -- what a horrible way to lose your father, and just when John and Julian were repairing their relationship, and Sean was only five years old...

[Terra Alta]

80. I was busy being a fetus

John Lennon is one of my heroes. His music and his passion is such an inspiration to me. May he rest in peace.

[7wo7rees]

83. We All Shine On