I read the news today, oh boy... John Lennon, December 8th 1980

ICBM

Forty years ago I was walking to school in the morning, and passed a newsagent... the board outside read “Ex-Beatle Shot Dead”. It must have been on the 9th in fact, since it was in the evening of the 8th in New York when he was killed - but that image has remained frozen in my mind ever since.

It still seems quite recent to me, but in a few weeks it will be longer since he died than he was alive. Still a young man really - who knows how much more he would have given us... I was 13 then, and at that point only a little aware of his music, but I soon became a fan and will always be.

RIP 

FelineGuitars

Dec 9th 1980 was my first time seeing Queen and they played Imagine in tribute to Lennon.
hard to believe it was 40 years ago

Kebabkid

FelineGuitars said:

Dec 9th 1980 was my first time seeing Queen and they played Imagine in tribute to Lennon.
hard to believe it was 40 years ago

  Jonathan, I was at that show, too, and it was very moving to see hear Freddie singing that.

RIP JL

springhead

I was 13, had got up and got ready for school, walked downstairs and my mum said "Have you heard about John Lennon?"  I was and still am a big Beatles and Lennon fan and it was quite a shock.  And to happen then when he'd just got his music career going again, there would have been much more to come from him.

richardhomer

I was 16 and heard the news on Piccadilly radio announced by Gary Davis - who went on to work for Radio 1. I loved the Beatles - this was my first experience of loss - albeit vicariously. I was (without wishing to overstate) devastated.

‘Starting Over’ was the single which was out at the time of his death and - for me - a frankly disappointing return. Of course one of the things we lost when he was killed was the rest of his career. Who knows what else he would have done? Good, bad or indifferent, I’d have loved to have found out.

RIP John Winston Ono Lennon - and thank you for the music.

Jalapeno

RIP Winston O'Boogie !

Shook me far more than Elvis - much closer to home/age/upbringing

axisus

I can't actually remember the moment I heard the news, but I remember walking to 6th form and buying a paper (actually think it was SOUNDS) and the cover was all white with a small square portrait of John in the middle. I still have it somewhere. By coincidence, it was at the time when I really got into the Beatles. They were all I listened to for a while at that point.

My interest in him has faded over the years. I didn't really care for his solo career (apart from a couple of songs), and it seems like he was a pretty unpleasant bloke, which has coloured my opinion somewhat.

DB1

I was living in a bedsit at the time and I found out about it, courtesy of the radio alarm clock waking me up at 8am (I was a bit more laid-back in those days) with the BBC new presenter booming out 'John Lennon is dead'.

Years later, I was trying to explain to my kids the impact that that murder had around the western world. 'Not bigger than Michael Jackson dying, surely'? 'Yes, bigger than that'.

9/11 was bigger (I think - anyone feel different?) but this sent reverberations around the world as well.

I wasn't a fan after his Beatles days (much preferred Macca and Wings) but I did like the thought of his comeback and Starting Over. It was a huge shock to hear about his death, and the manner of it, I think, was the real bombshell.

Kittyfrisk

Just been listening to 'Lennon: A week in the life' on R4. 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sg77z

PhilKing

I moved to New York in June 1980, and one of my new friends called me at midnight to let me know he had been shot.  I was not really ever a big Beatles fan (much preferring the Stones), but John Lennon was always my favorite of the Beatles and I liked his solo stuff too.  I didn't go to any of the mourning events though.

Back then, with my Yorkshire accent, I got asked if I was from Liverpool at lot.  

ICBM

DB1 said:

I was living in a bedsit at the time and I found out about it, courtesy of the radio alarm clock waking me up at 8am (I was a bit more laid-back in those days) with the BBC new presenter booming out 'John Lennon is dead'.

Years later, I was trying to explain to my kids the impact that that murder had around the western world. 'Not bigger than Michael Jackson dying, surely'? 'Yes, bigger than that'.

9/11 was bigger (I think - anyone feel different?) but this sent reverberations around the world as well.

I wasn't a fan after his Beatles days (much preferred Macca and Wings) but I did like the thought of his comeback and Starting Over. It was a huge shock to hear about his death, and the manner of it, I think, was the real bombshell.

Not even close to the impact of 9/11, but certainly greater than the death of any other musician I can remember. I think the manner of his death had a lot to do with it, as well as who he was.

It's also worth remembering Dimebag Darrell, also tragically murdered on this same date . I wasn't a fan, but that still shocked me.

Philly_Q

ICBM said:
It's also worth remembering Dimebag Darrell, also tragically murdered on this same date . I wasn't a fan, but that still shocked me.

I hadn't realised it was the same date.  And 16 years already!

Caffeine_Vampire

Yoko doesn’t look any older...

ICBM

Caffeine_Vampire said:

Yoko doesn’t look any older...

She does now. But to be fair, she is 87.

I thought she was pretty good at Glastonbury - that was in 2014, so she must have been 81...

Caffeine_Vampire

ICBM said:

Caffeine_Vampire said:

Yoko doesn’t look any older...

She does now. But to be fair, she is 87.

I thought she was pretty good at Glastonbury - that was in 2014, so she must have been 81...

Interestingly, I have delved into her back catalog recently and found some decent tracks.

ICBM

Caffeine_Vampire said:

Interestingly, I have delved into her back catalog recently and found some decent tracks.

Yes, it’s not all the shrieking atonal noise stuff she’s most notorious for - she can actually sing when she wants to. It is always more performance art than music, but she’s not as unlistenable as often thought.

guitars4you

I recall driving into work that day around 8am - Had Radio 1 on - And at this moment in time they just played a medley of JL songs - With no comments by any DJ - So I never thought anything of it - Maybe his birthday ( I'd probably forgot he was 40 a few days earlier) - It was only just as I arrived at work the DJ told us why he'd played that medley - Wow - What a shock - I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing 

sev112

I remember it was icy day, so half the kids were skidding down the slope to the school,playground on their school bags, and the other half standing at the top talking about Lennon

guitartango

I still have my copy of John Lennon - The Life & Legend - Sunday Times Magazine, worth fuck all

Devil#20

I don't really recall it but I wasn't really ever a Beatles fan. I did like the Shaved Fish album though for some odd reason. I did like Wings too and thought that was the high water mark for McCartney. He's embarrassingly bad now and should have given up music years ago. His voice has completely gone. 

Philly_Q

I was 16, I'd have been in school, Lower 6th.  I can remember it being a shocking story but I can't remember how I actually heard about it.  It wouldn't have been something my parents talked about, they had no interest at all in pop music.

I do remember walking past a pub once and somebody shouting "it's John Lennon's son".  I did have long hair and glasses.  I guess it was not long after he died.