John Lennon died on this day 28 years ago. The news of his death came through in Australia on the afternoon of December 9. It was still December 8 in New York City.
Older people talk about the day John Kennedy died. Lennon’s death was that kind of benchmark for the next generation.Everyone aged from 40-60 can recall exactly what they were doing the day John Lennon died.
I was working at radio station 2ST, on the south coast of New South Wales. The news that John had been shot started to filter through mid-afternoon.
By dinnertime, it had been confirmed. John Lennon was dead at the age of 40.
I was one air that night. We played non-stop Lennon and took calls from his fans. We were shellshocked but we mourned together. It was an incredible time on radio.
John’s murder was interesting timing. It was an potent moment. Lennon had just made his comeback with the album ‘Double Fantasy’ two months earlier. He had been out of action for 5 years.
That doesn't seem like a long in between albums now, but remember then, artists used to release a new album every year.
‘Double Fantasy’ did not connect very well with the audience. John shared the album with wife, Yoko Ono. They alternated their tracks. In the week prior to John’s murder, ‘Double Fantasy’ had almost disappeared from the charts. Had things been different, it would have flopped.
John’s death changed that. People of all ages started to buy up Lennon albums. It was bizarre. It was like they thought that there would be no more Lennon albums.
Fans stocked up on Lennon albums like they were rations in the coming weeks and ‘Double Fantasy’ became a number one hit.
When you listen to ‘Double Fantasy’ today, it is amazing how great the songs were, both by John AND Yoko.
John said he made it after hearing the B-52s. They had just had a hit with ‘Rock Lobster’. When he heard that song, he knew the world was finally ready for Yoko.
Her songs were incredible. ‘Kiss Kiss Kiss’ was a damn good dance hit. ‘Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him’ had an amazing melody but my favourite was the acid rock collaboration of John’s ‘I’m Losing You’ blending into Yoko’s ‘I’m Moving On’.
Lennon’s ‘Double Fantasy’ songs are now classics. ‘(Just Like) Starting Over’, ‘Watching The Wheels’, ‘Woman’ and ‘Beautiful Boy’ are four of his greatest songs ever.
His ode to Yoko ‘Dear Yoko’ was a perfect bookend to ‘Imagine’s ‘Oh Yoko’ a decade earlier.
It is amazing how fast the last 28 years have gone. John would be 68 now.
On December 8, 1980, two things happened. John Lennon died and the hope of a Beatles reunion died.
Up until that day, there was always hope that The Beatles would get back together. It never happened.
