John Lennon, The Beatles changed the world with music
Yet before the Beatles, popular music was about puppy love. After them, it was about everything from philosophy to war, from poverty to politics.
What's your favorite View full sizeAP photo, fileToday marks the 30th anniversary of John Lennon's death in New York City.BY DAVID NEWHOUSE AND DAVID N. DUNKLE, The Patriot-NewsIt was 30 years ago today we lost the man who taught the band to play.
On Dec. 8, 1980, John Lennon was gunned down in New York City. Even more than the breakup of the Beatles a decade earlier, it marked the end of an era — the era of utopian dreams behind such anthems as “Imagine” and “All You Need is Love.”
But if the dream was over, as Lennon himself sang, it did not end before the founder of the Beatles, along with Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, had succeeded in changing the world.
A strong statement? Perhaps. The Beatles themselves always insisted that they embodied a generation rather than led one. Lennon or Beatles song? What's your favorite John Lennon or Beatles song?
The Beatles were the first pop artists to introduce world music to Western audiences. They were the first to print their song lyrics on an album cover.
The Beatles questioned society’s assumptions and exploded its preconceptions. They inspired a generation of baby boomers emerging from the buttoned-down 1950s to embrace a far wider view of life and experience.
“When the rain comes, they run and hide their heads. They might as well be dead,” sang Lennon.
“Nowhere man, please listen, you don’t know what you’re missing. Nowhere man, the world is at your command.”
From feminism to environmentalism to the Iron Curtain, the Beatles made their mark.
“The Beatles,” wrote Russian rock historian Art Troitsky, “have done more for the fall of Communism than any other western institution.”
But in the end, it is the Beatles’ music that endures. In a mere seven years, they created 13 albums that began with the infectious rock of “Please Please Me” and ended with the spiritual lyricism of “Across the Universe.”
They have sold more music than anyone in history: more than 1.3 billion albums and discs.
And their music continues to be discovered by each succeeding generation.
On Nov. 16, the Beatles’ songs finally became available on iTunes. Apple sold 2 million songs in the first seven days.
A collection of their No. 1 hits simply titled “1” sold more than 31 million copies and became the fast-selling album in history.
It went on sale in November 2000 — 30 years after the band broke up.
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