John Lennon: Remembering a Genius

Thirty years ago today, John Lennon was shot to death in New York City by Mark David Chapman. As a member of the most influential musical group of all time, Lennon touched more lives than can ever be measured in record sales. The work he did with The Beatles certainly pushed the boundaries of popular music and paved the way for countless future artists, but more importantly, it achieved a degree of purity that is nearly unheard of this industry. They were commercially successful, sure, but making money was never the goal. Listen to those songs now and even the most cynical among us must admit that they sound like the work of artists striving to do the best thing anyone can ever do: Spread love and positivity through the world.

Lennon did his best to live this message. To most of us now, he’s not even a real person. He’s a myth, a religious icon, the midpoint between Gandhi and Jesus Christ. But by all accounts, he really was a human being, and that’s perhaps even more inspiring than viewing him as a figure of worship. If one man can truly change the world just by writing songs, who says it couldn’t be done again?

Thirty years after he died and even more after he first shared his voice with the world, Lennon’s influence lives on and has never lost any of its power. Here’s what his friends, family and admirers have had to say about him.

“John Lennon has been my idol all my life.”

-Kurt Cobain (Nirvana)

“I think were always attracted to John Lennon because he was someone who truly made a difference.  Whether you liked him on the Beatle level or the politically-active level— the songwriting level, the cultural level, he was someone who always spoke his mind, was always honest. And if you remember back to the early Beatle pictures, he was always the one with his tie askew or his jacket unbuttoned. He was different. He was an iconoclast.  He didn’t fit the mold.  And in so many ways, he broke the mold.”

-Max Weinberg (Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band)

“He had two different sides to him: a very acerbic side – I don’t want to say a Scouse thing, but it was distrust of pretentiousness, and also quick-witted and funny – and the other facet of his personality was this sort of universalist, the give peace a chance, this naive idealism that obviously struck a chord with people. And it could be difficult to reconcile those two sides.”

-Mick Jagger (The Rolling Stones)

“Obviously, Lennon was a one-off, but it’s amazing to think of what might have been wasted in other generations. Part of his legacy is opening the door to people who’d never been allowed to dream of such things. We’ll compare our new geniuses against that one forever.”

-Joe Strummer

“It moves me, makes me sad, makes me happy, makes me angry, and makes me whatever.”

-Liam Gallagher (Oasis) on John Lennon’s voice

“Lennon was just a great songwriter. The simplicity with which he wrote songs… it’s something even a child can understand.”

-Wyclef Jean

“At the end of the day, John Lennon’s life was a work of art, and I study his life as just that – a work of art. You can’t say that about too may people, and I think that’s why he remains so huge and inspiring to me and millions of others years after his death.”

-Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins)

“John Lennon meant everything. His influence was immeasurable when I started to play in the mid-Sixties. He was probably one of the two or three great rock singers ever, and what can you really say about his songwriting? He was just… transcendental.”

-Tom Petty

“To this day, it’s hard to find a better singer than Lennon was.”

-Bob Dylan

“Well he’s still alive. He’s still with us. His spirit will go on you know.”

-Yoko Ono

“One of my great memories of John is from when we were having some argument. I was disagreeing and we were calling each other names. We let it settle for a second and then he lowered his glasses and he said: “It’s only me.” And then he put his glasses back on again. To me, that was John. Those were the moments when I actually saw him without the facade, the armor, which I loved as well, like anyone else. It was a beautiful suit of armor. But it was wonderful when he let the visor down and you’d just see the John Lennon that he was frightened to reveal to the world.”

-Paul McCartney

“Now Daddy is part of God. I guess when you die you become much more bigger, because you’re part of everything.”

-Sean Lennon, December 1980

What does John Lennon mean to you? Share your thoughts and feelings in the comments.