Old-Time Rock ‘n’ Roll:
How The 1980s Embraced 1950s and 1960s Oldies Music
John Lennon
Photo: "Central Park John Lennon Tribute" by Matthew Mascioni is licensed under CC PDM 1.0
The Beatles, being one of the greatest mega-bands of all time, had been disbanded for ten years when 1980 arrived. John Lennon recorded solo albums during the early to mid seventies. He moved from the United Kingdom to New York in the 1970s with his second wife Yoko Ono. They had their first and only child, Sean Lennon, in 1975.
John Lennon took it easy through the mid to late seventies. Unlike the height of Beatlemania during the 60s, John could casually walk the streets of New York without causing a riot. Lennon enjoyed being out of the limelight for a little while. He savored fatherhood.
Working with Yoko Ono, Lennon began to create material in 1980. By the Fall, John and Yoko came back into the limelight to promote their album Double Fantasy. (Just Like) Starting Over
is the album’s first single to reach the top ten charts in the U.K. and U.S. before tragedy ended Lennon’s life. On 8 December 1980, a cowardly assassin shot John Lennon in the back as Lennon entered The Dakota, his Upper West Side Manhattan apartment building. Due to the loss of significant blood, forty-year-old Lennon died twenty five minutes after the shooting. Devoted fans held many vigils the following days with people gathering to sing Beatles and Lennon tunes. Requests for Lennon’s music overwhelmed radio stations and record stores. Beatlemania gripped hold of the world again. A photograph of John and Yoko became one of the most popular magazine covers of all time. This photo of a naked John clinging to a dressed Yoko is the opening act to The Rolling Stone magazine’s tribute issue to Lennon’s legacy. Woman
and Watching the Wheels
became big hits after the assassination. Nobody Told Me,
a tune Lennon told others before his passing that he was going to give to Ringo Starr, entered the top ten in 1984.
Another Lennon dominated airwaves in 1984-1985. Julian Lennon, a spitting image of his father, made it big with his hits Valotte
and Too Late for Goodbyes.
Julian’s voice sounds like his father’s. The similarities attracted Beatles and John Lennon fans, but also attracted Gen Xers. Critics of the time felt Julian Lennon copied his father’s style. Julian insisted it’s his own style. Julian Lennon has had a tough relationship with the music industry and the media due to the John Lennon comparisons. As a result, he hasn’t recorded as much as I think he should. He’s a talent in his own right.