John Lennon

Name: John Winston Lennon
Birthday: October 9, 1940
Died: December 8, 1980
Parents: Alfred Lennon and Julia Stanley
Wives: Cynthia Powell and Yoko Ono
Children: Julian Lennon, Sean Lennon
Instrument played: rhythm guitar

John had a very troubled early childhood. He was born on October 9th 1940, during one of the worst bomb raids of Liverpool. In fact, the raid was so bad, that baby John was put under a table to protect him, and his aunt (future gardian) Mary Smith (Aunt Mimi) risked her life to come to see him. John's middle name, Winston, was after Winston Churchill, Prime Minister at the time, and was probably inspired partly by the bomb raid at the time. His father, Alfred, was a merchant seamen so he was away a lot and Julia, his mother, was very free spirited and was the main source for some of John's entertaining personality. Because of Julia's personality it was decided that Mimi,her much more strict sister, would raise John with her husband George. John was not abandoned by his mother, as some believe, she frequently visited him, but it was Mimi that raised him. One most horrific event in John's life at an early age occurred when his father came home to see him when he was four. Alfred came and took John to Blackpool, admist Mimi's reluctance. He did not return at his scheduled time and Mimi and Julia went to retrieve him. Once they got there, they made John choose what parent he wanted to live with. At first he wanted to stay with his dad, but he went crying to his mom, who brought him back to stay with Mimi. This event tragically scared John for the rest of his life, and fostered is insecurities.

Mimi and George were fairly well of financially contrary to John's idea that he was working class. Of all the Beatles, John came from the wealthiest family. Mimi was very rigid and strict with John, and had the lacerating wit that John would display later. George was very easy and often spoiled John when Mimi was punishing him. John was a very bright child and often read, wrote and sang. He did however, have lots of trouble at school. He was always getting i trouble with Pete Shotton, his partner in crime. He did not do well with his grades and was poor in math especially. One thing John excelled in was art, he was notorious for his caricatures of deformed people. Therefore, as a teen, he went on to art school. There he met his future wife, Cynthia Powell, and best friend, Stuart Sutcliffe.
Also by this time, the skiffle craze had spread across Britain, and John formed a band. It at first consisted of his friends, and none had any musical knowledge. The skiffle craze died quickly but the Quarry Men, as they were named (after Quarry Bank High School which John attended), stayed together. Now they played the more rebellious, rock and roll. John became obsessed with music, and would practise his guitar often, which Mimi did not approve of. She frequently kicked John out onto the porch, and would often tell him "The guitar is nice John, but you won't earn a living from it!". John's music did unite him with his mother. Julia played banjo and taught John the chords she knew. This led John to only use 4 or the 6 strings. She also provided a place for his band to practice, in her bathroom. Unfortunately, she was killed when John was 17. This loss was something that would take John many many many years to recover from. Also lost before that was his loving Uncle George. Sadly, John would lose yet another important person before the Beatles became famous. Stu died of a brain hemorrage in Germany just before the Beatles achieved fame. Stu was very important to John for he was one of the few people John would not put an act up for.They shared many feelings together and when they separated they were known to write 20 page letters to eachother.

John did meet a good friend and future collaborator, Paul McCartney when the Quarry Men played at the Woolton Fete. Paul and John shared many many feelings and became very close friends, almost as close as John and Stu. They would often write their own songs together or work on someone else's when they should be in school. Paul was the better player, and he taught John a lot, most importantly is that he taught John how to tune a guitar, and showed him chords that used more than 4 strings. Both served as competition for the other in their compositions and ideas, and later this led to harsh feelings and was a contributing factor in the breakup. Paul introduced George into the band and they got a few gigs around Liverpool. The Beatles were invited to go to Hamburg, and they picked up Pete Best as their drummer, and Stu was their bassist as they needed to be a five piece band. Hamburg was a real eye opener for the Beatles and John especially went wild there. He would perform all sorts of antics to get attentio. In Hamburg, the Beatles, as they were now named, worked very very hard and met some very special people. These people helped change their image to the Beatles known when they became famous.
Joh alwasy desired fame and often felt he was out of place. He would often say that he was either a genius or crazy. He was very violent at times and sometimes was very threatening verbally. He would cut people down with his words and had no regard for how they felt. He was often disillusioned about what he truly wanted and scars from the past would frequently haunt him. He would always cover up his true feelings by acting out. When the Beatles became famous it is not surprising that John would experiment the most with drugs, sonds, etc.
The Beatles returned from Liverpool without Stu and wre managed by Brian Epstein. Brian tried very hard for the boys and always had their interests at heart. He was very fond of them and knew they were something special. Some say that he was especially attracted to John (being that Brian was gay) and that is why he wanted to manage them so badly. There was also a rumor that John had a sexual encounter with Brian while in Spain in 1963. It is ironic that Brian would be most attracted to John for John insulted him the most. But it was Paul who most threatened Brian, for Paul meant what he said, and John didn't. Brian eventually got them signed to a record contract with George Martin at Parlophone, a part of EMI. There was one change after that and that was the firing of Pete Best as their drummer and bringing in Ringo instead. With "Please Please Me", their second single, they had a number one hit, and became stars very very quickly.

Being in the Beatles was a tremendous experience. John was a Beatle from age 17 to about 30, and during that period an individual grows a lot, to say the least. Such is the case with all of the Beatles. Just by looking at the two pictures above one can see how much they changed and John in particular. Much of it is due to the pressures of fame as well. Being a Beatle was very difficult, being famous at all is hard to handle especially at a young age, but to be at the top as the Beatles were, was of utmost difficulty. It amazes me that any of them were sane afterwards.
When they first became famous they were touring and appearing on television and radio shows almost every day. John and Paul did the bulk of the writing and this put the most pressure on them. They would be writing on the road due to the extreme demands of songs. Add to this the fact that John just got married (he had to keep this a secret) and he had a son, Julian, who was born right at the beginning of their being famous. All of these factors no doubt lead to some stress and anxiety on an individual. His childhood and the loss of his mother frequently came up and it isn't surprising John had a tough time accepting fame, was insecure and was the Beatle that experimented the most with drugs.

In the early days, John wrote and sang the bulk of the songs. This is especially apparent for the Hard Day's Night album, when John wrote 10 of the 13 songs on there. By no means however, was he the sole reason for the Beatles success. Each Beatles played an integral role in making the Beatles a successful group. Also, each one felt the pressures of fame equally. How each handled that fame is different however.
John handled problems by escaping. When he was a teenager and tragedy struck, he turned to alcohol and music. In the mid-sixties things changed, and the generation was turned on to a new drug, marijuana. All the Beatles enjoyed smoking, and their music was directly affected. But John, and George enjoyed it the most. This made them prey to the new drug of choice, acid. John would admit later that he was smoking pot every day, and when he began taking acid he was dropping that all the time (he was tripping during the shooting for the Sgt. Pepper album). Throughout John's life he would enter periods and enthusiastically embrace things, drugs, avant garde music, or women.

John was the most out spoken Beatle. He would often just state things how he feels, regardless of its effect, whereas Paul, would chose his words carefully. This made John an icon because he would point out the absurdities of the times, however this would put him in contact with the most confrontation. Even in the early days John would say things that some might take as offensive, then however, what he said was taken lightly and no repercussions were felt. For example, before performing "Twist and Shout" for the Queen Mother, John made his infamous comment, "Would those in the cheaper seats clap your hands. And the rest of you just rattle your jewlery". Many of the rich could take this as an offense, which it was really, but it was said with some humor so it was brushed off. This did not happen when he made his so called "Christ statement". During an interview with a friend John stated his personal views on Christianity which were "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink....we're more popular than Jesus now." This statement is edited and it appears worse than it is, and in the US there was great retaliation to this. Beatles records, books, memorbilia were burned and protests were held against them. They were also threatened to be killed by the KKK. Despite his apology, John was never forgiven. These actions did not stop John from speaking out on other hot button issues of the time like the Vietnam war. All the Beatles opposed the war, but John spoke out the most, especially in the later sixties when he staged bed ins and participated in rallys against it. His political views became part of the songs and in the seventies after moving to the US he was followed and almost deported for his political role.

As stated John went through many stages when he was a Beatle. When the Beatles first began, John was a rebel rocker, and then he had to tidy the image a bit and then there was the mop top role. This role John resented the most. At that time, he would attend all the parties for the wealthy and would just give everyone what they wanted, the cheery, cheeky moptop that never stirs up any trouble. After the mop top role, John had what he called his "fat elvis period". He was drinking a lot, coping with success, and gained what he felt to be a lot of weight. He sites his singing "Help" as an indication of what he was going through. After this John was a pot head, then an acid freak. During this time John was beating down his ego and his harsh edges were softening out. He eventually got sick of the drugs, and turned to meditation, but again he became disillusioned, and left the Maharashi. Then John fell in love with Yoko Ono and his life changed completely. He gained back his ego, and became very avant garde. He then became dissatisfied with the Beatles and the break up occured. Many blamed the break up on Yoko, but she did not break them up, she influenced John, but did not force him to leave the group.
All during these periods the other Beatles were changing. For the most part, they agreed with each other, but in the later years, their opinions disagreed and there was nothing to do but break up. The most different are John and Paul. They both changed dramatically, both got married at the same time, and their musical direction was changing as well. John became interested in what was happening and was speaking out against it, Paul however, would be more diplomatic and keep a good image. This is not to stereotype each of them however, Paul spoke out as well, and John also tried to keep a decent image. Both of them getting married was a key change as now each had a different partner. Not that Yoko replaced Paul and Linda replaced John, just that both of them had a different partner to go through life with. Musically, John and Paul were almost complete opposites. During the time of Revolver one can see the musical directions changed. John would write songs that reflected himself or the times, and Paul would often write ballads and more commerical songs. In the end, Paul liked complex music, symphonic almost, and John wanted to play straight rock. With all these differences combined it is not surprising the Beatle broke up. It is just sad that John and Paul had to have such a bad relationship throughout the seventies. Tensions were very very apparent and insults were thrown all the time. It is good that the relationship was at least civil at the time of John's unfortunate death.

John Lennon's solo work, much like his work with the Beatles, was very eclectic and revolved around what period John was in. Although his music was not as commercial as Paul's, John's solo work, in my opinion is the better of the two. John began making solo records with his wife, Yoko Ono, and their music, if it is to be called that, is actually unfinished music, and is made of random sounds much like "Revolution 9" on the White Album. His music as a solo artist started out very well, as Plastic Ono Band and Imagine were both hit records, but then John's songwriting started to falter, and albums like Sometime in New York City and Mind Games were some of John's worst music to date. But John began writing great songs again for his Walls and Bridges album, his cover songs for Rock and Roll Music was great and a collection of some of his greatest singles, Shaved Fish, was a great seller. John took a break from music, then returned with one of his finest albums to date, Double Fantasy, he was killed and there have been numerous albums released posthumously.

I am going to begin with Plastic Ono Band instead of the Unfinished Music with Yoko because I believe that is where the music starts. Just before Plastic Ono Band John and Yoko had gone through a lot. Most important is the bitter breakup of the Beatles, also John and Yoko were married, had bed ins, and participated in "Primal Scream" a type of therapy by Arthur Janov. Both John and Yoko had tragic childhoods and with this therapy they learned to let out there feelings about their parents and John also wrote his feelings. Stark songs like the opener "Mother", the closer, "My Mummy's Dead" and "Working Class Hero" all display John's feelings at the time. Although there are some positive songs like the classic, "Love", mostly the album is dark and ominous, like how Lennon was feeling. The best song, I believe, on the album is "God", in which John whole heartedly lists all his doesn't believe in including "Beatles". That is a harsh reminder of the breakup. Overall the album is great, but very depressing.

Imagine, John's second album is portayed as being softer but the harsh songs on it outweigh those on Plastic Ono Band. The album opens with the classic, "Imagine", John's most well known song, and contains other song, melodic songs like, "Jealous Guy" , "Oh My Love" and "How?". All of these songs are some of Lennon's finest. John's harsher songs are "Crippled Inside" and "Gimme Some Truth" and the most harsh is "How Do You Sleep?". The latter is a message to Paul, and it is said that it is a retaliation to something Paul did, but it shows how the relations between the Beatles are, and how mean John can be. John not only attacks Paul's solo music, but criticizes his Beatles work, his life, and basically says Paul was a fluke for writing "Yesterday". George Harrison plays guitar on this album, which indicates whose side he is on, just like how Ringo played drums on Plastic Ono Band.

Both of the previous albums were recorded in England, with Imagine being recorded at Ascot, John and Yoko's house. The next album was made in New York City, their new home. Sometime in NYC is a double album that also has Yoko's work on it. It is very politically motivated. In fact it is probably to politically involved which is why it was not a hit. The cover of the album provides the best indication of the material as it is designed like a newspaper, much like the songs. Radical songs like "Woman is the niggar of the world", "John Sinclair", "Attica State" and "Angela" are all on the album. The last three, along with "Luck of the Irish" are songs that are in support of a cause. The motivation behind them is geniune and good, but the music is much to radical and not nearly as good as the other albums.
The next album, Mind Games, is the low point in Lennon's career. The album comes when John and Yoko are going through a rough time and they separate. Besides this, John is threatened with deportation and he just cannot get his musical juices working. Perhaps the only Lennon caliber song on here is "Mind Games" the title track. That song is one of John's most memorable and is beautiful, but it is just about the only good song on the album. Other songs on there include the silent song, "Nutopian National Anthem", "Bring On the Lucie(Freeda Peeple)", and "You Are Here".

The next album, Walls and Bridges, is full of some of John's finest work and includes his first number one which was a collaboration with Elton John. "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night" is John's first number one and also is the reason John was onstage with Elton in Madison Square Garden. John and Elton had a bet that if that song went to number one John would perform with Elton, it did, and John made good on his bet. Other good songs on the album are "#9 Dream", "Surprise, Surprise" and "Steel and Glass". The last song is the best, and it is much like "How Do You Sleep?" but with a new victim, Allen Klein, or John himself. The album also has John's mistress, May Pang, on it and it also has Julian drumming on "Ya Ya" with John. The album artwork has some of John's cute drawings when he was a kid.
"Rock and Roll Music" is John's last album before his retirement. It is made because of legal problems involving a Chuck Berry song, and "Come Together". The album has John doing some very good covers of some 50s songs, most of which are good. "Stand By Me" and "Slippin and Slidin" are probably the best.

After Walls and Bridges John reunited with Yoko and they had a son, Sean. Because of this John tok a five year retirement from music. He returned in 1980 with Double Fantasy, which also contained his second number one, "(Just Like) Starting Over". This album is also a John and Yoko collaboration and her work has also improved. All of the songs on the album are some of John's finest except maybe "Cleanup Time". His best work is "Woman", "Beautiful Boy", "Watching the Wheels", and "I'm Losing You". The first two are John's tribute to the family he always craved.
Tragically John was killed while he worked on his next album, Milk and Honey. This album also has great work by Lennoon and one can only imagine how good they could of been had he finished them. Like Double Fantasy, the album has songs about Yoko, Sean and family. These songs are mainly upbeat and happy and show that John was once again having fun making music. The album opens with "I'm Steppin Out", which is a story of how the househusband who wants a night out on the town. Next is "I Don't Wanna Face It", followed by "Nobody Told Me", which John actually finished. "Borrowed Time" is another one of John's good songs and finally "Grow Old With Me" ends John's work on the album. The last song was unfinished and was a home recording since the other ones were stolen. The song was supposed to be on Double Fantasy with Yoko's "Let Me Count The Ways". Both songs were also inspired by the Brownings, Robert and Elizabeth Barrett who are 18th century English poets.
Up until 1998 there have been many releases of new Lennon albums that are mainly like "Greatest Hits", which are good but don't offer new material. In 1998 Yoko released a John Lennon Anthology which is 4 discs of outtakes and live performances of songs. It is a great piece of work and shows all sides of John. The songs are divided up into periods of 4, "Ascot", "NYC", "Lost Weekend", and "Dakota" and one can definitely see an evolution and change in John's songs.
John's solo music is well worth listening to. It always has a message for the world. There are numerous singles that are not listed, which probably are the greatest. SIngles like, "Instant Karma", "Happy Xmas", and "Give Peace a Chance" are not on any album, but well worth mentioning. John's solo music, I believe is the best of all the Beatles solo efforts, and a very important piece of music history.