John Lennon would be 80 today

Poor Rick Moranis. Imagine getting attacked on Central Park West, right outside of your home.

He would’ve been cancelled by now had he lived. Said too many “controversial” things

Major pussyhound. Big Trump supporter.

He dumped Yoko in the 80s. He's very open about his relationships with men.

"Pass the bong."

He'd say, Gimme Some Truth. All want is some truth.

He'd have all kinds of Apple gadgets and maybe have become the voice of Siri, or the voice that tells you to "buckle up" in the back of NYC cabs or something. I see him as adopting a kind of Steve Jobs-style, lanky black turtleneck uniform with the iconic glasses, etc.

The Beatles would have reunited and broken up many times over in the intervening years. Their reunion concerts would be played over and over during PBS pledge drives.

I also think he would have gotten sober and done a whole album about it, and it probably would not be his best album. The Beatles' longtime publicist Derek Taylor got sober with his wife in the late 70s and rumor has it that they 12th-stepped Ringo. If John--a mean and nasty drunk--had lived, I bet he would have been next.

r7 Your first paragraph reads true. Yoko and John had a birthday party for Sean Lennon. Steve Jobs brought an early Apple computer as a gift and everyone gathered around to watch Andy Warhol use it to draw a circle. After looking this up, it seems Keith Haring was there too.

He would have died of a fentanyl-laced heroin overdose if he hadn't been shot. He would have been cancelled for his casual misogyny.

“My feelings haven’t changed. I still don’t want Madonna living in my building.”

Paul McCartney was so much more successful than his bandmates post-Beatles, it's unbelievable. I believe he had 9 Number One songs (Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey, My Love, Band On The Run, Listen To What The Man Said, Silly Love Songs, With A Little Luck, Ebony and Ivory, Coming Up, Say Say Say), while George had 3 (My Sweet Lord, Give Me Love, Got My Mind Set On You). John and Ringo were tied at two (Whatever Gets You Through The Night and Starting Over for Lennon, Photograph and You're Sixteen for Starr).

Not much of a surprise, since most of the hits at the end of the Beatles featured Paul (Let It Be, Long and Winding Road, Get Back).

I can’t imagine him actually living to 80, but then Keith Richards is still around, so who knows?

I hope John would have come out as bi, at least. He was hinting at it in the 70s. If he wanted to it to be particularly memorable, maybe he could have finally clearly talked about whatever it is he had with Paul. He was hinting at that too, but I don’t think he’d probably say more - Paul wouldn’t want him to.

Career wise, perhaps he could have become more of a writer or humorist and conceded the musical field to Paul.

R13 actually you know what, Paul has said some eyebrow raising things about his relationship with John, so maybe he wouldn’t care; John, despite his bluster, did seem to respect Paul (except for when he slanged him off in the press) so I imagine it would be a joint decision.

He would have divorced the screaming Jap, losing most everything, and moved back to Great Britain, writing his autobiography and occasionally releasing a song

Get off my lawn!

He wasn't a very nice person. I hope he might have become a better father.

They won’t shut up about this on BBC Radio 2 (which my grandmother will insist on listening to), and haven’t for weeks. He’s dead, he was a colossal arse, can’t we just leave it at that?

[quote]I hope John would have come out as bi, at least. He was hinting at it in the 70s. If he wanted to it to be particularly memorable, maybe he could have finally clearly talked about whatever it is he had with Paul. He was hinting at that too, but I don’t think he’d probably say more - Paul wouldn’t want him to.

Paul has posted this pic remembering John:

Paul McCartney @PaulMcCartney I love this picture, it reminds me of the bond between us. Happy 80th John. Love Paul

He would say, "I hope William Barr and Rudy Giuliani are next to get it."

He and Yoko would have long split up, with her keeping the Dakota pad. He'd still be in NYC - Soho or Nolita.

He would indeed have reconciled with his older son Julian and fully made up with Paul and the other bandmates. He'd be a raving Bernie Bro.

It’s my birthday too. I was so psyched when I was 9 years old & heard I had the same birthday as John Lennon I told everybody I knew & to this day I get birthday greetings from people from long ago. They always remember my birthday when the John Lennon memorial season comes around.

It’s also the birthday of the late John Entwhistle of The Who, Jackson Browne & Chris O’Dowd.

Happy birthday, r22.

Some wishful thinking here about John. He was heavy into heroin and folks addicted to heroin aren't so good at reconciling with family members or being a good person in general.

I think R21 nailed it, though not sure about Bernie.

He may have been “misogynistic” when younger, but he definitely became more enlightened in terms of how he saw women, if you read the 1980 Playboy interview. In any case, he was no more a misogynist than, say, The Rolling Stones or Led Zepellin members (or fill in your 60s male celebrity here) and they haven’t been cancelled. The difference was, Lennon was honest about his past and wrote songs about it.

I agree he would have left Ono and thus cancelled her career as Grieving, Grasping Widow. I hope he would have made peace with Julian and even his ex-wife, Cynthia.

Not gonna lie, the idea of young John and Paul together is hot...

They lit up the Empire State Building in blue with a white peace sign tonight for his birthday. I’m not fond of celebrity culture and don’t find most celebrities interesting but the Beatles were extraordinary and Lennon’s songs are still engaging. I don’t think No. 9 Dream ever got the recognition it deserved.

I’ve said on here before that the Beatles have gotten me through this lonely, frightening time, so for that I’m glad to celebrate Lennon’s birthday.

The Empire State Building

“Huh, I would’ve thought ‘Imagine’ would’ve had more cultural relevance over the years.”

And

“Got to piss again.”

The bios I’ve read say he cleaned up by 1980. His hardcore drug years were the mid 70s. By 1980, he was straightened out, he may have relapsed eventually - but seemed like he did a pretty thorough cleaning up in the late 70s with Sean and Yoko.

*Imagine* how smug he would have been about delicious Aaron-Taylor Johnson playing him on film. He would probably have laid his grasping geriatric hypocritical-hippie hands all over poor Aaron at the premiere and in press junkets, as if poor Aaron doesn’t get enough of that at home for very little pay.

Or worse, John would have taken a crack at little Thomas Sangster, and probably got a smack around the chops from Aaron for it.

[quote] except for when he slanged him off in the press

This is a British expression, isn’t it?

He'd be mourning the decreased revenue from his ownership of the Michael Jackson song catalogue.

The Brits never forgave him for moving to NY but their real ire is for american temptress Yoko Ono, who stole yet another besotted Briton from the home soil, just like Wallace Simpson & Meghan Markle.

R30 the phrase ought to read, “slaGGed him off”. But yes, it is something we’d say.

If he were alive today he’d probably say something like,

HELP GET ME OUT OF THIS COFFIN OH GOD WHERE AM I SOMEBODY HELP CAN ANYBODY HEAR ME????

Fun fact: Yoko is 87.

PBS American Masters ran LennonNYC (2010) last night. Definitely worth watching.

Not a fan of this guy. Nor the wife. Such pretentious, untalented frauds.

"Easy on the Strawberry Fields, mate."*

*get off my lawn

Re: r36,

For those interested it’ll be on tonight at 10:30 ET; Tonight (technically Sun) at 3:30am ET; and next Friday 10/16 at 4:00am.

How are we taking this CDAN epic, fellas? Came out about two and a half years ago, based on a ‘reader submission’. Probably fanfic bullshit, but what if it’s not?

[quote] One closeted half of one of the best bands ever was having an affair, rivaling that of Shakespeare, with his long dead bandmate. The two first met prostituting when they were around 15 as they were incredibly poor. When that backfired, one suggested mugging dudes in back alleys but the more violently perceived one couldn’t do it, so they started an empire. Despite the fact they were estranged for the late halves of their lives, they often booked rooms in hotels under different names and their public feud was just for show, much like most of their lives. As well as this they ghostwrote some of the most famous songs ever for each other, and called each other regularly. Their relationship in its day, though not public was an open secret, especially to their rock buddies who admired the couple greatly. The wife of the deceased member of this couple has no idea and would probably scream if she found out. The wife of the other knew about it, supported it and just wanted her husband to be happy even if that meant abandoning the kids. During their reign, they threw bricks at each-others windows, tried to fight each-others girlfriends, publicly screamed about how much they missed eachother at parties, spiralled into depression, took copious amounts of drugs and alcohol, and were planning to ‘reunite’ and get a old man farm together before one half’s unfortunate death. The living one, who is considered a bit lame, still loves his other half immensely and plans to release a tell-all once the banshee dies as he wants to preserve their relationship and finally tell the truth about the ordeal. Truly a sad story indeed.

Presuming that Lennon would not have died of illness in the last 40 years, pretty sure he’d be trolling Trump on Twitter, probably have a Podcast, perform music with his sons (reconciling with Julian, for what it is worth, Julian and Sean are very close so I do think a reconciliation would have happened). Maybe do some work with Paul and Ringo.

R40 truth and fiction mixed. Prostitution?? Rubbish. There’s enough smoke there to have reasonably good evidence of a fire without introducing that kind of nonsense.

I don't think either McCartney or Lennon were that poor.

The Documentary also ran on DC's public television.

R43 Lennon was raised solidly middle class by his aunt and McCartney’s family was working-class. Neither was anywhere close to “incredibly poor.”

[quote]They won’t shut up about this on BBC Radio 2 (which my grandmother will insist on listening to), and haven’t for weeks. He’s dead, he was a colossal arse, can’t we just leave it at that?

It's a generational thing, this guy was like Jesus Christ to the Boomers. I'm late Gen X and was never into the Beatles. The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix were much better, imho.

Hendrix especially. That man was a genius. I think the Beatles are very much of their time and haven't translated as well to younger generations.

Pass the bowl Willie....

[quote]The Brits never forgave him for moving to NY but their real ire is for american temptress Yoko Ono, who stole yet another besotted Briton from the home soil, just like Wallace Simpson & Meghan Markle.

Yoko's a Jap.

Imagine there's no Lennon.

DONE!

I can't remember who said this, but a stand up comic long ago:

"If that guy had aimed a little to the left, he would've been a goddamned hero."

[quote] It's a generational thing, this guy was like Jesus Christ to the Boomers.

I realize he was talented but I never really liked him as a person. My older sister did. I thought he was obnoxious and kind of creepy. But I did love the Beatles. I think I still have my Beatles cards somewhere.

Translation: Beatles cards were like baseball cards.

Allegedly, he pissed in a drink meant for Jayne Mansfield, and quit a tour with Ike and Tina cause he couldn’t handle getting blown off the stage each night. Scum.

He moved to NY because Yoko wanted to. He was always talking about how great NY was, but supposedly he missed England. But he would never go against Yoko. She made the decisions. What a pussy whipped chump he was.

He was the one who was obsessed with Yoko. She left him when he cheated on her. He begged her for years to come back. Like Markhle - people blame her, when he is the one who is mentally unstable and unhealthily obsessed.

[quote] Translation: Beatles cards were like baseball cards.

How the hell would that work? There were only four of them.

[quote]quit a tour with Ike and Tina cause he couldn’t handle getting blown off the stage each night. Scum.

I've seen videos of Tina Turner performing back in those days and she was something else. She commanded a stage like very few others have ever been able to do, an extraordinary talent.

I think he would hold controversial views today. I think he would be cranky and abhor cancel culture.

" Like Markhle - people blame her, when he is the one who is mentally unstable and unhealthily obsessed."

You obviously know nothing about Yoko Ono. Right from their first meeting she glommed onto him; she went on to virtually "lay siege" to him, as one biographer put it. He, being essentially weak and disturbed, allowed her to take over his life. She was driven, ambitious, conniving and greedy; she wanted money and fame and she knew she could get them through him As for Lennon, he liked being led by the nose and told what to do; he was pathologically co-dependent. The relationship of John Lennon and Yoko Ono is regarded as a love story by some, but in reality it was pure sickness on both of their parts. They were both REALLY fucked up people. I guess that's one reason why they clicked. People like that are drawn to each other.

[quote]but their real ire is for american temptress Yoko Ono,

Yoko was never American, she was Tokyo born-and-bred although she attended college in the US (Sarah Lawrence, just a couple of years ahead of none other than Linda Eastman).

He was replaced.

"The Beatles" were played by a cast of multiples. Fohn Fennon was a public character, not a single individual.

Not true R45. Young kids continue to “discover” and appreciate them.

I’m not of their era but I try to imagine what it must have been like to buy their albums as they came out, each one more extraordinary than the last. And to think they put out albums twice a year along with standalone singles.

R58 and they’re both from Scarsdale!

Sure there are some people who like the Beatles who weren't around for their prime, but younger generations aren't really as into them as Boomers are.

What he said every day. "Yoko, luv, woulda get dad a ciggie? And fuck almighty that McCartney's head is getting bigger all the time..."

Yoko! Bring me the oxy."

Then Yoko would smack him upside the head and make her manservant bring John the oxycodone.

I went to Sarah Lawrence the cafeteria had a small ice cream bar. The rumor was that Yoko Ono donated it. I can’t see Yoko Ono donating OR eating ice cream...

"Help! Let me out of this coffin!"

R59/R60 I’ve never understood the reasoning behind that conspiracy. Why would you bother manufacturing a celebrity with doppelgängers?

[quote] You obviously know nothing about Yoko Ono.

OMG... what a BURN!

Miss Mary is CLEARLY bringing out the Big Guns!

Wasn't meant to be "a BURN!", R69. Sorry you took it that way. You're very sensitive. Little things set you off. You may want to seek some help with that.

Remember the Osbournes? I give you the Lennons. Fail after season one after Yoko's flat ass makes it's appearance.

I remember going to see “Rain” the Beatles show on Broadway. It was a sold out Saturday night and I looked around at people of all ages from 5 to 65 and everyone was singing and everyone knew all the lyrics.

The Beatles music will live forever.

[quote]There were only four of them.

Ha! Hardly!

r68, no one actually knows who isn't involved. But the physical evidence cannot be denied. They were multiples. The band in Liverpool was a different group of guys than the band in Hamburg. A third set was performing as them, as well, before Beatlemania hit. Something seems to have happened, physically, to one of the Pauls early on (his face and hands are all fucked up). But I don't know that this relates at all to having an eventual 4 sets of Beatles (+ an extra Paul).

What I'd most like to know is why The Featles had to wear fake ears and what happened to their real ears.

r67, Lennon was cremated.

Shitty person but I do like that his sons Sean and Julian close and didn't let their parents messiness prevent them from forming a relationship. They are better men than their father and both grew up pretty well-adjusted. Though Julian said he doesn't want to have children because he is afraid he would neglect them due to not having a fatherly presence in his life to reference from. Yoko gets a lot of hate even though she is a massive cunt, John was a bigger cunt than her.

I wasn't the previous poster who mentioned Yoko Ono as you seem to think, r70.

But continue with the sulky snit fit, please.

It's a common phrase nowadays to say "I know you will kill me but I don't like The Beatles". A lot of people who are apathetic towards The Beatles are coming out. The Beatles were very much a product of the time and I think most people appreciate their impact on music. But that doesn't mean they have to LIKE the music they made. I feel that way towards Elvis who apart from his fashion and performance style, I really don't find anything special about him and feel Chuck Berry and Little Richard get swept aside for his appraisal.

I only like maybe three Elvis songs, don't care for the rest. I do recognize his talent and his place in American culture, though.

" Lennon was cremated."

Supposedly John Lennon had a great aversion to cremation and talked about even writing a song protesting it. I"m glad that never came to pass. A song about cremation? Ugh. But knowing how her husband felt about burning bodies she chose to have him cremated. Even after he was dead she was treating him like shit.

His son Julian is way more handsome and a pretty good musician in his own right.

R82 he has a “nice face” too. People always make fun of me for saying that — it’s hard to explain but I know it when I see it.

Amazing how well adjusted Julian Lennon is. It took time (he had a dissolute period in his youth) but he seems completely normal and grounded. He still has anger over the way he was treated by his father and I think that's normal, too. He treated Julian like he was nothing but when Sean was born he made a big show out of being a devoted father and blathered in interviews about how he was staying home and "looking after the baby."Sean was pampered and lived in luxury whereas Julian and his mother lived very modestly. Incredibly he has no animosity towards Sean and has a good relationship with him. Yes, Julian turned out alright.

Julian looks half Japanese. I thought he had a different mother than Sean?

Sean is bearding with his bandmate. We have mutual friends.

Julian is a more down-to-earth and humble guy, very mature. Sean is an offbeat NY hipster but seems sweet. They also both resemble and sound like their father. Julian did spend time with Sean after Sean was born and they have always been tight. Julian tolerates and respects Yoko for his brother's sake. Sean seems very nice from interviews despite his crazy mother.

r87, their fathers were different Johns and each looks just like his dad.

Apparently the times that Julian got to spend with his father and brother was when John and Yoko were broken up. It seems it was mostly Yoko that hated Julian while John was just obsessed with pleasing Yoko rather than antagonistic. If Sean is gay would John have accepted that?

R88 I don't know. I don't doubt Yoko cheated and John being obsessed with her probably didn't suspect it or cared. Sean is clearly half-white though. Yoko seemed to hate her Asian heritage.

John would take Sean to visit Paul but he had to keep the visits secret from Yoko. They reconnected shortly before he died and John was planning to move back to England. Supposedly Starting Over is about Paul.

Yoko probably dressed Sean up as John and taught him to copy his father's mannerisms. He's American but speaks with with his father's tone. His father John loved Asian culture though but I feel Yoko hated her culture.

Sean is cute. His music isn't bad either.

If he were alive today?

“Get me out of this coffin!!!”

Yoko really fucked everything up.

We had a huge thread about the John/Paul gay rumors.

I liked George Harrison the most of the four Beatles and I think his son Dhani (who is his clone) is the most musically gifted of the Beatles offspring. George was also the only attractive one behind Ringo. Both John and Paul's looks were overrated.

It’s true and I don’t know why it bothers some people here R72. Lennon was a genius and the Beatles have and will continue to endure. Not sure what’s upsetting about this....🤷🏽‍♂️

Ringo was the ugliest Beatle. That's why they put him in the back. Then it goes George, John, Paul.

R96 that thread was hot.

R85 Julian looks like a mix of both parents, John and Cynthia Lennon.

Yoko was desperate to land a Beatle. She tried it with Paul first but he thought she was ugly and weird.

She tried Ringo too, per Peter Brown’s book...

Ringo ended up with the best looking of the Beatle women (Barbara Bach) and they're still together.

I think it's funny that John and Paul had both their wives join their bands. Neither woman could carry a tune in a bucket.

Dhani looks like his father George. It's uncanny. But George himself was black Irish and looked more Mediterranean than Northern European.

If alive today, John would still be his usual self: cynical, witty, funny, sarcastic, angry, rebellious, iconoclastic and unafraid of the truth.

Hopefully he would no longer be pussy-whipped by Yoko, and they would have parted ways, with a big chunk going to her, I'm sure. With her keeping the Dakota apartment and him enjoying jolly old England, with trips to LA now and then.

John and Paul were such little boys. They were always trying to one up each other. John of course did musical projects with Yoko because that's what she wanted; of course it didn't matter that she had no musical talent whatsoever. Paul thought "If he can make records and perform with HIS bird then so can I!" and proceeded to put Linda Eastman in his band, despite her also having no musical talent whatsoever. Such immature boys they were.

"If alive today, John would still be his usual self: cynical, witty, funny, sarcastic, angry, rebellious, iconoclastic and unafraid of the truth."

"Unafraid of the truth?" John Lennon was quite the bullshitter. He said he and Yoko were "shy people!" He was so full of it.

If he were alive today he'd be pushing Yoko around in her wheelchair and doing exactly what she told him to do. Still under her thumb.

Walking On Thin Ice is the only good thing Yoko ever did

By 1980 he and Yoko were living separate lives.

[quote]But George himself was black Irish and looked more Mediterranean than Northern European.

Black Irish have Spanish blood.

R108 I kinda get the impression George hated being in The Beatles. His face looked angry and he had dead eyes during that era. He probably felt like an outcast and frustrated that despite his musical talent, he was being purposely left out by John and Paul who got to write majority of the songs and were the faces of the group. Both were such narcissists.

When he went solo, he was able to explore all the themes and melodies he wanted to do. He seemed much happier and eyes lit up. George has this reserved reputation but was blue-collar, outspoken, a party animal and major pussyhound. He came from a dirt poor family like Ringo and they seem close today despite the madness around Pattie and Maureen.

You guys are wrong about everything.

I wouldn't say George and Ringo are close considering that George died in 2001.

Sean is like Keanu Reeves. Looks more Asian when he shaves.

cute photo at r77. I forgot that Sean and John shared the same birthday.

Pete Best

Yeah I think he wouldn’t be remembered so fondly if he had lived. I’m sure there’s be some messy Ireland Baldwin style leak from one of his kids since he was such a shitty father. His music was awful and he was a terrible human being.

John dying young was good for his reputation. Paul was the powerhouse behind The Beatles and you can see that pop genius carried over into his solo work and Wings.

Young John and Paul as prostitutes sounds hot.

None of the Beatles were attractive. It's odd how people went crazy over their looks, they were all fug.

The Beatles were originally a skiffle band made up of working class boys that got discovered and manufactured into a pop band for teenyboppers. The catch was they actually could write their own songs and had more autonomy than most. Their acclaim came when they broke away from the pop sound to do more experimental music. So they were actual artists. None of them were beautiful but I think George was sexy.

R120 Wings gets absolutely no respect but I definitely prefer it over most of John’s solo career.

I could have seen him getting sober and becoming really preachy and writing shitty music about that. He was always the preachy type who thought he was right about everything anyway, so it’s not really a stretch. I really have no idea whether he and Yoko would have stayed together, but I’m doubtful (like many here) he would still be alive.

R102 Yoko was just a stalker groupie. It's comical she presents herself as this strong independent feminist yet she wanted a Beatle because of greed and status. John Lennon wanted a mother figure I guess or was always high or drunk which skewed his image of her. I can't believe any sane person could be sexually or romantically attracted to Yoko Ono.

How many 80 year-old smokers do you know?

I imagine if George was still alive he would be a recluse who would release an album once every couple years and maybe promote his son's work once in a while. He seemed super introverted when young and even more so with age. Apparently hated touring and doing press tours.

[quote]What do you think he's say if he were alive today?

Yoko, shut your bloody gob and get me my pills!

The epic Beatles Were Bi thread

[quote]What do you think he's say if he were alive today?

Don't shoot!

George felt underappreciated while in the Beatles. Paul and John would only put one or two of his songs on each album. Sometimes these were the best (Something and Here Comes the Sun, for example) on the album.

John was the leader for the first half of the group, but Paul gradually took over creative control and direction, and was essentially the leader for the 2nd half.

Yoko gradually took over control of John.

I don't really believe theories about any of the Beatles being gay or bi. Their manager Brian Epstein was gay. John was open-minder about it and possibly allowed Epstein to "toss him off" during a vacation to Spain they took together. But that's about all their is.

there is.

[quote] George has this reserved reputation but was blue-collar, outspoken, a party animal and major pussyhound. He came from a dirt poor family like Ringo and they seem close today.

Starrison was the underrated Br/Otp. George wasn’t the most sociable or really into the whole gimmick, but he still made certain to look out for Ringo and stick up for him. Ringo for his part admired George over all the others, and liked playing with him best.

Fuck McLennon and all their gaslighting juvenile gay-chicken bullshit.

[quote] John Lennon wanted a mother figure I guess or was always high or drunk

Lmao that basically describes the Sam Taylor movie; just young John trying to not bang his own mother, and drinking an awful lot for a schoolboy in the fifties. Oh and then some weird sexual tension bullshit with a teenaged Paul, and an erotic fixation on Elvis. That’s it, that’s the movie.

Hard to believe it’s already more than ten years old.

Another actual Paul quote from Q magazine in the 90s:

Question: “If John Lennon came back for a day how would you spend it with him?”

Paul: “In bed”

I think John wanted a sexual relationship but Paul wan't ready. He regrets that now.

R136 That’s hot.

It seems like Ringo has had the best post-Beatles life of the four, when you consider all aspects and up through now. Plenty of money, a long, stable, happy marriage, doing concerts basically for fun, little controversy, sense of humor.

Ringo still looks pretty good, at the age of 80. Lennon looked like hell at the young age of 40. Pictures of him from that time show his face looked like a death mask. He and Yoko, even at their advancing ages ( he was forty, she was forty-seven) were still druggies. The medical personnel who treated Lennon after he was shot said he was in terrible physical condition.

That's because Yoko kept him on a strict macrobiotic diet.

R139 They were both long-time smokers. I’m kind of surprised she’s still alive (she’s 87.) John reportedly smoked Gitanes, French unfiltered ciggies. He smoked his whole adult life. In ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ all four of them smoked constantly.

Can’t wait for this same conversation to circle the same rusty drain in about fifty years, on the subject of One Direction.🙄

I never knew Yoko was 7 years older than him. That changes my opinion of the dynamic.

[quote]The medical personnel who treated Lennon after he was shot said he was in terrible physical condition.

Details?

Well, this is from Albert Goldman's mean spirited, but mostly accurate, biography of Lennon. Seems Lennon was anorexic thin and:

"Suffering from from doing too much coke. His ravaged appearance in his final days, the big blue bags under his eyes and the death's head boniness of his face, was underscored by the hole he had burned through his septum, which he was scheduled to have repaired (by grafting tissue from the roof of his mouth to the damaged divider) the week following his death."

r142, people won't care about One Direction in 20 years, much less 50 years.

Whether you enjoy The Beatles are not, they were a real band and formed organically. They played instruments and wrote their music. One Direction was a manufactured pop group that was only touring together for 5 years and had no impact at all on the music industry. Even the Beatles solo works had more of an impact.

The only reason Harry Styles solo works got acclaim is because he is channeling 1960s/1970s UK artists. At least he is proud of his country's contributions to music and pays homage to that. But he isn't doing anything new or even sonically innovative.

Except R142, no one will remember One Direction in 20 years.

R140 Maybe his unhealthy look was was due to the drugs and smoking...not the health food. 🤔

R139 might his just being shot have had something to do with it?

But seriously, they were trying to save his life, I doubt they were checking his cholesterol?

So what “poor health” were the doctors referring too, exactly? Not that I really doubt it, I just don’t think they were giving Lennon a physical while trying to save his life.

In the last pictures taken of Lennon before his death, he looked painfully thin and scrawny. He always thought he looked too fat, especially during the Beatles years, so yes, I think the diet Yoko had him on had a lot to do with his shocking weight loss towards the end of his life.

"Allegedly, he pissed in a drink meant for Jayne Mansfield, and quit a tour with Ike and Tina cause he couldn’t handle getting blown off the stage each night. Scum."

Where do you people come up with this shit?

The Beatles couldn't have "quit a tour" even if they'd wanted to. There was far too much at stake in terms of money and reputation. And he never toured as a solo act after leaving the Beatles, so, uh, yeah, never happened. Cool story though.

I mean, if you're going to make shit up, why not it at least make it make sense? Why would John forfeit all that tour money, when presumably he could just replace Ike and Tina as the opening act?

And, as great as Ike and Tina were, they would have gone totally ignored by the hysterical, shrieking Beatles fans anyway. They were there to see the Beatles and only the Beatles, and the fans never gave a shit about ANY of their opening acts, ever. All of Tina's sexy shimmying and soulful wailing would have been for nothing, had they ever opened for the Beatles...which they never did.

[quote] George wasn’t the most sociable

This isn’t true. George actually WAS the most sociable Beatle. He had a huge group of friends from many different walks of life, went to more parties than the other Beatles (where he met lots of women he fucked around with) and traveled to visit people all over the world. It’s just that he went to private house parties & private clubs. He didn’t really party in public. He *stupidly* went to California during the hippie era, hung out with sone obscure DJ nobody knew, dropped the acid this DJ gave him, had a bad trip walking around looking at hippies & then slagged everybody off. Excuse me, hippies weren’t gods or goddesses, they were regular kids. And George was the one who chose to hang out with this guy nobody ever heard of & took his bad acid.

It became very fashionable for the English to slag off the whole hippie movement because it was american. But they didn’t mind aping American bands by copying their psychedelic clothing & psychedelic music, though

"So what “poor health” were the doctors referring too, exactly?"

This really isn't that hard to understand. Lennon was malnourished from years of poor diet, They would SEE that. They saw his entire body. He also had a hole burned through his nose die to cocaine addiction. They could see that, too. What, did you think John Lennon was in perfect physical condition, blooming and in the pink after decades of smoking, boozing and doing mountains of cocaine? And of course he'd been a junkie for quite a while, too. You think all that didn't affect his physical condition one whit? Jesus.

Lennon's father died from stomach cancer at 63.

R153 lol you KNOW i didn’t say that. All I said is evaluating his “condition” wasn’t exactly a priority that night.

R151, that story about him pissing in Jayne’s drink is in several Beatles official biographies and was corroborated by George and Paul.

R150, that diet was called H E R O I N, numb nuts.

R156 There have only ever been 2 "official" Beatles biographies written:

One by Hunter Davies, published in 1968

And the "Beatles Anthology", which isn't so much a biography as their story told through pictures and quotes from interviews throughout the years, but put out by Paul, George, Ringo and Yoko in 1995.

The story is in neither of those books. In the "Anthology" book, George describes meeting Jayne Mansfield at the Whiskey a Go Go on the Sunset Strip, and she apparently felt him up under the table, and he was a little pissed off because he thought she'd tipped off the paparazzi so she could be photographed with the Beatles. There are photos of him tossing a drink at a photographer from that meeting.

The John-pissing-in-Jayne's-drink story first appeared 5 years ago, in a book called "The Beatles: Messages from John, Paul, George and Ringo", written by Chris Hutchins, a journalist who apparently accompanied them on their first full American tour in 1964, and who went on to make a living as a gossip/tabloid journalist/author specializing in "scandalous expose" type books and articles, mostly about the British royals. It could not have been corroborated by George, as he'd been dead for 14 years at that point. I've never seen any comment by Paul or Ringo about this story, but feel free to prove me wrong by providing a link to either of their corroborations.

George was social and interested in many types of people it seems. He had a big network of friends and we all know about his womanizing. He was just private about his personal life to the media. He wasn't shy or quiet just smart and thought before he spoke unlike Lennon. I think George was a true introvert which means he didn't like that much media attention and could spend a lot of time alone but he was still was outgoing and social when he wanted to be.

[quote] So what “poor health” were the doctors referring too, exactly?

Oh, dear!

R94, you are the absolute height of hilarity.

Very original, too. I don’t think we’ve ever heard that response, certainly not the prior three times on this thread. No sir.

John looked good when he was young with short hair. He looked like crap by the later 60s with the long hair and beard. The drinking and drug abuse combined with the English/Irish genes aged him poorly.

Can anyone recommend a good book on the shooting of Lennon? I don’t want to read a biography about him culminating in the shooting, I’m more referring to a book focused on the crime itself.

TIA!

I remember when I heard the news. I was on a date, and the TVs in the bar we were at were all showing Beatles videos on the silent TVs. I thought is was the anniversary of their breakup or something. Later that night, I heard the news that JL was shit.

There are several titles at Amazon dealing with that topic r163. Here is one of them:

I read an article that said john spent the last years of his life in bed doing drugs. It also said he bought a whole rack of furs and someone said after he bought the fur coats "what about the song Imagine" and John said "It's just a silly song" I always thought even when he was young John had a doughy pudgy body and was not good looking at all.

I thought young John was very hot. Not classically handsome but very appealing.

That fur coats story bothered me too. I think Ono was a bad influence on him.

All of this was before my time, but wasn't Yoko universally loathed by everyone?

Yoko was blamed for breaking up The Beatles which was a bit unfair because they were going to breakup anyway due to creative differences. But to make matters worse was when John Lennon had Yoko be involved in majority of his solo projects despite her lack of musical talent and atrocious singing. The infamous video of her screeching into a microphone while John and Chuck Berry are trying to perform says it all. Yoko needed to stick to art just like Linda needed to stick to photography.

The only thing that made me hate Yoko was mainly her treatment of Julian (before and after John's death) and her abandonment of her daughter Kyoko. The whole Beatles breakup was more John, Paul and George just having creative differences with Yoko being a major catalyst.

Looking at videos of John and Yoko from back in the day it's easy to understand why they BOTH were loathed. They did stupid things like having "bed-ins" and did something called "bagism" and were shrill, yammering political activists, even though neither one of them really gave a shit about war and human rights But it DID get them a lot of publicity. Their political activism cooled off in the seventies when it became less fashionable and John became a "house husband" and Yoko supposedly took care of their business dealing, which consisted of her buying up apartments, artwork, and real estate. As someone mentioned, she and Lennon bought 37 furs at one crack, at a cost of $300,000. So much for "imagine no possessions."

There was some fondness still harbored for John because of his work with the Beatles. But Yoko was always detested, until Lennon was killed. It was said that after his death she finally found true happiness with another man (Sam Havadtoy) , had control of all of Lennon's wealth and was finally taken seriously as a great artist. Her death was seemingly the best thing that ever happened to her, aside from getting her clutches into him and marrying him.

The John who married Yoko was not the same John who was married to Cynthia and neither were the John who played in Hamburg. Just look at fucking pictures of them. Compare their noses and ears. They’re not the same guys. At all. Young John had a worker’s body, he wasn’t doughy, he was stocky and squat and stood entirely differently while playing guitar than the thin strung out hiding in bed on heroin John because they were completely different people. That’s why Yoko cut him off from not just Julian, but his sisters and aunt, etc.

I love the Faul conspiracies. I didn’t realIze there was one about John, too.

How about Ringo and George? Were they switched for doubles, too?

R173, The Beatles Never Existed. There were four sets plus an extra Paul after one of the early Pauls was disfigured and lost fingers. It’s not a theory. It’s a fact, proven with overwhelming physical evidence, including voice prints.

So there is a Fingo and a Forge!

(forge, get it?)

The Georges are the best matches of the group, but get worse as time wears on. The Pauls were always bad matches, some were very very short and others enormously tall, etc. The Johns weren’t great, either, but closer matches than the Pauls. The Ringos were ok but, again, there were height discrepancies, nose size and shape issues, chin shape differences, etc. And then there’s the mystery of why so many of them wore fake ears that didn’t even match the ears of the other Pauls, Ringos, etc.

[quote] in the bar we were at

Oh, dear!

r177 dear it's colloquial English.

Ah, poor R174 been too long in the Institution..

I put this multiple Beatles bullshit right up there with Qanon theory.

How many of you loons believe in that crap too?

R181 Their faces changed over time as they aged (like everyone’s do) but their voices stayed the same. How do you explain that, looneytunes?

[quote]We had a huge thread about the John/Paul gay rumors

[quote]"In one interview, John said Stu had been his soul mate, and then Paul became his soul mate. I think John may have loved them but was too homophobic to admit his feelings even to himself. Paul may have realized it, not wanting to acknowledge it. And then he kicked himself later for not giving John what he needed. Which may have led to his bisexual experimentation late."

[quote]Another actual Paul quote from Q magazine in the 90s: Question: “If John Lennon came back for a day how would you spend it with him?” Paul: “In bed”

Soon, John, like Elvis, will have been dead longer than he lived.

If John were alive today he would be trolling Trump left and right.