John Lennon

Who was he, this bespectacled, long haired, rich-as-God hippie with a penchant for noble causes and the experimental? On and off this planet in almost forty years flat, he's remembered more for his Beatle years, roughly ten, of which seven were wildl...more

Who was he, this bespectacled, long haired, rich-as-God hippie with a penchant for noble causes and the experimental? On and off this planet in almost forty years flat, he's remembered more for his Beatle years, roughly ten, of which seven were wildly popular, than the other 30 in which he wrote prose and lyrics, acted, fathered, ran with the Radicals and lobbied for causes important. Lennon's final release, 'Double Fantasy,' put second wife and soul mate Yoko Ono squarely in the center of his universe, which meant that diehard Lennon fans had to endure her in the center of theirs, too, if they wanted to hear him sing. His murder on a New York street in December, 1980 had to be a mistake: he wasn't ready. Unlike some niche stars that are destined to fizzle early, Lennon was neither assiduously self-destructive nor a one-trick pony, and neither he nor his fans got to see what Lennon would become....less