Do you guys remember the death of John Lennon?
Posted by space_god_7191@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 647 comments
It happened ages ago but I wonder if any of you guys remembered when it happened. What was the atmosphere around his death like how popular was he in 1980?
dbdiver@reddit
Watching football. The announcement came over that John had been outside his apartment. The Dakota, 72nd and Central Park West. I lived on 73rd and Riverside. My roommate and I walked over to the Dakota. A crowd was gathering. Quiet, some Beatles music playing on boomboxes. A lot of Imagine. People with candles standing vigil. Stayed about an hour. The next Sunday went to the dedication of Strawberry Fields in Central Park.
Ill-Field170@reddit
I was five, but I remember it being announced during the football game. I didn’t get why it mattered, but I could tell it was affecting everyone deeply.
Durham1988@reddit
Remember it well. The culture was still divided at the time into younger people who loved rock and roll and were very upset and older people who still scorned "hippies"- so there wasn't universal grieving but it was huge news and most people were pretty torn up. I know I was and I was only thirteen.
sherriechs87@reddit
Yes, I was in 6th grade so I was 10 or 11. I remember it was all over the news the next morning, and the radio stations played nothing but Beatles and solo John Lennon music for days. I bought Lennon’s (then) new solo album “Double Fantasy” and played it constantly and that’s when I became a Beatles fan. I followed all the information about Mark David Chapman and why he shot Lennon, it was the first news that I followed and watched play out.
DigLeading9650@reddit
I had just turned 24 and was watching Monday Night Football when Howard Cosell announced it. John had actually been on the show 5 or 6 earlier at halftime.
It seemed like the world stopped. I was living in L.A. at the time and IIRC the front page of The LA Times had something about it that entire week
KittiesRule1968@reddit
I remember it like it was last year, not 46 years ago. What a kick in the guts it was for a massive Beatles fan like me.
fuzzyedges1974@reddit
I was only 6, but I remember it. My mom was upset, but my dad was less bothered. It definitely felt like big news. All the adults were talking about it for a while after.
MyyWifeRocks@reddit
Same age. This was another one of those events where the news took over regularly scheduled broadcasting on every channel for a while. I hated when that happened.
SpiralOut369963@reddit
I was in high school a lot of my friends were Beatles freaks. I remember the next day at school being extremely sad and some point someone passed out John Lennon memorial badges that we all wore for quite some time.
Acrobatic_Box9087@reddit
I remember. It was a very sad time to lose such a talented musician. The Beatles are the most successful band ever.
wellbalancedlibra@reddit
I remember reading about it in my piano teacher's newspaper before my lesson. I was pretty young and just thought it was really sad.
Alien_Amplifier@reddit
Nope
jasper_bittergrab@reddit
I remember where I was, how I heard, and how upset everybody was. I was 10, and already a huge Beatles fan.
redfoxblueflower@reddit
Yes, barely. I was 8. I remember thinking something to the effect that I couldn't believe it happened because everyone thought he was a big deal. But my life moved on pretty quickly - in other words, it didn't have an enormous effect on me.
Street_Roof_7915@reddit
Oh yes. It was wild.
Working-Arm-6896@reddit
I was 19 in London. I woke up to the radio and it was huge news in England.
Remmy555@reddit
Yep, I was in highschool, and I had like one friend that got it when I was upset. The others were like 'Who's John Lennon?' and I remember being outraged.
Rightbuthumble@reddit
Yep...I certainly do remember....
Fringelunaticman@reddit
No, I was 3
Far_Anything_7458@reddit
Yes. I was 18 and living with my first husband, who was 21. One of his friends called and told him that Lennon had died. It didn't make a huge impact on me because I wasn't a big Beatles fan, although I respected their talent. We had a silent memorial on the stairs of the local courthouse at some point after, I think it was a nationwide thing but I have no idea how we knew because there was no internet. Must have been in the newspaper or something
Strong-Raspberry5@reddit
Yes, I asked my dad what war he died in and dad told me a crazy person had shot him. So that was how I found out people just randomly murder each other.
Moonsmom181@reddit
Right, I didn’t understand the concept of shooting someone famous. Hard to believe he was so young.
rexeditrex@reddit
We were watching Monday Night Football at my fraternity. I remember one of the guys who was just a few years older coming in and freaking out. We were shocked but this guy was freaking out.
scrubber12@reddit
Yes. I was in college. I was riding my bike on campus when I found out. When they say the world stood still, for us it did. We all grew up with the Beatles. It changed how close we could get to performers at concerts after that. I remember how strange everything felt after that. The world had shifted and has never shifted back.
Otherwise_Object_446@reddit
I remember seeing a picture or video of people doing a lie in at Central Park (I think it was on the news) and my mother trying to explain why. I was three so it’s pretty hazy.
RonanH69@reddit
Clear as day. I was 17 at the time. In the foyer of a hotel. So unnecessary.
Bubbly_Following7930@reddit
No. I was 5.
Tiny-Balance-3533@reddit
I do. Didn’t mean much to me at the time, but my brother and I came home from school and my dad met us at the door —super weird, he was usually at work at that time. He swept us away from the living room, where we could see mom cross-legged on the floor, red-faced and actively crying.
MuddyPig168@reddit
I was about 8 so it was much of an impact on my thoughts….like I knew he sang with the Beatles….but that’s it.
Cysteine_Chapel64@reddit
No. Too young for it to be that big a deal to me.
RoguePlanet2@reddit
I was 11 and not yet a Beatles fan. Heard the news in the car, and made a flippant joke about it. My father, who always kept his emotions under wraps, snapped at me and said "he's a GOOD MAN!!" and I was a little stunned.
A couple of years later, I became obsessed with The Beatles. My parents didn't have any of their albums, though.
DieHardAmerican95@reddit
Narrator: “He was not, in fact, a good man.”
GubmintMule@reddit
He was a, shall we say, complicated man. Lots of good, and lots of darkness.
RoguePlanet2@reddit
My father never knew about the beatles' personal lives. All he knew were the songs. So I can see why he'd think John was just a peaceful hippie!
numsixof1@reddit
I was 4 so I didn't really know who he was however I vividly remember it being a big news story for a few days.
tiduckman@reddit
We held a moment of silence in high school.
yurtfarmer@reddit
Oddly enough because I was so young. I remember who told me as well
fifth_partial@reddit
I was 11. I was already huge Beatles fan due to my parents records. I remember at school we were all saying “Who shot JL” since that “Who shot JR” storyline was happening on Dallas.
Nigel_99@reddit
Exactly. What a strange overlap in time.
Virtual_War4366@reddit
16 - Working at a Steak and Ale in overland park KS when the manager told us.
Entire_Toe2640@reddit
Yup. I remember the exact moment I heard the news and what I was doing.
FrancinetheP@reddit
11th grade. I was in the shower before school and my mom came in and told me. Didn’t cry til I was at the candlelight vigil in the park near my school that night. Mom let me go alone after school— no questions about “what about homework?”— and picked me up after.
It was a defining moment in a lot of ways.
ConsequenceNational4@reddit
I was 4 so not really.
drinkslinger1974@reddit
I remember because my mom was so upset. She was the quintessential hippie, graduated in’69, did the flower power thing and was heavy into the Jesus movement. Kind of wished she’d skipped the last part, but that’s beside the point. I also remember my parents making a big deal about John Belushi’s death.
wawa2022@reddit
I was in middle school. My mom came to wake me up for school and “broke the news” to me. I wasn’t a kid who was particularly interested in music, and neither was she, so I wondered why it was such a big deal to her that she was so solemn about it. I wore a black armband to school. I still remember the shirt I wore that day because I remember putting the armband on it. That’s a weird memory!
misterjonesUK@reddit
Gosh, yes, very much so. It was a huge shockwave around the world as I recall. I was 18 and studying my A-levels, and a huge music fan. The Beatles felt like a distant memory, but Double Fantasy had just come out, and his musical presence was once again resonating. I remember devouring the Rolling Stone interview published soon after, along with the huge stream of memorabilia that followed. I learned more about him and his music in a few days than I had absorbed in my life so far. Hearing #9 Dream on the radio, and being captivated by it, had been one of my strongest John memories before this moment. RIP
AdExtreme4813@reddit
I was 17 & driving home, early, from a musical rehearsal. I'd thrown up so the director sent me home early. My sisters & mom didn't believe me, my sisters yelled at me for playing such a mean joke. Mom told me later that the Beatles were why she & my dad finally let us start buying & listening to pop music. In the late 60s she took a music appreciation class focusing on modern music. The Beatles harmonies, & effect on modern music & innovation were were well known by then.
Big_Wrongdoer_5994@reddit
oh, yeah. was lying in bed listening to the local news and they switched to the newsroom where one of the co-anchors was reading a breaking news teletype(?). this was around 10:30 central time and at time it was still unconfirmed. switched to the local radio stations going up and down the dial to see what they were saying. I think 15 or so minutes it was confirmed by one of the DJs and I'll always remember how his voice slightly trembled. and then all the rock stations started pretty much nothing but Lennon songs (Beatles and solo stuff). was a freshman in highschool.
dojo1306@reddit
I remember it like it was yesterday. Heartbreaking and unbelievable, both when it happened and now. RIP John.
gomper@reddit
I remember it pretty specifically. My dad was watching the NFL game when the announcement came over the air. I remember the radio playing beatles and lennon non stop and news coverage about the memorials in NYC and elsewhere
Caseman307@reddit
Yep. I remember Howard Cosell breaking the news during an NFL game.
amnichols@reddit
I was home sick with mono. I was listening to the radio. The station was playing lots of Beatle songs and announced his death. I went to my mom’s bedroom to tell her. She already knew because she had been watching Monday Night Football and they announced it on the show. She was very upset about it even though she was more into opera and jazz than rock.
froction@reddit
You weee home sick...at night?
BitterSweety0862@reddit
Information can take time to disseminate - don't forget this was 1980!
froction@reddit
Your mom didn't tell you that morning?
BitterSweety0862@reddit
My mom's a mum! This has implications on what time I learned of JLs death. Think about that! & when did you learn of it? At the exact moment he was shot?
FfierceLaw@reddit
I always had a radio on and heard it that night. My roommate Amy was an even bigger fan than I was at the time. I told her and we were sad together. I was a sophomore
MistressPaine666@reddit
Vividly. I was only 6 but was a big Beatles fan already, thanks to my father. I remember he sat me down & told me, & I cried.
HootinHollerHill@reddit
I was 11. Very shocked; maybe more shocked than when Elvis died a few years before. The Beatles seemed immortal, and they were all still fairly young at the time of John’s murder.
RenaissancemanTX@reddit
Not a huge Beatles fan but I was a high school sophomore in the locker room getting ready for morning swim team practice when I learned of death of John Lennon.
Ok_Mud1962@reddit
I remember I was getting ready to play a Christmas album on the stereo in our living room when my brother said John Lennon killed. He had a tv in his bedroom and saw it was breaking news. We were in shock. Such a senseless death. So tragic!
Patient_Doctor4480@reddit
My mother, who is British, just got very quiet (I was 9), and then eventually told me what happened. He was still popular enough for his death to upset most who heard about it.
chainmailler2001@reddit
I was 1 when it happened. I got nuthin.
cfbswami@reddit
EVERYBODY saw it on Monday Night Football... we only had like 4 channels.
chainmailler2001@reddit
It happened in 1980 tho. I am GenX but was 1 year old at the time. No memory of this one for me.
onexyonexx@reddit
Yes. My mom was wrapping Christmas gifts and we were watching the news. She just became weak and sat on the bed repeating , “oh no oh no oh no”. She was a huge Beatles fan. I’ll never forget that day.
Conscious_Quality803@reddit
Yes. It was sad.
Arhgef@reddit
I was in grad school and it was a big deal. Lots of memorials on TV, people talking about it. A lot of mourning. It was such a sad and unnecessary way to go - total surprise.
Andyman1973@reddit
Grad school??? Boomer slummin with the GenXers??? 😂😂😂
Subject-Ad-8055@reddit
I knew i smelled the hint on tigar bomb in hear today...
Main_Understanding10@reddit
I woke up in the morning and heard it on the radio. I wasn't a big Beatles fan but I was pretty shocked that someone would shoot one of them, so I was yelling "What?!" My mother wanted to know what was going on so I told her and she asked if Lennon were the one who was arrested in Japan with marijuana.
Later I had to tell her Reagan was shot, the Pope was shot, Sadat was shot, etc. I think she got tired of me announcing the latest assassinations or attempts.
kingcakeaholic@reddit
Went to The Montana last year to see where he was shot. Showed my kids. I recall the day vividly.
LeMonza_@reddit
*Dakota.
Right near the little guard station (ironically).
Business_Start_5870@reddit
Yes
GiantMags@reddit
Yup Lennon.and the attempt on Regan.
Klutzy_Security_9206@reddit
Yes. I was 6 yrs old and when I came down to breakfast my mother was in bits. I then remember when ‘Imagine’ re-entered the UK chart, reaching number one, where it remained for four weeks in January 1981.
QueenRotidder@reddit
I remember waking up to my mom sobbing. I asked her what was wrong, she told me, I didn’t understand why she was so upset over someone she never met.
Andyman1973@reddit
Ehhhh yes and no. But I DO remember Elvis’s death, and I saw Ronnie Ray-gun get shot live on the evening news!
Classic_Pie5498@reddit
Yep senior in high school, heard it on the radio while doing homework. Probably WPLJ.
no_crust_buster@reddit
No, I was too young. I was about 2.
sparrowjuice@reddit
Thank you for sharing. That must have not been hard for you.
theoriginalb@reddit
lol
Physical_Specialist4@reddit
Yes, I was laying in bed listening to the radio when the DJ announced his death and then played “Starting Over” . I still choke up when I hear those bells.
dadsgoingtoprison@reddit
Yes. I wasn’t even really a Beatles fan back then. I have since become a fan of the Beatles and each individual Beatle.
Jiveassmofo@reddit
Heard the news from Howard Cosell on Monday Night Football that my dad was watching. Like it was yesterday
ethersings@reddit
I was 14 and only had a small knowledge of The Beatles at the time. I was on my way home from a my choir’s Christmas concert and heard the news. A few years after, I started getting heavily into music listening and quickly came to love mostly their middle and later albums.
Lightningstruckagain@reddit
Howard Cosell announced it on Monday Night Football if I am remembering it correctly.
aMoose_Bit_My_Sister@reddit
thats how my brother and i heard about it.
Punawild@reddit
I was only 3 but I have a memory of my auntie crying and crying. Just absolutely sobbing. Asked about it once when I was in my teens and she said the only time she could remember crying like was when Lennon was killed so my memory had to have been that.
punkarama@reddit
Very well, totally out of the blue, everyone in disbelief that it happened so easily
kenjinyc@reddit
John was killed half a mile away from where I attended high school. We all cut out and smoked weed outside by the Dakota.
LMO_TheBeginning@reddit
Yes. Listened to it on the radio.
Surreal and yet I was too young to really process the historical event I was listening to.
vindicatorx1@reddit
I was 3 so no.
wwJones@reddit
I remember. I was 8 & watching MNF with my dad. He told my mom and they were both pretty sad.
Federal-Neat7833@reddit
I was 9 and I remember finding my parents standing in the shower together hugging and crying, I think my Dad was fully dressed, when I asked what happened they told me, I knew who he was and had grown up around the Beatles and they were so upset I knew it was a big deal.
Relevant_Mess_9875@reddit
I was nine and have no recollection of it. I did not know who the Beatles were. Like a year or two later I discovered the Beatles through the their cartoons series and my mom told me that the Beatles had broken up a long time ago John had recently died. I was sad and lost interest in the cartoons.
Skydog-forever-3512@reddit
It was one of the two or three times I’m my life when I cried.
McGeetheFree@reddit
Yup. Was babysitting and watching Monday Night Football. 8th grade. Howard Cosell delivered a fine elegy.
visualthings@reddit
Yes, I was 10 years old and a kid came back to the school after lunch break and told me the news. First I didn’t connect with the name but when he said who John Lennon was I understood. I was familiar with the Beatles thanks to my older sisters and was amazed at the screaming audience in Live at the Hollywood Bowl. Whenever I think or read about Lennon’s death I see the place where I was when my classmate told me about it.
cnowakoski@reddit
I do. I was on the way out the door to class my sr yr in college.
salchichasconpapas@reddit
yes
stuartcw@reddit
Yes. It was a surprise.
I read a biography of Yoko Ono recently, by one of her circle. After seeing her husband gunned down outside their apartment she was virtually impressed by the crowds outside who were singing night and day for days. Some of the songs were based on personal things that John had said to her and/or their relationship which just added to her grief.
There was no way to escape.
At one point, she even had to issue a press release to fans to not kill themselves after at least one fan did so in their grief.
It made for memorable TV but was a bit of a nightmare for everyone in the appartment block.
It just seemed such a terrible senseless act the time like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, Robert F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Víctor Jara ...
897hayes@reddit
Yes, a very clear memory. I was 5, in the car with my mom and we heard on the radio. She pulled over and sobbed.
Temporary-Library597@reddit
Not really. I was pretty young but I remember Howard Cosell telling the Monday Night Football audience that he was dead.
Bulldog8018@reddit
I was 13 and loved The Beatles. Found out early the next morning when I called upstairs to my parents for my lunch money (the bus was coming), and my mom called down and said she’d just heard on the radio that John Lennon had been shot and killed. That just floored me. Everyone was talking about it at school and details were very sketchy. We all had the same 3-4 sentences of info.
Key-Educator-3018@reddit
I was at work making pizza. The entire room went silent. A few minutes later we were all sobbing. I remember it so well, like a snapshot that never fades
SweetBasil_@reddit
i remember distinctly. i was 7, sitting in my kitchen while my mom prepared breakfast before we went to school. my mother was surprised and i asked a lot of questions. my parents were never into the beatles so it wasn't very emotional, but i could sense her discomfort answering my questions about what happened. it was about a year later i got my first clock radio and listened to the radio and heard my first beatles and lennon songs.
ottis1guy@reddit
Assassination, or murder. And yes I remember it vividly.
sawamandoevilthings@reddit
It's my birthday
sgtedrock@reddit
I was 10. Riding in the car with my dad when the news came over the radio. I asked him “why would anyone want to hurt John Lennon?” He didn’t have a good answer.
Moonsmom181@reddit
I was 10 and in the car with my Mom. I was very confused because I didn’t understand why a famous person would be shot.
sgtedrock@reddit
It’s still heartbreaking to this day, all these years later. 😢
schmagegge@reddit
I remember John Belushi death more than Lennon
bishpa@reddit
It was when I first learned his name. I knew of the Beatles, but not who they were before that.
Claque-2@reddit
Anyone with a TV knew and the Boomers mourned hard. Good people being assassinated was a thing and John and Yoko had a young child.
captainfishhooks@reddit
Yup was in a car headed back from visiting relatives my mother and grandma had the radio on in the car and it came over. My grandma loved the white album
PrincessCo-Pilot@reddit
7th or 8th grade. Didn’t know who he was, but the whole class was talking about it.
WRXM3911@reddit
Yes. It really was a traumatic moment for me. I was a huge Beatles fan. Came home from Scouts Monday night, and my mom told me what had happened. She let me stay up late watching the news. I was devastated.
Laara2008@reddit
I was 15. It affected me profoundly. I lived in New York City. That weekend I went to Central Park with my friends for the vigil.
shurejan@reddit
I don’t - I would have been 4. But I do remember the attempted assassination of Reagan just a few months later.
Casmicud@reddit
When I heard it I didn’t have any real context just that he was killed and I remember fucking yoko finally did him in
Parking_Champion_740@reddit
I remember but I don’t remember anything specific about it. I was worried about his son
Safariman66@reddit
I was 14 and watching Monday night football with my stepdad, Howard Cosell made the announcement. That was the first I’d heard about it, probably just minutes after it happened.
bunkie18@reddit
I was having my 13th birthday party, super bummed me out that night
joesmolik@reddit
Yes I remember The that he got shot. I was listening to the radio in the newsflash came across.
I turned the station in a local DJ was taking colors talking about John Lennon and playing music tribute to him. One collar called up and said yeah I’d like to play a tribute to John Lennon. The DJ said go ahead and the sick bastard played happiness of the warm gun. The DJ did Mr. click really fast and statues engineer did that get out and we heard a voice said yes
The DJ said there are some really sick people out there and if you think this is funny, it’s not
That’s the with me it still does. I was sad that he died in the way that he did and I would like to see him as he got older. To see how much you changed.
Reason why I’m saying this is because before John Lennon died he was talking to somebody and said that he got a lot of things wrong. He made a lot of mistakes about some of his political beliefs, and his person said if I remember correctly that John started going more to the right.
The other thing I would like to see is if his music would have changed too in the style
Due_Cucumber_6956@reddit
yes, I was 6 and had to be the one to break the news to my mom
BigRefrigerator9783@reddit
I was 6, so not really.
Timely-Computer4105@reddit
I was 7. Funny what a difference 3yrs makes at that age. By the time I was 10, I was very aware of pop culture and even paying atttention to some of the news. Not at all in 1980 (with the exception of Mt St Helens - I do remember that).
dirtygreysocks@reddit
I was 6. No.
Quiet_Scientist6767@reddit
Absolutely. My dad checked me out of school for the day, and we cried and listened to all the Beatles and solo albums we had.
onedemtwodem@reddit
I remember when it came on the telly I was just so shocked
DeathFood@reddit
John Lennon was my hero as a child, and one of my chores was getting the newspaper from the driveway every morning.
That’s how I found out he had died. Reading that headline was surreal as I hadn’t really had anyone close to me die yet and reading it didn’t feel real.
I went to school wearing my Beatles sweatshirt. I was such a big Beatles fan that it was one of the things the other kids all knew about me.
One of those kids came up to me as we were standing in line waiting to go into to class in the morning:
“Haha, you’re hero’s dead”
Don’t remember much from way back then, but still remember those moments crystal clear
DAntoinette_Travel@reddit
I’m so sorry that happened to you! Kids can be cruel! I bet he’s an overweight pot-bellied Pabst drinking a-hole who beats his wife. There are no happy endings for People like that…
DrHoleStuffer@reddit
Yes
sabrinajestar@reddit
I was 10. I remember where I was the moment I heard, I had just walked up to the corner store and heard them say it on the radio.
Aggressive_West6616@reddit
I was watching the Monday Night Football game (Patriots at Dolphins) where Howard Cosell announced it.
DAntoinette_Travel@reddit
Yes, I do. I’m a 60’s GenX’er so I had just turned 13 when he died, and the coverage surrounding it. It all seemed so tragic.
tomphoolery@reddit
I was 16, listening to the radio in my room, and wondering why they were playing one Beatles song after another. During a break the DJ reported that John Lennon had just been killed. The next morning was really somber and everyone on the school bus was just quiet, Yellow Submarine started playing on the radio and everyone was at least humming or quietly singing along.
MezcalCC@reddit
Sure do. I can still recall the radio stations broadcasting the news. Terrible stuff. I was 11.
Flower_Power73@reddit
I was 10 and I remember my father stopping by Tower Records the following day to buy Sargent Peppers and Double Fantasy. Both of my parents were fans of The Beetles and it was pretty sad. I remember watching the news and seeing masses of people crying. I grew up in the inner city so not a lot of my peers listened to the them or knew who they were. I just remember it was a lonely feeling of sadness.
msvegas@reddit
I was 8 years old. This was my second big celebrity death that I was aware of, although I didn't know why Lennon was so important. The first was Elvis's death, I remember how weird it was to see the public reaction and news coverage over this fat, sweaty dude that had TV specials or something like that. Anyway, being 8, I didn't know about the Beatles at the time, I just knew that someone well loved was shot. People were sad and confused, his death didn't make sense.
Dollbeau@reddit
8 years old & absolutely loved the Beetles.
I think I was more affected than any other person I knew.
The_Great_19@reddit
Yes. The morning after in my Catholic grade school classroom, word went around about it and the class got so silent as we reflected on the big news. My dad was a huge Beatles fan. I wish I remembered his thoughts on it.
wordstogetherrandom@reddit
Vividly. I had just bought Double Fantasy. I was 12. I took it hard. Seemed so stupid and senseless.
Yeti_Urine@reddit
I was 9 and it really affected me watching the masses on tv crying. I didn’t really understand who he was but the sadness was palpable.
SSquirrel76@reddit
Yeah I was 4 and had no idea who he or the Beatles were
ChEDave82@reddit
I was in college, we were watching MNF. A roommate came in and said he just heard it on the radio. We were bummed, he was half of what made the Beatles.
Raccoon_Ascendant@reddit
a third you mean.
Raccoon_Ascendant@reddit
I remember!
crucial context: My mom had a Joan Baez tape that we played a lot a lot, and one of the songs on it was a cover of Imagine.
I was going to the neighbor's house to play and the dad came out of the house all upset. "What's wrong?" says I. He paused. "John Lennon is dead." I asked, "Who's that?" He said, "You know that song, Imagine?" I brightened up, "Yes, that Joan Baez song!" He just looked at me, and then turned and walked away.
toilet_roll_rebel@reddit
Yes. I remember it well. I was in my bedroom trading and my mother was in her bedroom. My brother had been downstairs watching TV. He came up the stairs to tell us John was dead. I really don't remember if I cried.
UFO-Band-Fanatic@reddit
Absolutely. I was in high school. It was surreal—especially because he was murdered.
We had just lost John Bonham in September and Bon Scott at the beginning of the year.
1980 was a tough year for rock fans—but John Lennon’s murder was a different kind of horrible.
grzebelus@reddit
I was about 12 and remember thinking, “Oh, he was 40? He was pretty old.”
space_god_7191@reddit (OP)
At 57, do you feel that same way?
grzebelus@reddit
Not at all!
SuzVision@reddit
I definitely knew who John Lennon was and that he was a Beatle. We had all of the albums. I remember the shock of it all, even though I was very little. It’s the first memory I have of where I understood tragedy and sadness. Still makes me sad today actually.
Global_Friend5300@reddit
I was 9, and my first thought was, “Wait, he was still alive?”
Sufficient_Bed335@reddit
Pulled the car over and sobbed.
erilaz7@reddit
I was watching Little House on the Prairie on the little black & white TV in my bedroom when the special news report about the shooting interrupted the show. I was 14 and a huge Beatles fan, so it was a big deal for me.
lasher992001@reddit
I was 17 and the world went into shock. The Beatles had been dissolved for almost a decade and John Lennon wasn't at his height of popularity, but it was just the shocking nature of his death that pulled the rug out from everyone. Gun violence was not yet the norm.
Honest-Database-5534@reddit
Went to the Dakota that night, just surreal, hundreds of people singing his songs. He was loved by many, hopefully never forgotten.
mtcwby@reddit
I remember Howard Cosell announcing it on Monday night football. We always watched the game then. Especially since it was the best way to see the week's highlights at halftime
AuntBBea@reddit
It was shocking to be listening to the radio that night when they announced it. His music played and people called in crying and with tributes. I was 13 with an 18 year old brother so I knew about him. Double Fantasy came out with his single "Woman." Surreal at the time.
kevdog71@reddit
I was 9 and really don’t remember it at all.
imcrowning@reddit
I remember being sad because my mom was sad.
shiningonthesea@reddit
oh yeah, I was in high school. It was really sad.
Snoo58207@reddit
I don't remember Lennon, but I remember the Reagan assassination attempt that was just four months later.
akasan@reddit
I was 5 years old. I don't remember anything about it.
Catnip_75@reddit
Same
Catnip_75@reddit
No. I was really young.
Kanya_Mkavry@reddit
I was 12 in 1980. I remember hearing a dj talking about his death, but since the Beatles were a long time ago to me (I had a Beatles album, and I liked them, but I didn't know anything else about them), I thought he was telling a story from years ago. I spent the next several years thinking that John Lennon died a long time ago, and maybe his death was why the Beatles stopped making records. My older sister, who would have been affected by this, was far away in college. I don't remember my older brothers being affected by it.
Lazyatheistx@reddit
I remember when it happened but didn’t know who he was. I was 8. My mom was a Beatles fan, but really George Harrison. My uncle mentioned Lennon getting shot, a few days after, and I asked who he was. He told me he was one of the Beatles. Later, I would listen to his solo stuff.
Dreadkiaili@reddit
I do. I was only 7, but there were 2 records that my mom had to limit to 3 times a day or would drive her crazy. One was a 45 of The Rescuers with a book that was a shorter version of the movie and Sargent Pepper’s. I remember watching TV that night and hearing the news.
MrJohnnyDangerously@reddit
Yes. I was living in UK, it was huge news there.
Head_Razzmatazz7174@reddit
I was 17 and could not figure out why anyone would want to do that. My mother was in tears. She had fond memories of the Beatles, even though she was almost 30 years older than them.
froction@reddit
Your mother was born before World War 1 and had you when she was over 50?
Head_Razzmatazz7174@reddit
Nope, my math is off. Mom was born in 1924, so she would have been around 30 when they hit the scene. So that makes her ... about 10 years older, I think.
Nice catch! I corrected it.
froction@reddit
The Beatles were born in the early 40s and your mom would have been about 40 when they hit the scene.
Head_Razzmatazz7174@reddit
Really? I thought they were younger than that. The more you know...
TheSwedishEagle@reddit
No. I remember Reagan being elected President (and later shot) but no recollection about Lennon. Not even sure I would have known who that was. I do remember the whole "Who shot JR?" craze.
88secret@reddit
I heard about the shooting right before I went to bed that night, but his death hadn’t been announced yet. I woke up to that piece of news the next morning. The iconic Howard Cosell had announced it during Monday Night Football. It was huge news. His solo work was somewhat popular at the time, but the impact of his death was momentous because the impact of the Beatles was still strongly felt. Many of our mothers had been screaming teenage girls during Beatlemania, which had ended only 10-12 years before. The members were all active as solo artists, so the group was still frequently mentioned in music and pop culture.
MoaningLisaSimpson@reddit
I was eleven and in Grade Six. We usually started the day with current events. On December 9th my teacher came in with a puffy face, red eyed and told us we weren't doing talki about current events that morning.
We jumped into our lesson. About ten minutes inu teacher just said to pull out our library books and we had silent reading until recess. I mean from about 920 am to 1030.
Our class room was across the hall from the teachers lounge. The teachers of the older grades were all mostly in there most of the day. The smoke billowing out of the room was thicker than usual and some of it smelled "funny."
Affectionate_Bag9833@reddit
Even though I was only 12 that news hit me hard as I was starting to learn Beatles songs on the guitar and singing harmony to them on the bus with friends. Dec 8 is marked on my calendar to this day when I'll wear a t-shirt with some image or other of him in remembrance. I still play and sing JL or Beatles songs regularly.
djstarcrafter333@reddit
I was 20. My dad and I were watching some late night show when they broke in with the news. I had never been a fan, preferring McCartney. He and Lennon always had a rivalry after the Beatles, and John was always the more surly and abrasive of the two. My dad was old school and never liked the Beatles anyway. So when they broke in with Lennons picture we both said " What's he done now?" The news was a surprise. Everybody talked about it in the following days, but it didn't really hit that hard in my circle. I think I did go out and buy Double Fantasy, but that was about it.
Sad_Tank4121@reddit
Yes.😢I always go to the spot in NYC to commemorate when I visit.
bobj33@reddit
No. I was 5.
Stupor_Fly@reddit
I was 5, too. I remember adults being bummed out, then they canceled cartoons on the Saturday after to run Yellow Submarine. It was my turn to be bummed out.
Few_Carob4293@reddit
I drove right by his building just as the news broke. There already was a small crowd but due to some of the famous people who lived in that building I didn’t think much of it until the news came over the cab radio.
NeverEverMaybe0_0@reddit
Lennon had been keeping a low profile and right when he had a new album....
It seemed every grownup was upset by his murder.
Alternate_Lucky1243@reddit
I was 17. Slept with the radio on always. The announcement woke me up. I think it was the distress in the DJs voice. I was a huge Beatles fan because of John. Broke my heart. Skipped school to mourn. Could never sleep with music again. But now I sleep to Mr Ballen ❤️
Friday_arvo@reddit
I was 3 years old. It was a dark day for 3 year olds.
la_pan_ther_rose@reddit
Yes. The radio started playing all Beatles songs, every radio station was playing then— all along the dial. I’m tearing up.
calisalwaysonfire@reddit
I remember exactly when it came on the radio. We were out looking at christmas lights.
Admirable-Currency89@reddit
I was 12. My childhood was full of The Beatles from my uncles and whatnot. I revered John and it was my first real....fuck, why would someone do that. It had to feel like my parents with JFK
PeorgieT@reddit
I was 23, so I definitely remember it. I don’t think I heard about it until the next morning since there wasn’t a 24 hynews cycle or internet.
shuanm@reddit
I don't remember how popular he was in 1980. I turned 7 in December, but it was right after my mom let me start watching the news with her. I remember that she explained who he was, and what had happened to him. It's one of the memories that stand out from my childhood. My mom's boyfriend sat on the couch next to me while we were watching. I remember him saying "what kind of sorry SOB would shoot John Lennon? Did they know who he was?". I hear that every time someone says his name.
FixJealous2143@reddit
International moment of silence.
Myfreakinglyfe@reddit
I do. I was 8 years old. My dad was a huge fan and also a musician. He was devastated. He spent the evening drinking wine and playing guitar with the neighbor.
Mediocre-Proposal686@reddit
Sounds like my dad when Elvis died. I was soooo young but I remember him crying over his record collection on the floor in the living room, and his record player was set up on the coffee table. (He never cried, and his record player was never out of his office). And I asked him “what’s wrong daddy? And he could barely choke out “Elvis died today honey”.
lkwdst33l@reddit
I was watching Monday night football when Howard cossell interrupted the broadcast and broke the news.
Repulsive-Ice8395@reddit
I do and I can tell you exactly when I was when I heard it the radio.
SmooveTits@reddit
Radio news the next morning while Mrs. Morrison was driving us to school in her brown Chevette that had a manual transmission.
beezeebeehazcatz@reddit
I had the same experience in the same kind and color car when Kurt Cobain died.
SmooveTits@reddit
I wonder how many pop icons were killed as a result of riding to school with Mrs. Morrison.
Nice-Award-5476@reddit
I was working in radio the time, an album rock station. We immediately started playing a lot off of “Double Fantasy” which was a new album at the time. The next morning I totaled my car. Not a good week.
oofaloo@reddit
Wow. So sorry.
GlassHouses1980@reddit
Unfortunately yes. The day he passed was my 10th birthday.
Mediocre-Proposal686@reddit
Yep. I was 9 and it was all over the news. It was in newspapers and magazines for months and months.
T-TownDarin@reddit
I was a freshman in high school. Lots of fans of retro rock like The Doors and The Beatles in my high school. There was an actual feeling of mourning.
ShinyTarnish409@reddit
Wait, do I know you? I was a freshman as well and we played the same music. I was in class at the time and our teacher stopped the class to tell us and cried. He told us how important he thought John was to the world and peace. I still remember it.
Gwsb1@reddit
He was yesterday's news by then. Not quite forgotten, but not at the top of the charts anymore.
As to his death , it was sad but people didn't go crazy.
moneyman74@reddit
I implore you to look up a youtube video of people calling into the Howard Stern show in Detroit the day after. People were very upset and moved.
Gwsb1@reddit
SOME people were upset.
AbsolutesDealer@reddit
https://youtu.be/UaX0DVkAkWg?si=ufmQVQShiDY4P-CY
e-zimbra@reddit
He had a #1 album the month he died.
Gwsb1@reddit
Nothing sells like death
swissie67@reddit
Don't know what you're talking about. The Beatles had only broken up a decade before and were all over rock radio, which was a huge thing.
I was 12, and it was both shocking and sad and people were crazy sad about it at the time and still.
You must have not hung with much of a music crowd, is all I can imagine.
CarlatheDestructor@reddit
Yep. I was 6 and I didnt know who The Beatles were butbzi knew who john lennon was from his songs on the radio.
rangeo@reddit
I was 7 ... I remember my sister talking about it a lot that evening she would have been 13 or 14.
Humble_Nobody2884@reddit
More of an adjacent narrative, but a girl in my class who lived in NYC as a kid remembered running into him with Yoko as she and her mom walked by Central Park.
They knew each other in that neighborhood kinda way.
fnkywht50smthng@reddit
I was 18 but had no context on his contribution to the zeitgeist of the times. 🤷♂️
jk_pens@reddit
Not at all. I remember Reagan being shot earlier the same year, the Iran hostages being released shortly after, and the first Space Shuttle launch a couple months after that, so I wasn’t totally oblivious.
Regular-Student1026@reddit
Reagan was shot in March 81 (so a few months after Lennon) and the Challenger Explosion was January 1986.
jk_pens@reddit
You’re right about Reagan but I was referring to the Columbia launch on April 12, 1981.
Regular-Student1026@reddit
Thanks! I misunderstood because I was focused on the tragedy aspect.
jk_pens@reddit
Fair ‘nuff!
froction@reddit
The first Space Shuttle launch (April 1981) was Columbia, not Challenger.
11systems11@reddit
Heard about it on the radio while my mom was driving us to school. I was more surprised that my mom was driving us to school. It was a rarity.
LagrangianMechanic@reddit
I was watching the Patriots @ Dolphins game when Howard Cosell broke the news to the world.
bwcc5@reddit
watching the Tonight Show and a news alert came across the bottom of the screen saying he had been shot, then NBC news broke in to the broadcast and said he had been killed.
Street_Barracuda1657@reddit
Yup. Remember it well
AbsolutesDealer@reddit
I remember my folks taking me to Central Park for his memorial and seeing the Dakota and all the sad adults. I didn’t really understand what was going on. I just wanted to ride the carousel.
onions-make-me-cry@reddit
Nope. I was a year old.
WinchelltheMagician@reddit
Got into a shouting match with my dad when he commented that he didn't understand why anyone was so upset because Lennon was a trouble-making radical.
sp0rk_walker@reddit
I was young, around 9 but just discovered the Beatles albums my older sister had. The day after was a Sunday, and it was snowing when I walked into church. I remember feeling sad in a way I never felt before, sad for the world.
froction@reddit
The day after was a Tuesday.
Well, unless you didn't hear about it until five days after it happened.
sp0rk_walker@reddit
Its possible, in my memory it was right after I found out. In '80 as a kid I wasn't watching the nightly news.
lmyr422@reddit
I'll never forget it...spent the whole next 2 days talking to broken hearted djs and journalists ..many tears were shed over John's death.
claudedusk8@reddit
It huants me. One of the many terribly untimely tragedy.
SuccessfulAd5806@reddit
I was 10. My sister said John Lennon was shot. I thought she meant Jack Lemmon.
gatorgopher@reddit
Heck yeah I do. He was murdered less than a year after I lost my dad so I was a little raw and it hit harder than it should have.
rjyou@reddit
I was a massive Beatles fan and I vividly remember my teacher breaking the news to us when I was in grade 5. (Age 10)
cmparkerson@reddit
I remember, I was 10,and I had really just learned who he was not long before
JKT5911@reddit
I was watching Monday night football when Howard Cosell announced to the world of his death.
Lbboos@reddit
Yes. Shocking.
He had just released Double Fantasy and he was quite popular. Good album.
Giant_Devil@reddit
Nah, I was 6.
theDagman@reddit
I was watching a new episode of MASH, when they interrupted the show with a special report to report his death. I was 15, and a pretty big fan of what is now considered classic rock. So, yeah, it hit hard. It was that final slap of reality that the Beatles were never getting back together.
JK_au2025@reddit
Was doing the dishes at my family home after dinner and it was on the TV news that he had been shot and was rushed to hospital. His comeback album was out at the time and he was in the charts again. After his death it was a major global event, I remember the minute of silence. Very sad and tragic.
TERRADUDE@reddit
I was a kid then - 13 going on 14, in Calgary Canada. I loved music, all kinds of music and I knew of the Beatles of course, but they were just .... a band. Double Fantasy was getting a lot of play. But the day he died, I remember the local FM station having a call in show all afternoon and into the night hearing from people. I recall so many people calling in, in tears, saying how Lennon changed their lives, how important he was, etc. I knew that if he meant that much to people, I had to know more about him. I started collecting tapes and records of all the Beatles and as much Lennon as possible - I don't think I listened to anything other than that for months.
Fast forward to now, I recognize how influential John Lennon is but he's still not my favourite Beatle and he certainly had issues along the way but I know his heart was in the right place and he walked his walk.
froction@reddit
Must have been the day after he died.
TERRADUDE@reddit
Or i misremembered and it was that evening….
froction@reddit
Impossible! Everyone on Reddit remembers everything exactly perfectly.
TERRADUDE@reddit
Run the numbers…. I was 13 when Lennon was killed. Now, I’m lucky if I remember what I opened the fridge for.
AntC_808@reddit
I was a month shy of 15, My father woke me to tell me. I have a very clear memory of it.
moneyman74@reddit
Born in 1974. No. I do remember 'Nobody Told Me' on the radio whenever that came out. (January 84)
Witty-Atmosphere-211@reddit
Yes. I still have the front page/article of our local newspaper.
Pleasant_Influence14@reddit
Yes it is in my journal. Awful
seidinove@reddit
Total shock. I was taking the bus to work, opened up the newspaper (remember those?) and there it was on the front page.
93Chisel@reddit
Yes. I remember getting up for school and my Mom was in my brother’s room watching a small TV and said they shot Lennon last night. I recall a lot of stations just playing a ton of Beatles and his solo stuff. At one point I was recording it off the radio via a cheesy tape recorder.
Evilmendo@reddit
Was babysitting my siblings. We only had a radio then. It came across in between songs that he was taken to the hospital. Later found out on a friend's television set watching the news.
sourceInfinite@reddit
I have a vague memory of it being announced at school and a song of his was played over the speaker system. I was 8 years old and standing in the playground. I think I just felt confused.
grumblefluff@reddit
I was 8, my mom cried, all the radio stations played a LOT of his music for a day or two
Objective-Pen-1780@reddit
No. I was 6 in 1980 but I don’t remember anything about it.
Objective-Pen-1780@reddit
And my parents were older -silent generation. Dad was into Lawrence welk and mom loved ABBA. I discovered the Beatles on my own.
Specialist_Stop8572@reddit
Nope. I was like 3 yrs old
SutherATx@reddit
Born in 75, Lennons death is literally my first memory of something from outside of my personal family sphere. My older siblings talked about it A LOT, so that definitely contributed.
ultimate94champ@reddit
The Iran Hostages release, Lennons Death and the Reagan/Carter election are some of the early memories I have. I remember the radio stations honored him with 2 minutes of silence on the air. I was born in the fall of 73.
Objective-Pen-1780@reddit
I vaguely remember the 2 min of silence.
Cowboy_Buddha@reddit
I was in the high school hallway when I heard about it, I remember the moment.
froction@reddit
Why were you in a high school hallway late at night on a Monday?
Cowboy_Buddha@reddit
It was about 2pm in the afternoon when I heard.
Healthy_You867@reddit
I remember that it happened the day before my birthday so my birthday was really depressing. Everyone was so sad and shocked. I was in middle school and had a music appreciation class that morning and my teacher was just inconsolable.
LadyNorbert@reddit
I have some vague memories of my grandparents talking about it (my grandmother loved the Beatles), but I was only four years old at the time and it didn't really register.
Jennyreviews1@reddit
I was getting up in the morning and my dad saw it on the news. When I walked into the living room, he was sitting on the coffee table, crying with his head in his hands. I was not quite six years old, but in kindergarten and getting ready for school. It was very sad because I grew up listening to Abbey Road…. And as I got older, I understood that moment with my dad.
N-Y-R-D@reddit
I remember hearing about it. It was everywhere. I didn’t fully understand who he was until later. I was 9.
One_Election_3981@reddit
Google Monday night football
New-Currency-7546@reddit
My mom saw it on the news while making me breakfast all my teachers were upset I was in the 8th grade
SoCal7s@reddit
My saddest celebrity death of all. He was my favorite artist (not just as a Beatle). I held him up with Ali & other counterculture revolutionaries. A true voice of his generation. So his death was like a light going out of MY life.
Probably the first celebrity death the hit me hard, personally.
John Bonham & Bob Marley were sad too but Lennon was irrationally tragic for me.
ambroochia@reddit
I was 25. People my age were very moved. My father had died two weeks previously. People I worked with were genuinely shocked, that my grief for my father made me indifferent to John Lennons passing
penilesensorydevice@reddit
I remember it. I was 15, watching the Dolphins vs. the Patriots on Monday Night Football, when Howard Cosell broke the news. Not long before, Lennon had released what was widely considered as a strong "comeback" album, and after his death, that record was inescapable. The Beatles had only split up ten years prior, which seemed like a long time to me back then, but not so much now.
dadasinger@reddit
Remember we didn't have cable news then, I woke up and went to work the next morning not hearing the news yet, the radio was playing a John Lennon song, then two more Lennon songs without interruption which was especially odd for the morning drive-time, and then the DJ came on and passed on the news for those of us that hadn't heard yet, I was gutted.
platypusandpibble@reddit
I was young, but I remember being in shock. Seeing all the adults around me crying and the constant soundtrack of Beatles and John Lennon songs was so heartbreaking. I, however, did not realize just how strongly it had effected me until I went to a Beatles tribute performance (with performers who absolutely sounded just like the Beatles (and they definitely weren't lip synching)). The singer / musician who was doing John's parts came out and did a rendition of "Imagine." I, along with so many others, sat there and sobbed.
kvmw@reddit
Watching Monday Night Football when Howard Cosell broke the news. The fact that he was shot is what struck me the most
Unusual_Memory3133@reddit
Yes, I was in High School. People were shocked. I remember some hard core fans wearing black arm bands.
Lower_Cat_8145@reddit
I remember seeing it on the news. I was 8 and got out my dad's Sgt. Peppers album to ask him which one he was. I kept holding the album as the news played. Then we put the album on. 😢
Unusual-Spinach-5897@reddit
I was 21, and my best friend and I joined a throng of mourners at Nathan Phillips Square for a candlelight vigil. It was so sad. John was our favourite Beatle.
Unusual-Spinach-5897@reddit
In Toronto.
Aromatic_Revolution4@reddit
I was 12ish and it about it from Howard Cosell during Monday Night Football.
A Beatle shot dead outside of his NY home was absolutely shocking. People who were older (like my parents) were shaken.
People my age thought it was sad but I think we were too young to fully comprehended its significance.
Prudent_Falafel_7265@reddit
Yes.
I’d say it was the most significant assassination the cultural world has ever experienced. Political ones like RFK and MLK being more important due to their leadership of political movements, and JFK obviously in a class of its own, but since Lennon crossed national cultural boundaries, his death was right up there in that category of gravitas.
EManSantaFe@reddit
I was at the Springsteen show in Philly. Afterwards in the car they were playing a bunch of Beatles. We were stoked until they announced he was shot. Ugly ride home. The next night the band made an announcement about the show saying they thought about canceling but John would have wanted them to “let it rock”. Three hours of amazing followed. Close with Twist and Shout. Best concert ever.
Dependent-Potato2158@reddit
I was in high school in Hawaii at the time, and it was a big news as the murderer was from Hawaii or had lived there previously. I was a punk rock kid, so not affected because I didn't care about the Beatles, but my older sister was a huge fan and was devastated. I just remember the senselessness of it, and the horror of random violence, and the bloody glasses picture.
Kind-Tie5236@reddit
I do, but I wasn't clear on who had died until later.
I was a <5yr old child. I remember my uncle visiting, distraught. I think it was the first time I saw an adult crying hard.
I must have been worried, I remember being told that he was crying because someone died.
katwoop@reddit
I was 5 so no
tommytom95131@reddit
Didn’t care then, don’t care now
SomebodysGotToSayIt@reddit
Yeah, we were watching WKRP and they interrupted the show. Connie Chung was the anchor.
But, most kids my age didn’t really care.
Inevitable-Chair4973@reddit
I was a senior in high school. I got up in the morning and went to the bathroom to shave. I turned on the radio and it was playing Number Nine Dream. I remember literally thinking “They never play this on the radio. What a great way to start the day.” Then the announcer came on and said John was dead. Went downstairs and got the paper. The Beatles were on the front and a short mention of his death because it happened so late they had to make deadline. I was numb for several days. Still have the morning and evening editions of our paper. The Beatles were my everything. It took a long time to get past it.
Jillee2@reddit
I was 8 and I remember it being on tv news a lot and seeing pictures of him everywhere. Adults all talking about it. RIPJohnLennon
gvarsity@reddit
I remember it was a huge deal and I didn’t really understand why because my parents were older and not into the Beatles. It was a big enough cultural event that at 9 I was aware of it and that it was important to a lot of people. Front page news. Lead on all tv news. Everyone talking about it. Part of who it was and part that any celebrity being shot on the street was kind of unimaginable.
Direct-Dish1779@reddit
Senseless. I will never understand people who kill like that.
Lennon Selena Grimmie Gaye
So sad.
CowTipper383@reddit
I was 8 and grew up with Beatles music playing in the background almost every day. It’s the only day I remember seeing my father cry.
CPinWISC@reddit
I was 18. It was brutal, shocking.
Traditional_Match_91@reddit
Shot the wrong one. Just sayin
pbredd22@reddit
I was about to turn 6, and already a Beatles fan. I remember finding out from a commercial during Saturday morning cartoons where they mentioned it.
Abpoe77@reddit
Yes, I was young but I remember my mom upset about it. At the time we didn't have much music in our home. Then all of a sudden my mom pulled out some 45s from the attic. They were in green metal box. She didn't play them because we didn't have a stereo but she flipped through and talked about the Beatles for a little while. I remember asking her why she was upset and what were the records for. A short time later we were still in the same house in Connecticut and my dad brought home a Realistic stereo with all of the components, equalizer, receiver, tape deck and turntable. That was my introduction to the Beatles. That was definitely a memory long forgotten until now.
DirtyBoots_1990@reddit
I remember coming home from school and my grandmother was at the table listening to Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. I knew something happened because she was so down.
I think she played that song or the whole record on repeat.
froction@reddit
You didn't hear about it all day at school?
DirtyBoots_1990@reddit
I was in Kindergarten. It may have been talked about at school and I didn’t pay attention or understand.
7GrenciaMars@reddit
My dad is a huge Beatles fan. I remember him telling me about it, and what a tragedy it was (I was 9 at the time).
Candleforce-9728@reddit
My parents were super upset. We played a lot of Beatles records that year.
DeadATL@reddit
I had a Scout Master named John Leonard and thought it was him until I saw the news on the Today show. My mom wasn't into pop music, but I could tell she thought it was significant.
win3luver@reddit
I was in third grade and at CCD and the teacher told us and we talked about it the whole class.
donner_dinner_party@reddit
Yes, but I was 4. I remember my dad being upset as explaining it to me.
steeltoedgeek@reddit
Nope. But I remember the day Elvis died. Because my mom was so upset when she arrived at my preschool to pick me up, they wouldn't let her take me.
Kitzle33@reddit
I was in high school and was watching Monday Night Football when Howard Cosell announced that he had died. Other than 9/11, I don't think anything has stunned me more. It's hard to describe the effect it had on much of the world.
sluggo4511@reddit
Same here, but Gen Jones.
MNF, Cosell.
Disbelief. The beginning of the end of an era for a lot of us.
Kitzle33@reddit
Gen Jones here too. I'm with you.
Puzzleheaded-Post958@reddit
I was in high school, watching Monday night football when Howard Cosell made the announcement. I was devastated.
woodysg1@reddit
I was at 29 palms for training. Reading a playboy with an interview with John and Yoko. Hit us all hard when we heard the news.
rbrumble@reddit
I was in my second year of high school in a rural part of SW Ontario, Canada, and I remember this one girl who was a Beatles fanatic holding her favourite album in the cafeteria before classes started that day crying and rocking. Teachers were crying too, because I think for them it wasn't just the death of a Beatle, or the guy that wanted to give peace a chance, it was the final nail in the coffin of the 60s counterculture, and that was what they were crying for.
Nailer99@reddit
I think you hit the nail on the head here. I was 13, and I remember my Mom and her boyfriend crying, and realizing they weren’t just crying over the loss of one man. I could tell there was something else they were grieving for as well, I just couldn’t name it.
Left-Thinker-5512@reddit
I woke up the morning after and my parents told me about it. I couldn’t believe it. I was an absolute huge Beatles fan. I cried all day long, and my parents made me go to school anyway (I was in 8th grade).
thewrestlingspot@reddit
No. But I was 4.
Cryptoclearance@reddit
I was 11. I saw in announced by Cosell on MNF. Didn’t phase me. I didn’t really know who he was as my parents weren’t fans and I wasn’t exposed at that stage. On the school bus, the weird 16 year old wore an army jacket and had a black bandanna around her arm. She was quiet. Someone older made a joke and she held it back but teared up. I felt sorry for her, now I wish I had been her friend, she was ahead of all of us in our backward ass town.
Lauren_sue@reddit
We didn’t take the bus with 11-year olds but that weird 16 year old could have been me….
Cryptoclearance@reddit
K-12 on that death trap of a bus.
Sigvoncarmen@reddit
I was 15 and my friend drew a tear on his cheek and wore that at school.
Putrid-Tale-5114@reddit
We were a few blocks away, we heard the commotion but thought it was just a movie being filmed. Found out what happened when we got home. I was 9.
Sweetness_Bears_34@reddit
It happened on my mom’s birthday. I remember us telling her when she got home from her birthday dinner celebration. I remember her crying when we told her. I was 14 and she had turned 34 that day.
Hehateme123@reddit
It’s so strange….. I was 5 years old and I have no memory of it whatsoever. However I absolutely remember the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan that happened ~3 months later. That is seared in my brain for some reason.
froction@reddit
Reagan had television footage, much more memorable.
Peugeot531@reddit
Yes, I was on 7th grade social studies class. The teacher cried.
froction@reddit
You didn't hear about it until school hours the next day?
Peugeot531@reddit
I guess. My parents were a bit older than most and not into the Beatles at all. Class is what I remember.
Wabi-Sabi_Umami@reddit
I remember exactly where I was. It was my dad’s visitation weekend and I’d never seen him so visibly upset. My family are huge into music and this was a straight up tragedy. The vibes were traumatizing.
froction@reddit
But it was late at night on a Monday?
Wabi-Sabi_Umami@reddit
His “weekends” with me were often 3-4 day weekends because of my mom’s work schedule.
Lauren_sue@reddit
Yes I was in high school and adored John Lennon. His murder was an absolute shock and I cried. I was asleep by Monday night football so actually found out the morning after, from the radio playing on the school bus on the way to school.
Otney@reddit
Yes. Everyone was shocked and upset.
DrDirt90@reddit
I was 25 and watching MNF when Goward Cosell announced he had been shot. It was so senseless and sad as he had just released a new album and re-establishing his music career.
Bayler@reddit
Mom and dad reacted like they lost a family member.
Conscious-Phone3209@reddit
I was living in N.Y. at the time. When I arrived home from work, I put the radio on and heard it there in sorrow and disbelief I remember it was snowing. Funny the stuff you remember.
Senior-Assumption218@reddit
I was 18 at the time. It was a big deal at the time and covered by the news alot for a week or two. Imo it sparked a temporary nostalgia "all things beatles" into 1981.
PeterPunksNip@reddit
Yes, but honestly I was more shocked by the death of Curt Cobain, Prince and David Bowie
Temporary_Shirt_6236@reddit
I remember exactly. It happened the day of my dad's 40th birthday and mom came into the room crying. She used to see the Beatles play live back in the day and sort of knew one or two of them from school. So yeah it hit her hard. I was just a little kid at the time - Beatles albums were always playing in background around the house back then.
LaStigmata@reddit
I remember. I was a HS freshman laying in bed, listening to WNEW while falling asleep and they were playing back to back John Lennon songs. Then they announced it. He was shot to death. I listened for a few hours as talked about John. It was pretty shocking. I remember they had a world wide moment of silence for him too.
sunfish99@reddit
I was the same age as you, but I didn’t find out until the morning after, when I heard it on WINS while getting ready for school.
Happy-Philosopher188@reddit
I was 14. And in a play. I saw MNF the night it happened. It was very, very somber all the next day, then we had our presentation. Very poor attended, and lots of missing lines. Lots of hugs after, some of the crowd came up and joined us.
dimsumplatter75@reddit
i was 5, so no.
Vegetable_Whole_4825@reddit
I was 7. I remember Reagan getting shot, but not Lennon. Reagan was the first big news event I remember.
ZweitenMal@reddit
I remember finding my mom crying in the kitchen and I asked her what was wrong and she said, “they shot John Lennon.” She has been a big Beatles fan and that probably felt like the end of her youth. She was 27.
VernonDent@reddit
Absolutely, saw Howard Cosell make the announcement on MNF. I was 15.
Upper_Bodybuilder124@reddit
Same. I was 14.
Original-Dinner-435@reddit
Was watching MNF but went to sleep at halftime… my father woke me up told me to watch and i heard cosell talking about it… very surreal… the next few days were mix of news reports and Lennons new songs all day every day.. i was 14… Elvis death didnt bother me but this did as I had been listening to Lennon solo stuff for a few years up to this
officially-random@reddit
I was 4. One of my earliest memories is reading an article in maybe TV Guide or People magazine about a TV show about his death maybe a few weeks afterward.
eperker@reddit
I remember it very well. I was 8 and The Beatles were so much a part of our lives that I really thought they were family. My father did some modeling when he was younger and he posed as Ringo in some advertisement. When I was very young, the wires got crossed so on some level, I thought he was a Beatle. I was watching TV and the show was interrupted to announce his death. I ran upstairs to tell my parents. John's death was, to me, the first death in my family. I'm getting choked up thinking about it right now. I'm not over it.
froction@reddit
OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENED TO JOHN LENNON????
devineassistance@reddit
I was 14. That week, I had eagerly purchased the 8-Track tape of Double Fantasy. I was still asleep when it happened; my Mom came in to wake me and break the news.
lewisfairchild@reddit
Yes
Careless_Ocelot_4485@reddit
Yes. I was 13 and for some reason I was watching Monday Night Football while I did homework. Heard Howard Cosell make the announcement.
Callahan333@reddit
I was 5. I remember my mother crying and watching ABC news about it.
Mistervimes65@reddit
Yeah. I was 15. I remember finding out the next day iirc.
Weird-one0926@reddit
13 and I heard it on the radio's hourly news break late that night. It really was a major turning point in my life , it still hurts to think about.
It also caused me to absolutely hate "catcher in the rye" because to my mind, it must have been a horrible book if a monster like chapman had it with him.
Responsible-Baby-551@reddit
I was 14 and learned about it watching MNF from Howard Cosell
shitty_advice_BDD@reddit
TIL John Lennon is dead.
Geniusinternetguy@reddit
I was about 9. I remember. I knew who he was. My older sisters were devastated.
OSDom22@reddit
Vividly. I was watching the Dolphins play on the Monday Night Football broadcast when Howard Cosell announced it. I was only 12. Those first days to week it was on the news a lot and there were memorial gatherings everywhere. I remember books and magazines everywhere about his life springing up after, I still have several of them.
Solid_College_9145@reddit
I was watching The Honeymooners on my little B&W TV late at night in my room when the breaking news interruption came on.
LissyVee@reddit
I was 14 and remember the absolute disbelief. The newspapers, the news reports were just stunned as to how this could possibly have happened.
SGT-JamesonBushmill@reddit
I was 13. As far as I know, the first mention of it here in the USA came on Monday Night Football. Color commentator Howard Cossell made the announcement some time close to midnight on the east coast. I was too young to be staying up that late, but I remember my dad telling me the next morning.
I knew who the Beatles were, and was just starting to get into their music. However, I remember my parents and my uncles being devastated. I didn't quite understand the big deal about him being away from music for five years then and then making his "comeback" with Double Fantasy.
If I didn't totall appreciate the significance at the time, Elvis' death and John's death are both seared into my childhood memories.
trainsacrossthesea@reddit
I was 13 in a small Kansas town. Random lethal violence was not part of my conscious. I just could not wrap my head around that, as a reality.
SnowflakeSWorker@reddit
We were at OB/GYN office, my mom was pregnant with my younger brother when she found out. Everyone was crying. Definitely one of my first episodic memories.
Usedtobeproductive@reddit
I remember a few minutes of silence around our dining room table maybe the next day,I was 7…
strongdon@reddit
I was 15 and in SW Pennsylvania, my mom was taking me to buy new hockey skates, I think they were Jofa's. There was a big sheet of plywood spray painted "Lennon Lives" on the way- that's how I found out. I asked mom, she explained what happened. I remember being very confused as to why someone would do that... it's still a vivid feeling.
gremlin68@reddit
I was in the crowd singing Give Peace a Chance on West 72th Street in front of The Dakota, the building he lived in.
AdequateZoolander@reddit
What was the Strawberry Fields thing?
TheFoxsWeddingTarot@reddit
Yes but for some reason Marvin Gaye hit harder.
AdequateZoolander@reddit
Marvin Gaye's death was more traumatic because of how it happened and who did it. It was surreal.
TheFoxsWeddingTarot@reddit
Yeah that’s very much how I felt even though I was 16 I really felt it.
Alternative-Law4626@reddit
Yeah, I was in high school and had been a big Beatles fan. So, it was a big deal to me. I still have the Time magazine from that week.
John had just released a new album and it was getting decent play and the critics seemed to like it. He’d been not making albums for a little while so it was kinda big that he’d started again.
The murder itself was shocking and sent a big shockwave through the industry, fans, and the public in general. Response was immediate. Spontaneous shrines popped up overnight. Plans were made for memorials throughout the country. I attended one in Omaha at Rosanblatt stadium where the college World Series used to be held. The stadium was very well filled. A few speakers mostly music it ended with the final note from A Day In The Life. Lots of tears were shed that day.
devildoc8804hmcs@reddit
My English teacher had a nervous breakdown over it. She had to go out on leave tbe rest of the year.
justino@reddit
I remember. I was super young but obsessed with the Beatles. It was definitely a weird thing to me, having my parents sit me down and tell me
X-Bones_21@reddit
I was only 8 yo, but I remember it. It was all over the news and my mom was distraught. Beatles and John Lennon songs on the radio for three days straight. Many people were calling it a tragedy, but I was too young to understand the full implications of the event.
TaxPuzzleheaded5688@reddit
I was at work in Ventura CA when the DJ on the radio station KTYD announced it. It felt like part of my childhood died. It was a pretty rough couple of days while the whole story unfolded. John was making a comeback with Double Fantasy and doing interviews promoting it.
splorp_evilbastard@reddit
I remember. I was only 9, but my mom had got me into The Beatles and I stayed a big fan.
I kept hearing about how he was assassinated (as opposed to murdered). I couldn't grasp why someone would assassinate him. Assassinations were political things. He wasn't political, to me. He was a musician.
tonga_money@reddit
I remember my mom's best friend coming over and they listened to john songs all night and cried.
Skankhun369@reddit
I was in Middle School at the time and still remember it
BradleyFerdBerfel@reddit
I was about 20 years old, at my buddies apartment across the street from where I worked. Drinking beer, playing Rummy. Heard it on the radio. My buddy didn't say a word. He stood up, walked into his bedroom, then walked back out carrying a can of gold spray paint. He walked out the door. I followed him. He walked across the street to where my car was parked. I followed him. He jumped up on the hood of my '72 Vega and spray painted a giant peace sign on my hood. He jumped off the hood on the drivers side and proceeded to spray paint "GIVE PEACE A CHANCE" down the entire length of my drivers side. Never asked permission, never said a word. Side note: A couple months later I gave a different buddy a can of white spray paint for his birthday and he wrote "MY AIM IS TRUE" down the entire length of my passenger side (We were big Elvis Costello fans. Still am, but was then too.) I REALLY wish I had a picture of that car.
that-thingy66@reddit
A 14 yr old me watchin MNF , shock, and numb is what I recall. One week later, watchin MNF , phone rings late on 4th qtr, my great aunt, says plz wake ur mom. I knew.my grandma was dead. I never forget those two Mondays. Grateful I still have his music & her sense of humor. Plus a few photos of her riding on the back of a motorcycle with Bob Newhart 😊
Littleleicesterfoxy@reddit
Yes, my mum was a huge Beatles/lennon fan and was devastated
archedhighbrow@reddit
I was 13 and remember feeling sad for him and his family.
PerceptionOk3196@reddit
The only reason I remember (I was 5) is because my mom was/is an INSANE Beatles fan and John Lennon was worshipped in my house. She locked herself in the bathroom for most of the night and cried. She was also in the middle of a divorce from my dad and positively lost her shit. It was scary for me as a little kid.
5-ChihuahuaNight-725@reddit
I was 10. My mom cried off and on through the new year. Listened to a lot of Beatles and his solo work. She collected as many newspaper clips and magazines about him as she could. Sad times.
Worried_Buffalo_8535@reddit
I remember the story leading the evening news. I had no idea who he or the Beatles were at that time. Neither one of my parents seemed too bothered by it but in the years after they both thought that the CIA had him killed.
kwiscalus@reddit
I was 17 (dont tell me I'm a boomer cuz I'm not) and came home early from a date. Turned on the radio and Imagine was playing. It was one of those times you listen to a song you've heard a thousand times but for some reason this particular time it hits you hard. Then the DJ came on and said what happened. I was in Austin and the next night (I think) people gathered around a big lighted Christmas tree in the park and sang Give Peace a Chance. Not sure how we all knew to go there without these dang phones, etc.
Public_Anybody_6269@reddit
yes you are !
AForse@reddit
I was sitting on the floor of my parents bedroom, talking to my first girlfriend( Hi! A-L.G!!) when the news came over the radio. My parents were a little old for The Beatles, and so didn’t play their music at home, and so at 13, while I may have heard of them, I certainly didn’t know who the individual members were. A year or two later was when the impact really hit me..
Experimental_Salad@reddit
Very much so. I was 9 and already well versed in both the White Album and Abbey Road.
It was really cold that morning. We had a wood burning stove in the basement that vented into a corner of the kitchen. I was sitting with my feet over the vent to warm them up. Mom had the radio on, which was playing Beatle songs. She told me what happened just as the DJ was coming on the radio to talk about it.
When I got to school, I remember nearly all of the teachers being visibly upset.
Scarecrow426@reddit
I was 7. As I got older, I thought it was weird that I don't remember anything about John Lennon's murder, but I completely remember Ronald Reagan being shot a few months later.
sugahack@reddit
I liked hearing Regan speak and I understood why the president was someone we should care about. I dont think I had any context for Lennon. I was like 3
CatOfGrey@reddit
Yep!
I was a teenager. I saw the announcement on local news, and I remember my Mom wasn't home at the time. My actual memory is her coming home, and me saying "I don't know if this is a big deal or not, but...."
He was still a major public figure, though it was nothing like it would have been in 1968 or so, when 'full Beatlemania' was still in force. I don't remember it being a big deal in my school the next day, but the arrest of the killer and related events were major news stories, in an era where news was pretty much one daily paper and three networks.
WeAreOurDeeds@reddit
Yes. I was 11. I was shocked and sad.
BigRemove9366@reddit
He was just about to release a new album, and he was still popular. It hit a lot of people hard at the time.
Away_Bit_3382@reddit
December 8, 1980. Had just turned 19 on December 3rd. Was out of Navy boot camp in Pensacola, FL & in my first Navy school.
sugahack@reddit
Don't think so? I have a fuzzy memory of someone dying and not having any clue why it was a big deal. Might have been for that
Melodic-Comb9076@reddit
barely.
just remember everyone trying to buy albums when it went down.
InstructionOwn2106@reddit
I remember my brother being very upset. My dad was actually in NY for a medical Academy meeting. He swears he rode the elevator with Chapman the day before because he stood out on the elevator ride.
MrNinoBrown1906@reddit
No i was too young
pwaltman1972@reddit
Vaguely. I was 8 at the time, but didn't really listen to his music as my parents weren't really into pop music at the time (my father only listened to classical).
I remember the period when he died, and I remember it being in the news, and also have a distinct memory of Yoko Ono saying that all music stations in the US should have a shared moment of silence in his memory, but I didn't really appreciate how significant or influential he was.
mltrout715@reddit
Yes. I was watching the MNF games when Howard Cosell gave the news.
IDunnoNuthinMr@reddit
Same. Was watching MNF.
Needleworker_Radiant@reddit
I remember hearing my Mum freaking out about it and then coming downstairs to find her watching a report about it on the news. As a 5yo I didn't have any context, but I was aware of what a big deal it was for the adults in my life.
Arglebarglor@reddit
I was 10 years old and heavily into the Beatles and John was my favorite. My parents told me when I woke up for school in the morning and I lay down on the couch and cried.
HypotenuseOfTentacle@reddit
I was still pretty young but I have clear memories of my mom freaking the f*** out over it
miteycasey@reddit
No
pangysmerf@reddit
I was a freshman in HS. I was laying in bed listening to the radio. WPGU when the news came on - it was late my time.
To answer your question - yes I remember it very clearly.
SciFiFan24@reddit
I was devastated. The Beatles were (and probably still are) my favorite. Literally had a dream last night that I was hanging out with Paul and George.
BlubberSalad@reddit
Just got home from skiing. I was 12. Everyone was horrified and crying.
Komaisnotsalty@reddit
Easily. I was only 8 but certainly knew who he was and the significance of his death.
Oh-THAT-dude@reddit
Very well. I was listening to my college radio station when the DJ came on and reported his death, then proceeded to play Beatles and Lennon solo stuff for the rest of his shift. A very sad day.
Reasonable-Mousse666@reddit
I was 16. I knew instantly the tides were turning away from peace and human rights to war and money grubbing. We had lost a hero. I sobbed. Liked the Beatles (love now, I was a new wavy/punk lol) but he was so much more.
mydogargos@reddit
I was 10 years old when it happened and the local radio station played a non stop set of his solo music and it wasn't until that point that I realized how many songs that I loved were all done by him. Very sad day.
Optimal-Ad-7074@reddit
yup, I was 15. I recall being sobered and shocked, but it kind of blurred into the background of my own life events in that year.
Brief-Phrase-6575@reddit
Absolutely! I was 9 and watching Monday Night Football with my old man when Howard Cosell announced it. I was too young to understand much, my folks were older—more Elvis than Beatles—so at that point I barely knew who Lennon was. But I remember next day at school some teachers were crying and my friend’s older sister was upset….I gradually became aware this was a big deal.
Truth be told, the Pope getting shot the following year was a much bigger deal in my heavily Catholic town.
NoKing9900@reddit
Older GenXer here (1965), so yes, I remember it quite well. I was already in high school by that point. Most of the crowd I hung around with really enjoyed the Beatles, so it was pretty upsetting
quizzle_dude@reddit
Yep. 8th grade, heard it on the radio before school. What a bummer.
RHGOtakuxxx@reddit
Same, I was devastated.
DuchessOfLansdale@reddit
It still hurts to think about that day in history. I was 13 when I heard it on my am/fm radio… he was very relevant at that time as he had a new album and a current top 40 song 😢
CharleyDawg@reddit
17 years old and it hit hard.
ThatGirlWren@reddit
Vividly. My mom and I cried while watching the news.
RHGOtakuxxx@reddit
I was 14, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I went to school crying, and I could not stop. My friends tried to comfort me. I had been a huge Beatles fan when I was 11-12, and John's sensitive, introspective music and the passion he infused in it always touched me deeply.
Asa-Ryder@reddit
Yeah. 54M here.
hkusp45css@reddit
I was overseas in the KSA and about 5 years old.
space_god_7191@reddit (OP)
Are you Saudi?
hkusp45css@reddit
oil brat
Lazy-Improvement-676@reddit
Yes. I was 6 and remember it being on the news and my parents being shattered. One of my clearest early memories. Always go the Dakota when visit NYC.
GrumpySnarf@reddit
I was almost 5. I woke up because I heard someone sobbing. I came downstairs and saw my (25 y.o.) mother bawling and smoking a bong by herself. First time I smelled weed. She was aghast that I caught her smoking and she put me back to bed.
Bflatclar1981@reddit
I do. My senior year of college. I could not believe it. John Lennon was beloved then, and people I knew mourned his loss and, we thought, the idiotic direction our country was pointing with gun violence.
Groovy_Chainsaw@reddit
He had just released his Double Fantasy album and as I recall, it was well received. Howard Cosell reported the shooting on Monday Night Football before it was verified. I had a paper route, and I remember delivering the morning paper the next day -- front page news. It was very " American Pie " for me ( Don McClean's song, not the pie fucking movie ), " Bad news on the doorstep "
jennief158@reddit
The only thing I really remember is that I think I found out about it when I was watching Monday Night Football with my dad and Howard Cosell announced it.
kittyhm@reddit
It was my 7th birthday. Had 3 much older sisters so knew his music well at the time.
InvestigatorJaded261@reddit
Totally. I was ten and I was crushed. I had been hoping for a Beatles reunion the way some people hope for the Second Coming.
Whereas I had never even heard of Elvis until the day he died. I was significantly younger at the time, but still.
Strangely-addictive@reddit
I was 10 and my parents weren't music people so not really. Now the pope being shot, that I remember.
No_Cranberry_616@reddit
I worked at Licorice Pizza at the time. He had just released his album, Double Fantasy, and there was a line out the door for days.
Crabbyrob@reddit
Yes. I was 5. I remember watching the news and my dad telling me that the guy on the record I always listened to was killed.
Fiver43@reddit
Yes, absolutely. I was six but already really into the Beatles.
jellywelly15@reddit
Yes, I do! Also, Sid Vicious, Marc Bolan and Elvis !
philistus@reddit
My family and I were watching Heart to Heart on tv when the news broke in with a special report. My aunts were crying. They loved John and the Beatles. It seemed like a major event.
Joanr719@reddit
Yes his death got nationwide TV and radio coverage for several days although my friends and I were more upset over the death of John Bonham a few weeks earlier.
DrHarryWolper@reddit
Yep...I was 11. It was a very big deal. I remember everyone being shocked and it being all over the news and talked about everywhere.
BiffBanter@reddit
I remember someone at grade school told me. I thought he said John Lydon was dead and I was devastated. Then, I found out it was Lennon and I was relieved. I was weird.
Salty_Button@reddit
Yep I was 12 and I bought imagine and helped it to stay at number one 👍
Yikesish@reddit
Not really but I do remember the death of Elvis. The adults in my life were way more into Elvis.
feeb75@reddit
no I was like 5
ackack9999@reddit
I remember my brother was about 12, super into music. He burst into the kitchen in tears saying “John Lenon’s been shot.” I didn’t know who that was.
kboleen@reddit
I was fourteen in 1980. Honestly I wasn’t really into the Beatles so while I understood and knew who he was it really didn’t resonate with me. Now Elvis, my mom’s friend and neighbor was a fanatical fan of Elvis and when he died she was inconsolable.
jfhndz@reddit
My father and I were watching Monday Night Football when Howard Cosell announced his death. My mother saw the Beatles in ‘65 and we had all their albums. Sad times
Got_Bent@reddit
Same
Sorry_Survey_9600@reddit
My dad and I were watching as well
UKophile@reddit
Wildly, super popular/influential. It was a horrible shock. Everyone remembers where they were. A peaceful, love-oriented man, murdered by a mad gunman. I’m still shocked.
Got_Bent@reddit
That sucked. I am a big Beatles and John Lennon fan and this was out of the blue.
bavindicator@reddit
I r member it. I was 11 it made no impact in me. The Beatles to me at that time were just something I had to endure on the radio.
speed_of_chill@reddit
I remember, and I knew who he was since my mother was almost as much of a Beatles fan as she was an Elvis fan.
SGFCardenales@reddit
I was in 6th grade. I knew who he was, that he’d been in the Beatles, but he’d slowly grown irrelevant in popular music and was almost reclusive. At the time I thought of him as part of the dead counter-culture/hippie/anti-war movement. By that point, the Vietnam war was over and everyone was home and I was more interested in the Space Shuttle launch than the politics of a member of a band that hadn’t released a record that I’d ever heard on the radio.
space_god_7191@reddit (OP)
What would the equivalent in 2026 be of John Lennon getting assassinated in 1980?
Suspicious-Yogurt480@reddit
Maybe Beyoncé or Harry Styles—no, more like Lin Manuel Miranda. I’m not comparing the respective talents, i’m trying to come up with a culturally large enough icon internationally recognized both for their musical output and political views, sometimes polarizing, sometimes not, that would stun people to hear they are killed.
SGFCardenales@reddit
I’m not sure the would ever be an equivalent. Comparing John Lennon to Justin Bieber, for example, is tantamount sacrilege.
jauntmag@reddit
I was eight and didn’t know who he was at the time, but it’s the first time I remember my parents being visibly upset by something on the news.
fridayimatwork@reddit
When my sister graduated Columbia it was just a given I’d want to see where he died
IndependentlyGreen@reddit
Yep. Went to NYC on my 40th birthday 2008. I stood near the entrance of his apartment building where it happened. I visited Strawberry Fields memorial in Central Park. I think his ashes were scattered there. A lot of people were there even early morning.
DeFiClark@reddit
I was in eighth grade.
When we heard the news the most unpleasant person in our class was in tears, and another helpful classmate looked her in the face and said “I’m glad he’s dead”. She totally lost it and went psycho on him.
She went on to be an MD and he became an ambassador, so go figure.
I remember some kind of candlelight handgun violence vigil thing was held but the only reason I would have gone was the opportunity to hug sad girls, and the ones I liked weren’t going.
He was really well known, even in 1980 the Beatles were common on the radio.
LordZany@reddit
I remember being in the car with my family and hearing it on the radio. I was devastated. I was 10
tnic73@reddit
oddly no. i remember seeing star wars in the theater and the hostages in iran but not lennon's murder. it's more like i was always vaguely aware of it and my mother was an avid beatles fan
South-Log-6536@reddit
I remember coming home from school, grade 3 I think, and my mum was crying.
this_kitty68@reddit
How popular was he? Really? He was still a huge pop culture and political figure. He was being watched by the FBI. There are several documentaries about his life during and after the Beatles, BTW. I was 12 and it really freaked me out. I remember thinking briefly that I was glad it wasn’t Paul that had been shot, but it was devastating. I didn’t understand how anyone would want to hurt him. It affected me much more than Elvis’ death.
autoaspiemome3@reddit
No but just last month my spouse and I found out about each other's connection. As a teen, I met the journalist who was allowed to interview Mark David Chapman. My spouse attended a medical conference where the physician who operated on Lennon spoke and went into detail about his injuries.
_WillCAD_@reddit
It was big news, but I had no idea who he was until "Beatles". Oh, he was the John in John, Paul, George, and Ringo! Okay.
What time's dinner?
Dada2fish@reddit
I remember very well when I got the news. It was especially tragic as it was so senseless and he had just made a comeback with a new album after taking some years off.
It was such a huge reaction that radio stations around the world observed a moment of silence to honor him.
One of the few times I ever saw my older brother cry.
itsmyparty45@reddit
No, I was 7 and wouldn't have known who he was. My parents didn't listen to music.
JumpingJackFlashes@reddit
Shock
wiseoldprogrammer@reddit
I was in college, doing homework with the TV on. Got up and ran to the campus radio station I worked at to make sure someone there had seen it and read it on the air.
HHSquad@reddit
Yes, I was upset about it for several days. I got very quiet.
flyingfish_roe@reddit
It was like 9/11, everyone wandering around shocked and stunned. Remember President Reagan was also shot and for a moment it seemed like we’d go through the whole 60s JFK/RFK/MLK again.
Robviously-duh@reddit
yes.. so many girls crying..
Tryingnottomessup@reddit
I was at a friends house around the corner on 73rd and CPW when it happened.
LayerNo3634@reddit
I remember when Elvis died, but not John Lennon. I had no clue who they were. Only remember Elvis because we were on a road trip and I remember my parents reaction. She said the King, and I was like, "of England?"
AffectionateWheel386@reddit
I’m remember the day that it happened. It’s one of those things for me that stood out historically like you know where you are what you were doing I was young and had a roommate who had abandoned the apartment and I was watching TV or had it on in the background. And I heard it being announced. It was cold that day.
beagles4ever@reddit
I was 12 and my parents were booms and big Beatles fans - of course I remember it - vividly.
Same-Criticism5262@reddit
I remember being young, and my parents being terribly upset. We were out looking at Christmas lights when the news came on the radio. Still don’t enjoy Christmas lights.
SurpriseDesperate156@reddit
We were watching football and Howard Cosell told us , my mother started crying
suburbanplankton@reddit
You and I, and millions of other people, heard the news while watching Monday Night Football.
I was 13, and had heard of the Beatles, but that was about the extent of my musical knowledge...but by the next morning, my ears had been opened.
Ok-Strawberry-7350@reddit
I was 18 and out with a friend when I heard. My friend liked him so much that he started falling apart.
takotako577@reddit
Very vaguely. I was 6. I don't remember finding out. I do remember being sad because I was already a Beatles fan even at that age. The one thing I vividly remember is a teacher talking about it in school because it was the first time many of us ever heard about cremation and the whole idea sounded so scary to us.
SadieSadieBoBady@reddit
He and Yoko were doing multiple contrived attempts to drive attention to their terrible yoko/john albums. They were highly politicized, and highly paid artists. He was greatly mourned and it became a spectacle.
sherlockjr1@reddit
To be fair, this last John and Yoko album was better than most. The B-52’s copied her.
SadieSadieBoBady@reddit
Best than most John Lennon albums, arguable. Better than MOST ALBUMS, like saying it’s better than most MUSICAL ALBUMS IN EXISTENCE?!? Ugh, nah, only JL/Beatles Stans would even try to say that.
sherlockjr1@reddit
I didn’t say any of that. Better is not best. And I’m only comparing Double Fantasy with other John and Yoko albums. After a while he would make his own albums and help produce hers separately. The last album was the first one where I didn’t feel like skipping all her songs entirely
WKRPinCanada@reddit
I clearly remember hearing about it on the radio..they broke into a song to announce it
Definitely one of those "where were you" moments in my life
sherlockjr1@reddit
Yep. The last generation had Kennedy. This was mine. I still remember exactly what I was doing when I heard
WKRPinCanada@reddit
Where were you if you don't mind me asking?
I was on my bed, headphones on, listening to the radio trying to avoid my 3 older sisters
Instant 💔
sherlockjr1@reddit
I had gone to bed because I had school the next day. Mom came in and told me what they’d just heard on Monday Night News. I immediately cried into my pillow, and stayed awake as long as I could
WKRPinCanada@reddit
Yeah that's rough...
Affectionate_Cost_88@reddit
I was in sixth grade, doing my homework at the kitchen table and my dad was watching the football game in the living room. I remember Howard Cosell announcing that he'd been shot. My parents weren't big Beatles fans, but had a few of their records and I was familiar with their music just because of that. As a sensitive kid, I remember feeling very upset just at the thought of anyone being killed like that. I wasn't really aware of the significance, but I still remember that very uneasy feeling and how confusing it felt.
WhisperedSoul@reddit
I was in 8th and had discovered the Beatles in 5th grade. We were unusual to be fans at that age.
I was utterly devastated. I still cannot believe that’s how it happened.
Inessence4@reddit
I was 7 so barely.
dukeplissken@reddit
I was 15 and watching Monday Night Football when it was announced. Serious disbelief and shock.
sherlockjr1@reddit
A bit older but yeah
pythongee@reddit
Was watching as well. Howard Cossell announced it during the game. Pretty sure Howie didn't have a clue who John Lennon was.
SirkutBored@reddit
A bit younger but I was watching too, couldn't tell you who was playing but I still remember how Cosell's voice broke when he announced it.
dukeplissken@reddit
I think the Houston Oilers were one of the teams.....( Fuck I'm old !! Lol)
Powerful_Geologist95@reddit
I remember it was winter and his new music at the time (Double Fantasy) had been in heavy rotation on the radio. There were the singles “Woman” and my personal favorite “Just Like Staring Over.” Shortly afterward it was reported that he had been shot and killed outside of his apartment. I recall watching the coverage on the news and all of the fans in New York gathering outside of The Dakota Apartments. The television coverage of all the candlelight vigils and the sadness in everyone. Every time I would see that b/w cover from the Double Fantasy album, it made me feel sorry for his wife/sons.
redditdoggnight@reddit
I was 7 and music was huge in my family.
This was the first album I received as gift for my very first record player type stereo-also a gift and also from Sears.
We owned a pro-music equipment store and studio in a small town. EVERYONE I knew came into the store that afternoon to play Beatles stuff.
Pretty memorable.
nanniej@reddit
It was winter break my freshman year in college. Dad picked me up that day to bring me home when I heard.
dstarpro@reddit
Yes.
wmnoe@reddit
i remember seeing my dad cry which didnt happen very often
TitoBandito5@reddit
8th grade - lying on the floor doing homework with my local FM rock station playing. They broke mid-song to announce it. 1980 was a huge year for loss considering John Bonham & Bon Scott had also passed.
sherlockjr1@reddit
I was 16 or 17. I had just worn my Lennon with a cigarette T-shirt with Robin Williams suspenders. Double Fantasy felt like a new beginning for him. He seemed happy and hopeful.
I had school the next day so I had gone to bed. The news broke during Monday Night Football. Mom came and told me. I cried into my pillow, turned on the rock station that was playing all Lennon and Beatles music. I fell asleep around midnight. Wore the same T-shirt the next day. Some of my classmates looked like someone in the family died.
Looking back, it was the happy hopefulness that got me and still gets me. Suddenly he was gone.
bmiller218@reddit
I was 11 and also found out through MNF. The Beatles had been background music my whole life, but I wasn't really all that effected by it. I don't recall my mom's reaction (loved the Beatles) but the marriage was on the way out (divorced next May) so she had other things on her mind, I'm sure.
WillBrink@reddit
Very well. It happened in NYC where I was. My mother was especially heart broken over it.
rogun64@reddit
I remember seeing the headline in the morning paper when I was 12. Although I was familiar with the Beetles, they'd been broken up for a while and so it was still music from yesteryear to me. Kind of similar to when Elvis died.
When Reagan was shot a few months later, it seemed like assassination attempts on famous people was trending for a while.
inigo_montoya@reddit
I was about 13 I guess. It sucked. Totally senseless. I was a Beatles fan and owned some LPs. I think I had a cassette of his last album, but probably bought it after his death.
sherlockjr1@reddit
I got his last album as a Christmas present
Training-Purple-5220@reddit
I was 4, so I really didn’t know about it.
Balkicat@reddit
Same here, but when I became a Beatles fan when I was 10 my mom told me she had written Yoko when John was killed. She never wrote back but that's understandable.
LauraLand27@reddit
My mom woke me up for school and told me. I was in junior high. When I got on the bus, my BFF in the back raised her fist yelling, “Long Live John Lennon!”
1_Urban_Achiever@reddit
I was 16. The Beatles weren’t on the radar of most high school kids, so his death was a curiosity. It didn’t affect kids in an emotional level. We were into Zep, Styx, Journey, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Pink Floyd, Rush, REO Speedwagon, the Police….
The death of John Bonham 2 years earlier was a huge deal. There were kids crying at school over that.
sherlockjr1@reddit
Bonham hit a girlfriend harder than me. She was a big Zeppelin fan. I was a big Beatles fan. I wasn’t a big Lennon fan, but his new album sounded interesting, and I was glad for him because he seemed happy
cybaz@reddit
I was 10, my parents were Silent Generation, so they had little interest in the Beatles, but my youngest Aunt was a Boomer, and she gave me a bunch of Beatles albums. I remember seeing it on the news, but it was such a strange event, it was hard for me to process.
texicali74@reddit
I’m pretty sure my dad was watching the Monday Night Football game where Howard Cosell announced it.
Reverend-Keith@reddit
I remember when one of my friends broke the news that Reagan was shot, I dismissed it as him remembering when Lennon was shot the year before. Apparently, paying attention was never my strong point.
GuyD427@reddit
I was born in ‘67 and lived on Long Island. It was a big deal and very sad in my community.
Bartlaus@reddit
Not really? Although I had started paying attention to world news by then. I was 8. I do remember stuff like the boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics, the US election, etc.
9inez@reddit
Yes. I was a freshman in high school and someone painted “Lennon Lives!” Across the garage door of a house being built down the street.
I appreciate the Beatles as a group and as individuals way more now than I did as a 15 year old in Dec 1980. John’s murder was pretty impactful culturally even without an internet to contort the event in crazy ways.
mattbnet@reddit
Yes. I was in 5th grade and it was all over the news. My mom was a big fan and my teacher made a comment about how he was "Just another singing hippy." which mom found highly offensive.
Barragin@reddit
I was 7 and I remember my mom crying about it, and the news was all over the radio stations.
PsychologyFancy2743@reddit
Same.
edgarecayce@reddit
I was 10. Had been brought up on the Beatles since day one.
I remember my dad had built this stereo cabinet, the kind with a lid that opened up and the stereo equipment was mounted with the faces pointing up, next to the record player. It had cabinets under it for the reel to reel. We had that thing for years.
Anyway I remember my mom running into the living room and turning on the radio - she was on the phone and the loooong curly wire was stretched from the kitchen. Someone had just told her about it. They were talking about it on the radio. We were in shock and I remember my mom and me just crying.
Very visual memory I have of the event.
bankrobberdub@reddit
Yes. I was 13 and beginning a life long love affair with rocknroll. Saved papers that are probably in my mom's attic...
TheEvilOfTwoLessers@reddit
Not very well. I was around 9. I know my mother and aunts watched the news about it, but that’s all.
ButterflyFair3012@reddit
The blue and red albums came out about 1974 when I was 11. I had them and most of my friends had them as well. It kind of reintroduced the Beatles to people my age. I was 16 when he died and it was quite a shock. I remember thinking there were a couple of my friends who would be devastated.
Much_Usual_3855@reddit
Nope, wasn't born yet
Old-Somewhere-6084@reddit
Yes, but I wasn’t really into Lennon or the Beatles, so the shock wasn’t that big.
OTOH Bon Scott died that same year, and that did leave an impression on me.
wellbloom@reddit
Yes! Oddly enough we share the same birthday. :)
jf737@reddit
I was 6. I didn’t understand the gravity of it. I just knew someone important had been shot. But I def remember it happening.
drunkenfool@reddit
I was 6 as well. I remember my mom was on the couch crying, and I asked her why. She just said “John Lennon Died”. I don’t remember too much around that time, but that memory is cemented in my brain. She was a massive Beatles fan, so I knew this was a very bad day for her.
general-illness@reddit
I remember some people being really sad.
JonathanTrager@reddit
I was 10, but strangely have next to no memory of it.
edgarjwatson@reddit
My parents had recently divorced. Living with Mom. She loved The Beatles. I listened to her Beatles records growing up, so I liked them a lot.
It was a sad time for me and before the year was over I was convinced that if Santa Claus was ever real, someone would have killed him by now.
SomeCar@reddit
I was about 6-7 at the time, but I don't remember it.
Fulghn@reddit
Vaguely. I was in 8th grade. I wasn't a Beetle's fan and my perception of Lennon was largely colored by the post Beetles break up drama and the back and for toxicity regarding that and Yoko Ono which was ever present in the news throughout the 70s.
Minimum_Painter_3687@reddit
What I remember most was how upset my older sister was. Even my parents were somewhat shocked and they were definitely not Beatles fans by any stretch. We heard about it on the radio.
I had no clue of who he was at that age. I knew nothing of his personal life or that he was a former Beatle. Hell, I didn’t know anything about the Beatles at that point.
It’s worth noting that he had tried to distance himself from public life for five or six years at that point. He wasn’t exactly front page news, despite being John freakin Lennon.Pretty much everyone around my age had no idea who the Beatles were because they’d been broken up for a decade.
SufficientOpening218@reddit
i was in junior high and we cried in the hallways. the principal announced it over the PA and played Imagine.
Tinyberzerker@reddit
I remember as a little kid. Beatles' records were often playing in my house and my dad was extremely upset, so I was upset too.
NeoPrimitiveOasis@reddit
I was 8. I remember the wall-to-wall TV coverage outside Lennon and Ono's apartment building. Lots of media in NYC. It was a big deal and dominated media coverage for weeks.
anothercynic2112@reddit
When it was announced I didn't know he was a Beatle. I just knew it was a big deal to a lot of people. Then quickly had to act like of course I knew, I just didn't hear it right
Sfingi48@reddit
Yep. I was a little child but remembered my mom crying for days.
achillea4@reddit
I was a teenager in Liverpool at the time so it was a big deal. We played his last record Double Fantasy endlessly and it was on the radio a lot. It was very shocking.
ohnodamo@reddit
I remember that album playing constantly after he was killed, especially "Starting Over."
rundabrun@reddit
I remember. The song (Just Like) Starting over was in rotation at the time. It was like, damn, that is sad, but that is about it, I was a Beatles fan, but I think my parents were indifferent.
Ineffable7980x@reddit
Yes, I was 15. I was getting ready for bed and my parents were watching the late news and called me and my brother down when they heard. We all were shocked, of course.
deptrd1000@reddit
Yes I was watching Monday night football gm Howard Cossell announced it .
Complete_Eye343@reddit
Yes, I woke my mother up to tell her and she said she didn’t care
Eleutherlothario@reddit
I remember. To me, it was something that happened very far away to someone I didn't know and and had no connection with, so I didn't know why anyone should care. The name was something I may have seen on a magazine once.
The world was a lot more isolated and mutch less media-driven back then.
Ill_Pressure3893@reddit
My fourth-grade teacher was devastated. And he was a tough guy. My mom was upset, too.
fuckyeahcaricci@reddit
I was 17 and I felt a jolt every time I thought about it for many, many years. He was a BEATLE, for heaven's sake. Nobody then considered him to be the world's biggest dick, as someone here has said. I'm going to say that John is my second favorite Beatle after George.
He had just put out a new album that was already getting some airplay. Certainly nobody had forgotten him during the time he was staying home with his kid. And, again, he was a Beatle. I cannot stress how much that mattered, even in 1980.
Also, it was a senseless crime, committed by a madman.
space_god_7191@reddit (OP)
If a similar incident were to happen in 2026, what would be the equivalent celeb in terms of total shock.
Lumpy-Artist-6996@reddit
I was a HUGE Beatles fan and remember this vividly. My dad was watching football, and Howard Cossell of all people announced it during the broadcast.
A friend of mine called to see if I had heard the news, and I just cried. It was the first big celebrity loss that felt personal. I remember my aunt being devastated when Elvis died, but it didn't feel as traumatic to me.
NoSummer1345@reddit
My boomer mom immediately said “Yoko did it!”
tandem_kayak@reddit
I wasn't really aware of who he was at the time.
omfgwhatever@reddit
It happened on parent folks' 1st anniversary. (Mom and step-dad).
fireflypoet@reddit
When it happened I was living in CT. I had a job on the RI border I drove back and forth to, plus I was doing a lot of driving between a few other places. For days afterward, the air waves (it was typical to use the car radio for music) were full of his music. I remember long drives on country roads with hour after hour of his songs. It felt enchanting and tragic at the same time.
Title-Bully@reddit
Yes. Crazy, horrible, moment in time. Got roused by my old man (hated John) who told me to come into the living room there was something important going on I needed to see…got the details from Howard Cosell, on the MNF broadcast. I was stunned and heartbroken.
Happy_Confection90@reddit
Just barely. My parents were sad and explained that a bad man had killed a singer they really liked.
303FPSguy@reddit
I was definitely too young to care.
Seen lots of other musicians die and I didn’t personally know any of them and didn’t feel any kind of connection. I get how some people do. I’m devastated when family and friends die, tho.
Grafakos@reddit
I remember, but I was 12 and only vaguely aware of who he was. I knew a few Beatles songs but not much about the band themselves. After his death, "Watching the Wheels" got a ton of airplay.
CaptainQueen1701@reddit
Vaguely but I was never a Beatles fan.
SabrinaFaire@reddit
That was my 4th birthday, so nope.
suburbanerd@reddit
I do but I was 9 years old and the Beatles weren’t on my radar at the time. But I do remember a lot of people were upset and it didn’t hit me until I was older and was getting into music.
My older, teenage brother fancied himself an edgy punk and declared “One down. Three to go” which he later admitted was a dumb thing to say.
straylight_2022@reddit
I remember it vividly.
I was nine, had thoroughly raided my parents record collection by that age and was a huge Beatles fan. Sgt.Pepper's was the first album I had bought myself.
My mother gave me the news right when I woke up the next morning. It was hard for nine year old me to process that someone had shot and killed one of my favorite musicians.
Ok_Ad8249@reddit
I was 13 in Jr. High. I was listening to the radio when the news broke. The thing I remember was the afternoon DJ came on the air with the regular night time DJ. He'd bought a new car and just happened to stop by to show it off. They were both really shook up so stayed on the air together to report on it and play all Beatles music. The station played all Beatles and John Lennon for the next week.
Also for that week a friend of mine who had never mentioned anything about the Beatles ever (he was into surf music) suddenly became the biggest Beatles fan.
Trolkarlen@reddit
I remember how upset my mom was.
daisy0808@reddit
Mine too. She was a huge John Lennon fan, and I remember my grandmother coming over to help console her.
I also barely remember when Elvis died. I was three, but I remember everyone saying that the King died. You could see my confusion lol
Able_Measurement_600@reddit
I was 8 but I loved The Yellow Submarine growing up so it really affected me. I remember at least being comforted by the fact I knew John was in heaven and I could talk to him when I prayed.
damageddude@reddit
Next morning. My brother and I had a paper route and went to bed early. We lived in a Queens NYC apartment building and sorted our papers in the lobby. A lot of people commuted early. We saw the front page, knew who Lennon was, and started reading. Some early birds, who also went to bed early, stopped dead when they saw the front page. There were several people just talking when we took our papers and left.
jnp2346@reddit
I was 12, and he was my hero. Two of my friends told me as soon as I arrived at school. I remember putting my head down on my desk and staying there for a while. I couldn’t process it.
Md693@reddit
Yep
SuperannuatedAuntie@reddit
I was living in London. That morning I bought a tube ticket, and the guy in the booth (who knew I was American) said, “One of you lot killed our John.”
YellowBreakfast@reddit
Looking back I don't know that I did.
Not sure I was aware/paying attention to news/the world etc. at that point.
f700es@reddit
Heard it on the radio.
whats1more7@reddit
I was 9, and my parents were not into popular music at all. It’s weird how it was likely a really big deal to people around me but I lived in a little bubble where nobody cared. My uncle was a musician who grew up in England, and his music was likely heavily influenced by the Beatles. I will have to ask him how he felt when he died.
unlimited_miscreant@reddit
I remember. I was in high school and I was up in my room working on a report for school with the radio on (99 Rock WPLR New Haven). They broke into the broadcast with the news. I think it was the first time this kind of violence touched me personally.
auntieup@reddit
I do remember it, and it was the way it happened that shocked people. My parents weren’t fans but they were sad and angry.
dofrogsbite@reddit
I remember asking my mom and her friend why they were suddenly crying. I was 5 years old. Mom said a very popular man had just died.
Park_Ranger2048@reddit
Yeah in gr7 when that happened and some of my classmates were in tears. I of course knew who he was and it was shocking news but I wasn't a huge fan and had no emotional stake
Historical-Ad-1067@reddit
Yup. 9th grade. Signed a book at a local record store they were going to send to Yoko with condolences
Duane1968@reddit
You heard almost nothing but double fantasy and so this is Christmas as well as other Beatles music on the radio for weeks after. No musicians death has ever/will ever generate that much of a response. We are too controlled now by the oligarch overlords to ever have such an organic spontaneous and sustained expression of communal grief.
fuzzy_banana2354@reddit
I was in college working as a nurse's aide. It was all over the TV news and patients and staff were talking about it.
HowDidFoodGetInHere@reddit
Yep, I remember the death of Elvis too.
Fair-Wishbone-1190@reddit
I barely remember it. I had no idea who he was but saw it on tv. I was 8. Just moved from Massachusetts to South Dakota 3 days beforehand & was hating life.
Dense-Coat-4280@reddit
I remember my mother - who never listened to popular music - getting out Beatles records and playing them, very subdued. It was shocking and a big deal.
AdditionalTip865@reddit
Yes. Teachers were depressed, fellow students were depressed, it was almost as big a deal as the Challenger space shuttle disaster.
There was a kind of revival of interest in the Beatles sparked by Lennon's death but in truth it had never really gone away in the first place. They were still huge, always had been.
Repulsive_Dig_133@reddit
Yeah ( Elvis too ) "Just like starting over" went to No 1 in the UK , Remember it clearly. It was a big thing, bigger than if a musician died now ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWG9KAgD6UAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWG9KAgD6UAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWG9KAgD6UAhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWG9KAgD6UA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWG9KAgD6UA
Far-Amoeba-7197@reddit
i was 8 1/2, I remember it well because we also got in a minor car accident a few hours before it happened and I sprained my wrist.
North-Bit-7411@reddit
It was a HUGE deal at my school that morning. I remember walking into the lobby and seeing everyone gathered around looking pretty upset. I was kinda surprised because it wasn’t like he was terribly popular with the early teenage audience at that point in time.
PlantWide3166@reddit
I do, one of the three times I saw my Mum ugly cry.
SnowblindAlbino@reddit
Old Gen X, like me, were in middle school then. I remember the news well, and many of my teachers being really distraught. I wasn't personally into the Beatles at that time, but of course I knew their hits and understood it as a big deal.
Dry-Luck-8336@reddit
I was in the seventh grade, and my teacher was so devastated that he spent 30 minutes playing John Lennon songs. It was all over the news, it was like when Elvis died. I couldn't have cared less at the time, really, because I wasn't a Beatles fan.
SprinklesGood3144@reddit
Yes, I remember. I was in grade school. My family loved the Beatles. I also remember all the people in NYC mourning Lennon.
app_generated_name@reddit
I was 6. No, I do not remember this.
emi_delaguerra@reddit
It happened about a couple weeks after our house burned down, so I remember my mother saying that she was grateful that we only lost our stuff, and that she still had her husband and children with her, alive. So, in our family it was a dark time, and that did not help.
Sonoran_Dog70@reddit
Yep. My dad was a huge Beatles fan and I grew up listening to them all the time. I was 10 when he was shot. I remember the news for sure.
No_Repair7134@reddit
Weirdly no, but I remember when Elvis died.
Silver_Daikon6974@reddit
74 baby and not really
guzzijason@reddit
Same. Not sure when I first became aware of who he was and/or when he was killed. I have 3 older sisters, but I don't really recall them being serious Beatles fans, and neither were my parents, so not really part of my 6 year-old zeitgeist bubble.
El_Peregrine@reddit
I was born '74 and definitely remember watching this news on tv; I think I must have noted how serious my parents became and the mood in the house.
EX1500@reddit
I don’t. I remember the presidential election that fall, but not Lennon’s murder.
Strong_Medium_6646@reddit
Yes, I was 15 at the time, very very sad moment!
jfhoran@reddit
I was 12, remember well
Zen_Hydra@reddit
Nope. I was five, and even though I'm sure my parents must have been upset by it, I have no memory of the event from that time. I do have a strong memory from that same year, and that was when I was traumatized by Reagan defeating Carter in the presidential election. My sadness hinged solely upon the fact that I thought Carter had a friendly smile, and seemed like a really nice guy.
Beneficial_Run9511@reddit
Sure, death of the worlds biggest dick
skeeterbmark@reddit
I was 11. I was watching Monday Night Football when Howard Cosell made the announcement.
skunkyskunked@reddit
I was 12 and I remember being at my friend’s house not long after he passed. It was my friend’s mom’s birthday on Dec 8 and I do remember how upset she was, as a huge Beatles fan
SnuggleMoose44@reddit
It was a big deal. I was 11 and a Beatles fan. People from their teens to their 40s were the biggest age block to feel the most anguished. It was less than 10 years after the Beatles had broken up. In New York City, where he was murdered, there were crowds of people gathered. A total shock.
Temporary_View_3303@reddit
Interestingly enough… I remember that I was in 5th grade music class when I found out about his death. It’s one of, if not the earliest memory I can pinpoint.
Substantial_Cow7628@reddit
I was only eight. I remember hearing about it on the news but that's about it. I have a stronger memory of when I heard that Reagan was shot as I remember being at my doctor getting my weekly allergy shot.
snark_maiden@reddit
I was 10. I knew who he was and who the Beatles were, but it wasn’t something that upset or saddened me.
Willing_Crazy699@reddit
People were..by and large...gutted
Pletchner@reddit
My mom was crying when I woke up to get ready for school.
jrock146@reddit
I remember it just because it was the day before my 8th birthday and my mom seeing the NewsBreak on TV. I of course had no idea who Jon Lennon was at the time
OppositeDish9086@reddit
I remember hearing about it the next morning. I was getting ready for school, and I had Cub Scouts that day, so I was getting my shirt etc. out of the dryer, and my mom told me what had happened.
I liked the Beatles, but celebrity deaths weren't something I had much experience with. I could tell from my mom it was a big deal, but I wasn't really fazed by it. I was 9.
Virtual_Mechanic2936@reddit
I was in 3rd grade. It happened on Monday evening. I remember this because Monday Night Football was on, and my father was watching it.
chimpyjnuts@reddit
I knew he was a Beatle and they were big, but I wasn't really that into music yet. Heard the news on the car radio on the way to the dentist, my mom audibly gasped.
lagrandefille@reddit
I was in grade 7. I was walking up the stairs to our classroom with a friend who told me that Lennon had died. I was shocked especially finding out later how he died.
No1ButtMe@reddit
1973 baby and no
SinamonChallengerRT@reddit
I was in 6th grade. We didn't really care. Kind of an "oh that sucks" and back to Atari...
TattooedJewd@reddit
Yes. I was a kid, but I was very nearby - Manhattan, UWS, CPW - when it happened, so yes. The park was flooded for days.
dirtybird971@reddit
It was tragic. It was the first time I'd ever see my mother really cry. I was 9 and came down to breakfast and she was there sobbing her eyes out watching The Today show. I don't think she was a huge fan of them, but it surely affected her.
CthulhusEvilTwin@reddit
Yep, I was only a kid but my mum was very upset and the BBC put the movie Help! on as a tribute so I was allowed to stay up late and watch it.
zionzednem@reddit
I was on the grade school playground playing dogeball and a pal Roy looked distraught. He then stated that John Lennon had been shot and killed. I had some appreciation of John from plenty of viewings of Yellow Submarine. Roy being sad and him sharing the news is imbedded in my brain.
aburena2@reddit
Yes. I was a freshman in high school. Interestingly enough I was living in another country at the time. Heard about it through another student who was a fan at the time and was wearing an arm band.
gbr1976@reddit
I was 4 1/2 when John Lennon was shot. Strangely enough, I do remember when it happened. My dad had taken me on a business trip (he was an advertising salesman) and on the way back we heard it on the radio. I remember when we got home, him and mom talking, and she asked if he'd heard. He said yes and they just hugged for a bit.
Suspicious-Yogurt480@reddit
Growing up in the NY area it was tragic day beyond belief. I was in 9th grade and many kids were headed to the city to go stand vigil outside the Dakota. In my high school we had what was called a ‘breezeway’ between two main sections of the school that had a row of glass doors leading outside, and on ordinary days, kids between classes would just congregate sitting along the wall, either talking or reading just a place to socialize informally, and it was tolerated as long as they didn’t create any problems and didn’t block the hallway entirely. On that day that Lennon had been shot that morning at least one of the kids had brought in a boom box and basically they played John Lennon and Beatles songs all day in that breezeway and a lot of kids could not even bring themselves to go to class, but what I remember most about it is that I felt like the faculty our teachers were sympathetic to this, and nobody gave them absences if they were sitting there, grieving, consoling each other on that day just listening to the music and talking about their experiences and memories of listening to the music. I sat with them for a few minutes, but it was just too sad so I still made myself go to classes. Where I grew up like I said, and in that kind of predominately white American middle to upper class suburbia (think John Hughes movies) this was probably playing out very similarly across the country whereas I expect that if it had been somewhere slightly different or diverse, it might’ve played out differently, although obviously being a former beetle and one of the most popular people in the world at the time and he had just had a record released the first one in five years, called Double Fantasy, it was supposed to be the beginning of a big comeback and he was doing the rounds of interviews and promoting it, instead it was punctuated by this incredible tragedy. Many people will say that they feel like that was the end of a certain era and that this happened right before the inauguration of Reagan and it seemed like there was a turning point going on in this country. Not necessarily for the better in the minds of a lot of youth. Others may never have even connected those two things, I only do in hindsight.
Backtothefuture1970@reddit
I was 11 , it was huge news.
Quietus76@reddit
I was 4. I honestly don't know if I remember the actual event, or fabricated memories from seeing stuff on TV later.
Ok-Lingonberry-8261@reddit
I was a toddler, so no. My earliest firm memory is coming in from recess to hear about Space Shuttle Challenger.
Individual_Check_442@reddit
That’s mine as well.
docmanbot@reddit
Barely - I was 12 or 11 at the time . A couple of my teachers were really upset that day but I couldn’t quite grasp it just jet .
Individual_Check_442@reddit
Wasn’t born till 77 so no.
splendidvinyl@reddit
My mum wore a black armband when she picked me up from school that day, a lot of the parents were visibly upset and a little confused.