Marking 42 Years Since the Death of John Lennon

42 years ago, on the night December 8, 1980, the world was sent into shock by the unexpected death of John Lennon.

Lennon was assassinated by Mark David Chapman, who had him autograph a copy of "Double Fantasy" almost six hours beforehand as he and then-wife Yoko Ono were leaving The Dakota, the apartment complex where they resided, and later returned to at 10:50 PM. As they were entering the building, Chapman shot him a total of four times (twice in the back, twice in the shoulder) at close range. He was rushed to the hospital in the back of a police cruiser and announced dead on arrival at 11:15 PM.
Source: AP Photo


The following morning, Yoko Ono issued a statement reading "There is no funeral for John. John loved and prayed for the human race. Please do the same for him. Love, Yoko and Sean."

Many of the following details covering the aftermath of John Lennon's Death have been highly disputed, as many different versions of the event's timeline as well as Yoko Ono's reaction have been distorted by major media outlets. However, Chapman is thankfully still imprisoned, having been denied parole for the 12th time as of September. Let's hope he fails again in 2024 when he makes his next appearance before the New York State Board of Parole.

I hope that as dark of a day as it was for us Beatles fans, that it was gentle for you all by other means. Did you play any of his music in remembrance? If you did, write me and let me know.

Happy listening.
Hey there! I'm Olive, and I'm a part-time blog writer hoping to share my love of older music and countercultural history. I started this blog during my freshman year of college as a means to get a head start doing what I love most - writing. I've always loved writing and music, and wanted to do something that would involve doing both. Now, I've got this cool (totally not biased) blog page!

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