# It was 30 years ago today. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 8, 2010, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399 "2010-12-08T13:44:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/1 "2010-12-08T13:44:47Z")
R.I.P. John Lennon, 1940-1980. Your music and your life continue to inspire us. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/2 "2010-12-08T14:22:22Z")
I’m amazed to realize that I was twelve years old when he was killed, yet I was so unaware of him at the time. Not completely, of course – I knew he was a memeber of the Beatles and I could indentify a fair number of their songs, but they weren’t really on my radar. Compare that to my five-year-old daughter who absolutely _loves_ the Beatles. I remember one of my teachers being absolutely inconsolable that day. There was also another teacher – one of the nuns – who had a very smug “well that’s what happens to sinners” air to her. I came home from school, and my mom asked me if I had heard about the murder – I was absolutely shocked to find out that _my mother_ knew who the Beatles were. Anyway…I’ll definitely be playing quite a bit of _Rock Band: The Beatles_ this evening. As an aside – Yahoo had a nice little glitch with matching up stories with pictures last night: What they had on their front page this morning What they had on their front page last night I prefer last night’s Yoko. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/3 "2010-12-08T14:22:27Z")
Can’t let a thread like this go by without bowing my head in respect. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/4 "2010-12-08T14:31:54Z")
He wrote some of my favorite music. He also seemed like a really cool guy. Just imagine what it would be like if he were still around. I wonder what goes through Chapman’s mind today, and if he wishes he never pulled the trigger. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/5 "2010-12-08T14:33:43Z")
[Here](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/opinion/08ono.html)’s a remembrance by Yoko Ono in today’s New York Times. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/6 "2010-12-08T14:57:32Z")
They played Howard Cosell’s announcement from 30 years ago on the radio this morning. I choked up, as usual. Damn. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/7 "2010-12-08T15:02:36Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > I’m amazed to realize that I was twelve years old when he was killed, yet I was so unaware of him at the time. Not completely, of course – I knew he was a memeber of the Beatles and I could indentify a fair number of their songs, but they weren’t really on my radar. Compare that to my five-year-old daughter who absolutely _loves_ the Beatles. What a coincidence–I could say much the same. I was also twelve years old, and I was also really unaware of who Lennon was at the time. I would not really discover the Beatles until the next year, when I pulled out my stepfather’s LP set of their _Greatest Hits 1962-1966_ (aka the “Red Album”), and wore it out playing it over and over. (Come to think of it, I wonder if Lennon’s death is what precipitated my discovery of the Beatles.) Contrast this to my son, who was introduced to the Beatles when he was much younger, and loved them for years. (Now that he’s a teenager, though, he thinks he’s outgrown them.) Anyway, Lennon’s death is one of the few memories I have from my childhood in which I still vividly remember hearing the news of something of historical significance. (The loss of the Space Shuttle _Challenger_ a few years later is another.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/8 "2010-12-08T15:05:11Z")
Wasn’t he in a band or something? I mean, before the Plastic Ono Band. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/9 "2010-12-08T15:11:34Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > [Here](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/opinion/08ono.html)’s a remembrance by Yoko Ono in today’s New York Times. Ray Davies contributed a piece, too: [The Inspiration](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/opinion/08davies.html?ref=opinion) . > [@](#): > > _“I thought back to when I was a 17-year-old student in the recreation room at art college and heard John sing “Twist and Shout” on the record player, and how I was blown away by his directness. How his voice cut through all the nonsense and sent a message to me that said, “If I can do it then so can you, so get up off your backside and play some rock ’n’ roll,” as if to throw down a musical gauntlet.”_ ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/10 "2010-12-08T15:23:47Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > They played Howard Cosell’s announcement from 30 years ago on the radio this morning. I choked up, as usual. Damn. I remember hearing the original of that announcement. Still hits me hard. ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/11 "2010-12-08T15:56:31Z")
My only real regret about Lennon being murdered is that if he were still alive today, the Beatles wouldn’t get a 10th of the praise they do now. Better than Beethoven, my ass. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/12 "2010-12-08T16:09:33Z")
> [@fusoya](#): > > My only real regret about Lennon being murdered is that if he were still alive today, the Beatles wouldn’t get a 10th of the praise they do now. Better than Beethoven, my ass. Meh, I think his solo stuff was just like most solo albums - sort of flat, uninspired, and lacking in vitality. I don’t see how pumping out more of it would lower the esteem of the band’s stuff. If anything, it should have already happened with McCartney. His post-breakup stuff more originally captures the spirit of the Beatles, so it, if anything, should have diluted the memory by being very close but not quite there. The fact that this hasn’t happened tells me that even if Lennon were still around he wouldn’t have been able to do so either. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/13 "2010-12-08T16:18:18Z")
> [@fusoya](#): > > Better than Beethoven, my ass. But bigger than Jesus, definitely! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/14 "2010-12-08T16:25:53Z")
I am way too young to have a real stake in this, but something was brought to my attention today. I was told by the TV (Sportscenter if you must know) the moment I woke up that John Lennon died 30 years ago today. It took until noon for me to hear somebody (TV, Radio…this happened to be in person) mention that yesterday was the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor bombing. I understand the impact Lennon had on people, but something about this strikes me as odd ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/15 "2010-12-08T16:30:21Z")
I still get a twinge in the pit of my stomach when I think of that day, even if it has been 30 years. I remember my brother telling me John was shot, me not thinking all that much of it and then saying “dead?” and him confirming it. It didn’t sink in till I was half way out to the school bus that he really was dead. I am one of those people that gets annoyed when people go overboard about celebrity deaths, but this one really was a horrible tragedy. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/16 "2010-12-08T16:32:10Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > I am way too young to have a real stake in this, but something was brought to my attention today. > > I was told by the TV (Sportscenter if you must know) the moment I woke up that John Lennon died 30 years ago today. > > It took until noon for me to hear somebody (TV, Radio..this happened to be in person) mention that yesterday was the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor bombing. > > I understand the impact Lennon had on people, but something about this strikes me as odd Not really. We tend to place more emphasis on anniversaries ending in a 0 or a 5. I don’t know why we do this, but we all do. The 69th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor isn’t as newsworthy as the 30th anniversary of Lennon’s murder. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/17 "2010-12-08T18:34:52Z")
I was 14 when John Lennon was murdered. I was not yet all that musically educated. I was into stuff like Kiss and Queen at the time, but did not have a lot of knowledge of musical history at the time. I knew who the Beatles were, of course, and knew who John Lennon was, but it wasn’t a story that really hit me very hard at the time. I thought of the Beatles as my parents’ music, and just had a kind of “that’s sad” take on it, but didn’t truly realize his artistic importance or the gravity of his loss at the time. I do remeber the candlelight vigils and the huge, spontaneous public gatherings and outpourings of grief. I’ve only seen that kind of response to a celebrity death eclipsed by Diana’s. I know that celebrity deaths often get too much attention, but this one really merited it, both because of Lennon’s cultural stature and because it was a murder. RIP Walrus. One of my biggest cultural and musical heroes (and I know about his warts). ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/18 "2010-12-08T18:38:38Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Wasn’t he in a band or something? I mean, before the Plastic Ono Band. Yeah, I think they were called the Qualimen or the Quarrymine or something. Never did much. ---
**Author:** ![zeldarae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/f14d63/32.png) [@zeldarae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zeldarae)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/19 "2010-12-08T18:43:29Z")
I was 13 years old and a HUGE Beatle’s fan (still am). Heard about it on the radio as I was getting ready for bed. I cried like my Nanny did when Elvis died. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399/20 "2010-12-08T18:51:15Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > They played Howard Cosell’s announcement from 30 years ago on the radio this morning. I choked up, as usual. Damn. This morning, I heard [this](http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5884604) amazing clip as I was driving into work. It’s Howard Cosell and Frank Gifford, during a commercial break in the game, debating whether to tell the nation on “Monday Night Football” about Lennon’s death! Like millions of others, I heard the news from Howard Cosell that Monday night. And tonight I’ll raise a glass to Dr. Winston O’Boogie. ☹ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-30-years-ago-today/563399.md?page=2)