December 8, 1980 - The worst day in rock and roll history

For music lovers who were alive at the time this cold day in the fall of 1980 is a day that will never lose its ability to bring up a feeling of dread and despair. It is of course the day John Lennon was killed. It has been referred to by some people as the day music really died. On this day all hope for any kind of Beatles reunion, which was something that the world had been longing for ever since the band broke up, was gone forever.
In the eyes of many John Lennon represented the top of the pops. With Paul McCartney as a songwriting and creative partner John was half of the greatest songwriting duo in the history of rock music. With their arrival on the music scene in 1962 rock and roll was set to enjoy its most creative and prolific golden age that lasted through the end of that decade with the Beatles as the eye of that hurricane. Their early "mop top" phase started simply. Songs like "love me do" And "I wanna hold your hand" Were easy and catchy and gave little hint at the sophistication that was just around the corner. In a short period of time these early songs would give way to ones that were more lyrically interesting and musically complex.
The first real and consistant signs of this came in 1965 with songs like John's "Help" Which is about a depressed man crying out for someone to rescue him from his emotional distress And Paul's "Yesterday" which is a lament about the end of a romance. With "In my life" John is looking back on all the people he has known in his life "...some are dead and some are living..." at the ripe old age of 24.
1966 continued the musical progression with songs and albums that were greater still. Paul's "Elenor Rigby" Which is the sad commentary on the life of a lonely spinster is proof of his enormous gifts as a songwriter. With "Rain" John entered an experimental period that would lead to greater future success for the group and George Harrison makes his first great contributions to a Beatles record when he adds "Taxman," "I want to tell you," and the sitar assisted "love you too" to the album "Revolver" which some music critics consider their greatest overall record.
In 1967 they reach the height of their success and their musical creativity with "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band." Released in the summer of that year it became the biggest part of the soundtrack of the summer of love. Some of the songs here have been describes as beyond the range of time and decay. With "Lucy in the sky with Diamonds" John achieves a psychadelic high water mark. Also that year came "Strawberry Fields Forever," "All you need is love" and the momentous "A day in the Life" which is the last song on the "Pepper" album and the most unforgettable.
After that year There began to be some discomfort among the members of the band. The amount of arguing between them became more and more constant as they bickered about what kinds of music they wanted to make and John and Paul's creative differences began to drive a wedge between them musically. Despite this the quality of the music did not suffer. They still achieved great success with hits like Paul's "Hey Jude," "Long and winding Road," and "Get Back" and John's "Revolution" and "Come Together" and George's "Here comes the Sun" and "Something" just to name a few in the remaining years before their eventual breakup in early 1970.
The thing that makes their breakup so tragic is the fact that there was so much more yet to come and the theme of the music about to be released was a dominant one in their work, that being the theme of love. With the release of "Imagine" in 1971 John puts out his signature song. Yoko Ono has said that John intended the song as a love song to the world, "...Imagine all the people living life in peace...". In 1970 Paul releases "Maybe im Amazed" which was a love song to his then new wife Linda whom he had married the year before, "Maybe im amazed at the way you love me all the time, maybe im amazed at the way i love you...". George, In addition to his great "What is Life" also released "My Sweet Lord" which is basically a love song to God, "...I really wanna see you, I really wanna be with you, I really wanna see you Lord but it takes so long my Lord...". These songs among others were all in the Beatles pipeline at the time of the breakup and would have all ended up probably on the next Beatles album together had they not broken up.
In the years after the breakup there were always rumors that they may get back together and record but it never actually happened. As long as all the members of the band were still alive there was at least the possibility if not the probability. What the murderer of Lennon did (who's name i will not mention) was take all that hope away. After that day there was never a possibility that the world would ever hear another note that was fashioned by both John and Paul working together to make it good. When there is no hope there is only despair. Elton John's tribute song to Lennon "Empty Garden" sums it up the best about describing Lennons killer when in the song he sings "...Its funny how one insect can damage so much grace...".