John Lennon was not just a global music phenomenon, but an outspoken advocate for the anti-war, Native American, African American and feminist movements. Here are some of his most memorable quotes from his lifetime of activism and entertainment, according to goalcast.com.

“If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace.”

“Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.”

“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.”

Source: Katie Walker/deseret.com

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Billboard Magazine recently released its list of the Greatest 125 Artists of All Time, with The Beatles taking the top spot.

Rounding out the top five are The Rolling Stones at two, Elton John at three, Mariah Carey at four, and Madonna at five.

Music journalist Eric Alper said the point of this list is really quite simple: to spark debate and controversy.

“It’s fun for people like you and I to sit here and complain or gloat or be gleeful that our favourite artists are making another chart.”
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Let’s look at the band Chicago, best known for a string of hits like Hard To Say I’m Sorry, 25 Or 6 To 4 and Look Away. They took the number 10 slot, ahead of Elvis Presley.

“I remember them as kind of the AM radio staple in the 1980s and then they disappeared,” said Alper during his recent appearance on the 630 CHED Afternoon News. “But for 19-consecutive studio albums, they sold over a million copies in America.”

Another interesting case on this list is Taylor Swift.

Source: David Boles Global News/globalnews.ca

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History is dotted with ‘where were you' moments, singular events that change the course of society in an instant. One such occasion was the the murder of John Lennon on Dec. 8, 1980. On that day, fellow rock icon Tom Petty had been in the studio working on his Hard Promises LP, while also hoping he’d get a chance to meet the famous former Beatle.

“I was working with Jimmy Iovine, who was a friend of John’s,” the rocker recalled in the book Conversations with Tom Petty. “And Ringo was working next door that week. The talk right around that time was that John was coming to sing on Ringo’s album. So we were kind of jazzed up, thinking we were going to meet John.”

Sadly, fate had other plans. Lennon was gunned down that night outside of his home at the Dakota in New York, the victim of a deranged fan. Petty was still in the studio when he got the news.

“A call came and said John had been shot," Petty recalled. "We just thought it was nonsense. And then a call came right back in about 15 minutes that said that John’s dead."

Source: ultimateclassicrock.com

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As December rolls around each year, it brings with it a sense of melancholy and remembrance of things lost, in particular John Lennon, who was executed in front of his New York home 39 years ago. At the time, there was little solace to be gained in the aftermath of that news and it remains so today, though the undeniable escape from the pain both then and now — ironically enough — was the music that John created as part of The Beatles with Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

And rather than get mired in the sadness, one would rather go in the opposite direction and celebrate John’s memory, in this case by looking back at the day he met Paul and, despite the fact they could never have suspected it, was put on the road to quite literally change the world. That being said, the Earth didn’t shake, the clouds didn’t part and a choir or angels didn’t sing on July 6, 1957.

Source: closerweekly.com

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On December 8th marked 39 years when one of the greatest minds to ever play rock ‘n’ roll was murdered. John Lennon meant so much to so many people it’s impossible to measure the loss. But if there’s a silver lining about the date, it’s also the late great Gregg Allman’s birthday. To remember these two monumental rock legends, check out The Allman Brothers Band doing the primarily Lennon-penned Beatles song “Rain” from the Jones Beach Theater on September 7, 2013 for this edition of Sunday Cinema.

Allman’s history with the song stretches back to 1985 when he recorded a version of “Rain” with a choir that came out as part of The Allman Brothers Band’s 1989 Dreams boxset. Allman would perform the song live in 2005 as part of his solo act. He would subsequently bring the tune to The Allman Brothers Band in 2013.

“Rain” was a good choice for Gregg to cover as it came at a particularly heady time for The Beatles and the young Allman. “Rain” arrived in May of 1966 along with the primarily McCartney-written tune “Paperback Writer.” Both songs came out of the groundbreaking Revolver sessions although neither appeared on the album. “Rain” was innovative in the fact that it saw The Beatles experimenting with tape speeds. It was also the first pop song to feature backward lyrics and heralded the psychedelic direction the band was headed into.

Source: Nate Todd/jambase.com

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Yoko Ono has posted an emotional tribute to John Lennon on the 39th anniversary of his death.

The former Beatle was shot and killed outside his New York apartment on December 8, 1980. He was 40 years old.

Remembering her late husband, Ono called again for America to change its gun laws before describing the loss of John as a “hollowing experience.”

Ono wrote: “Dear Friends. Every day, 100 Americans are shot and killed with guns. We are turning this beautiful country into a War Zone. Together, let’s bring back America, the green land of peace.”

Ono shared a statistic that revealed over 1,400,000 people have been killed by guns in America since Lennon’s death.

Ono added: “The death of a loved one is a hollowing experience. After 39 years, Sean, Julian and I still miss him. Imagine all the people living life in peace.”

Source: Elizabeth Aubrey/nme.com

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