Word: lennons
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There are those who find it absurd to put John Lennon in the august company of the Kennedy and King. The man was, after all, a rock star with long hair, into drugs, who once posed naked for an album cover and painted yellow flowers on his Rolls Royce. How easy it is to forget the impact Lennon and his Beatles cohorts had on popular and also avant-garden culture, an impact that transcended nations and people. When Lennon claimed in the mid-1960's that the Beatles were "bigger than Jesus," he wasn't boasting: it was the truth...
...WHEN LENNON was shot two years ago in December, a significant chunk of the world, briefly united, mourned. The dream, as Lennon himself had sung all the way back in 1970, was irretrievably over. There would be no more Beatles, no more '60s and no more youth for a generation that shook Western society, and then, unsure what to do next, drifted slowly into complacency. And there would be no joy or provocation from a man who had finally come out of seclusion to face a new decade...
...Lennon's death brought the predictable slew of tributes. In American, tragedy usually also means profit, and manuscript after manuscripts chronicling the Beatle legend found its way into print. Most, hastily written, were garbage. Thankfully, the editors of the authorities rock magazine Rolling Stone took their time and only recently released a collection of interviews with and essays on the most controversial Beatles. The Ballad of John and Yoko is a captivating work, at once passionate and thought out, loving and objective. And it features some of the best writing on rock to be found anywhere...
...easily put most of the FM top forty to shame. Eleven perfect singles are served up, each one seemingly stronger than its predecessor. Furthermore, Crenshaw's melodies are hopelessly addictive; they're just short enough to hook the listener but not entirely satisfy him. Back in the '60s, John Lennon and Paul McCartney made a career of just such tactics...
...what may become the ultimate footnote to rock history, it is worth nothing that Crenshaw got his start by playing the part of John Lennon in Beatlemania. Clearly, singing "Help," "Strawberry Fields" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" night after night rubbed off. And if you listen carefully enough, there are moments when Crenshaw brings the Walrus back to life...