1984 Chapter 2: Lennon's Last Album is a Gem

 Chapter Three

"Lennon's last album is a gem"

As expected, John Lennon's final album was released in January 1984. It was a beautiful piece of work. It showed everyone that had John lived, he would be putting out some of his most profound work ever. There were critics who looked at this and 1980 Double Fantasy differently, but let’s face it, when you take a man with superhuman creativity and allow him to step back from the limelight and be content with who he is, stand back. These compositions made declarations of this and once stated, there was no telling what amazingness lay ahead. The 1980's would have belonged to him. 

Only hours before John was killed, he was asked what he saw ahead for popular music and was disco on its way to finally dying.  He replied that disco was not going to die, but that it would actually mix into the rock and roll of the day and become a part of it.  If this wasn’t a perfect definition of what popular music of the 80s was, I don’t know what is.  There was really no better way to describe popular music in the 1980s.

Some may find it foolish that I start a chapter based on the former Beatles album release but at this point in my life, I was really obsessed with John Lennon. I think it took me 40 years to realize though that this was completely something other than simple obsession.  There were components of this person that really spoke to me at various points in my life. I myself have told the more current generation that had it not been for Lennon/McCartney, we'd still be listening to crap like Tears on My Pillow.

The Milk and Honey album made everything seem incredible to me. It was an album of vast maturity, I thought. Song after song, it delivered John’s trademark honesty but with incredible contentment and humility. The album brought on a brighter side to my normally gloomy winter disposition. It had a certain effect on me. January is deep within the dark caverns of winter. Nothing can really just yank me right out of its grip. The new album however created enough light to have a nulling effect on the usual gravity of January.

I think nothing said it so well as a piece I wrote while on my lunch break, sitting in my Dodge in the parking lot of Toys R Us. I was listening to the John Lennon song Nobody Told Me. I watched people walking in and out of stores and getting into and out of their cars. I marveled at how this scene played so well with the music. I used to write a lot back then. I wrote a piece called “Face Up To It”. It was a reflection of how this song played as a soundtrack for what I was watching in the parking lot. Largely a forgettable composition, I felt that it ended on a high note with the simple phrase: “No longer happy, no longer sad.” It would seem that John had somehow nullified my January depression and teenage angst. It happened on this day Saturday, January 28th, 1984. Now many years later of course I know that in 24 short months from this moment, Challeger will fall from the sky. There is no way to not mention it. It is one of those fixed points in time.