Thomson, Christopher S.The Tour de France: A Cul-
tural Histor y.Berkeley: University of California
Press, 2006.
Margot Irvine and John P. Koch
See also Hobbies and recreation; Sports.
Lennon, John
Identification British musician and songwriter
Born October 9, 1940; Liverpool, England
Died December 8, 1980; New York City
The murder of former Beatle John Lennon in December,
1980, became an emblem for the struggle of many political
progressives, who saw him as a standard bearer of their
movement. His music outlived him, continuing to influence
a wide range of listeners and fellow musicians throughout
the decade.
In the 1960’s, John Lennon achieved unparalleled
fame as a member of the Beatles, a band whose im-
pact on popular culture was enormous. After the
Beatles’ breakup, Lennon, with his wife Yoko Ono,
launched a solo career characterized by a raw style
and radical political content. While alienating many
Beatles fans, Lennon’s solo albums led numerous
members of the counterculture to embrace Lennon
as a major voice of the political left. After battles
with depression, drinking, and deportation, Lennon
withdrew from the music business in 1976, living an
isolated life on his Upstate New York farm or in his
apartment in the Dakota Building (better known as
the Dakota) in New York City.
By 1980, however, Lennon emerged rejuvenated,
and in June he sailed to Bermuda, a trip that would
reawaken his creative energies. In Bermuda, he lis-
tened to contemporary music for the first time in
years, and he discovered in the Pretenders, Len
Lovich, and the B-52’s the spirit of his solo music.
He even enjoyed Paul McCartney’s new album,
McCartney II(1980). In response, Lennon began to
compose new songs. When he returned home,
Lennon was anxious to enter a studio. On August 8,
he and Ono assembled a studio band in New York’s
Hit Factory. Over the next nine days, they recorded
all ofDouble Fantasy(1980), an ambitious double al-
bum, and most ofMilk and Honey(1984). Lennon
had mixed feelings aboutDouble Fantasy, which was
released on November 17, but to his surprise it
reached the top ten in theBillboard200 chart by De-
cember 1. Lennon and Ono were elated and started
work on “Thin Ice,” a Yoko Ono single.
On the morning of December 8, Annie Leibovitz
ofRolling Stonemagazine photographed Lennon
and Ono. The shoot included the later-famous por-
trait of Lennon, nude, curled up in a fetal position
with Ono. Next, Lennon and Ono gave an interview
for RKO Radio. Afterward, the couple left for the
Record Plant, where they worked on “Thin Ice.”
When they returned to the Dakota at 11:00p.m.,
a man stepped from the shadows of the arched en-
tranceway and shot Lennon five times with a .38 cali-
ber revolver. The man, Mark David Chapman, was
later declared paranoid-schizophrenic. Within min-
utes, Lennon died from massive bleeding.Impact As the shocking news broke, crowds formed
outside the Dakota, resulting in a continuous vigil
that climaxed on December 14, 1980 when 400,000
people gathered in Central Park to mourn Lennon’s
passing, an act echoed across the planet. Lennon re-
mained a presence across the decade.Double Fantasy
reached number one and won a Grammy. The post-582 Lennon, John The Eighties in America
An aerial view of crowds gathering by the Dakota Building to
mourn John Lennon’s death a week after he was killed there in De-
cember, 1980.(AP/Wide World Photos)