Quote:
Originally Posted by LukeA
I've always wondered what Lennon's career would have been like had he not been assassinated.
In the 80's, I think its a given we would have gotten a couple heavy-on-the-Fairlight albums (commercial or otherwise) in the early part of the decade, probably followed by some adult contemporary crap. Basically, an updated redux of his hit or miss 70's.
In the 90's, I think it would have really gotten interesting. I think Mandela would have gotten Lennon stirring. Also, by the time of the Eagles reunion, Lollapallooza and the wild success of the early 90's Grateful Dead tours (where they played multiple nights in football stadiums every year), the Beatles WOULD have reunited. For charity or big bucks, who knows, but they would have. I've thought a lot about this, and firmly believe it.
Too bad life intervened.
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I often think about this myself. He seemed so full of vigor and was
extremely productive in the last year of his life. I'm convinced, given the quality of his demos at the time, his music would be consistently great in that time period. I believe he may not have stretched out for more experimental stuff, but encouraged Yoko in her pursuits. I think, too, that in the 90s he would have really started to try new things. Perhaps some awesome collaborations, or an epic record with Nigel Godrich. There is a LOT in common between Lennon and Yorke's sounds/musical style that I could imagine that would be an interesting combination.
Perhaps the 2000's would have been the pinnacle for him. I honestly can't even imagine...John was so ahead of his time, so brilliant. He was always trying different things. For sure he'd still be promoting peace, and for some reason I'd imagine he'd really be living part-time in Ireland, England, and New York. I believe he would still be doing fantastically enlightening peace demonstration, but he would be less vocal politically.
Anyway, it's sad that we can only think about it all hypothetically, but in so many ways it isn't sad. John's unparalleled impact on popular music, on our culture, is still so profound. To this day, I have yet to see a musical artist of his caliber (if there is one) top the bed-in stuff...it was naive, ridiculous, and seemingly pointless, but in actuality it did so much to raise awareness to the impact of performance art, and in such a positive and beautiful way. He put himself all the way out there for the things he believed in, ridiculers be damned.
To this day, almost all of his music is still the greatest stuff I have ever heard in my life. That's simply the truth for me.
