“I read the news today, oh boy!..” / #RememberingJohn #JohnLennon #positivedisruption #socialresponsibiility

A counter-culture firebrand rising up from the basements of hole-in-the-wall bars. 

Nothing was guaranteed for him or his rag-tag group of misfits who made jarring music banned by the light of day, but wholly accepted in the recesses of the night by young people wanting a departure from the norms of society.

Still revolutionary decades after he arrived on the scene, the music he and his band from Liverpool made tore the sound of music as it was known and rewrote the rules on how life was to rock from henceforth.

John Lennon and The Beatles were a very present part of my upbringing. He was killed the year I came into the world. His life was suddenly and abruptly brought to a close. The music would stop playing in one way, though his recordings and that of The Beatles are etched into the fleshy tables of many a hearts. Discovering John Lennon and The Beatles’s ‘rock and roll’ was in itself a declaration of liberty by the listener back in the day as it was for me to blare ‘Revolution’ with all the bass I could muster decades later as a child. 

Was it the music of older people? Could have fooled me. The melodies are timeless and original, making the sound unique and riveting. Pick up an album and all the songs are great. Surely, it took the whole band to make the sound they are known for, but it was John Lennon who was the director of the band and the overarching leading genius that brought in a great deal of the passion, drive and energy that baked in a richer definition to the music.

The motives behind a great deal of his outspokenness against war and the racial and economic inequality present at the time all came from a place of altruistic love. That is to say, he was a man who wanted to help bring in peace on earth and he used his platform as one of the world’s leading musicians to call for positive changes. He was in effect, positively disruptive and practiced social responsibility across the totality of his life’s work by being able to influence people throughout the world to simply think differently about life and what it means to each of us. 

Far from building him up past his measure, John Lennon deserves to be honored for the love for which he loved all through his music and actions. All you do need is love. Love IS all you need. He was correct and the song of his heart did in fact make its way into many hearts and minds giving John, in a very real sense, immortality through us.