I won't deny that Lennon's political statements were really simplistic, but once the Beatles era ended he got tired of doing cryptic wordplay stuff and decided he just wanted to be straightforward all of the time, and he was tired of all of George Martin's studio wizardry, what he strived for as a solo artist was completely different from what he strived for in The Beatles, in the Beatles he spent 5 years making some of the most experimental and innovative pop music of the era, once he went solo he chose to continue on with Let it Be's concept of going back to basics.

Personally I don't care how simple his message was, I think he legitimately cared a lot about the things he engaged in regardless of how naive he may have been about the more naunced aspects of politics, and he knew how to make a powerful statement wether you agree with it or not, he was a bigger lefty than me so of course there are things he said and did which I disagree with very strongly, just like any other artist I like who enters the political realm.

I don't really agree with the idealized socialist utopia Lennon dreams of in Imagine, but I think it's a very powerful song both as a piece of music and in terms of how it sends a message that evokes many different reactions from different people. I can't see how the song could have possibly been better if the lyrics were made to be more like something you read from a New York Times editorial or some bullshit like that.

I don't understand why delivering a message in a simple way is demonized so much, IMO it's way more effective than doing it in a pretentious word masturbation kinda way.

I'm sorry? What? He presented himself as a soft spoken hippie, while being argubly more violent against women than Lennon ever was (and Lennon tried strangling a chick in a hot tub once).

You're all ignoring that Lennon had a significant attitude change over the years, Lennon changed his attitude dramatically when he hooked up with Yoko Ono, meanwhile Hendrix's lyrics about peace, loving women and riding unicorns were actually simultaneous with him treating women like shit. He would perform songs about peace and love and then after the show punch girls in the fucking face for looking at another guy. I mean Jesus fucking Christ.

Lennon wasnt always an abusive asshole nor were his lyrics always light and fluffy, Jesus have you listened to his songs on Rubber Soul lately? It's not like he was keeping his personal demons a secret.

:lol: (at the Foghat comment)

I'm not a huge John Lennon fan, but I can't deny that there's a reason he's so revered as a songwriter. As far as his politics go, they succeeded because he was direct and easy to understand. He didn't get behind sprawling, Cohen/Dylan anger or metaphors or anything, he just said "Imagine if this stuff was things". (On its own, I think "Imagine" is rather bland and MOR, but if you want to get into the historical context of that song [Vietnam War, Beatles breakup, etc] then you'd have to make a pretty strong case to call it a bad song. Personally, I don't really buy all that, I like to judge songs on their own merit.) But in all seriousness, I don't see how the writer of "I Want You" and "Because" and "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" could be considered a not-great songwriter. I don't really like any of the Beatles as actual people/celebrities outside of Ringo Starr though so what the fuck does joe c know?

I can get behind most of this. I actually like Lennon as a songwriter. I think he's overrated but in the Beatles at least he shines.