Band After John example essay topic

John Lennon October 9, 1940, John Lennon is born into a dysfunctional family in Liverpool, England. After John's father left him, his mother left him to stay with his Aunt Mimi. At a young age John started writing short stories. The young John Lennon was always a leader. John had his own little gang as a child in England. Nigel Whalley, a friend of John's, said", John was always a leader.

Hew as the one to dare you. He never cared what he said or did". (Corbin 13). John and his friends were troublemakers; however, the only people to ever get in trouble were John's friends and not John. Even though John Lennon died at a young age, he inspired people through his music with the Beatles, his solo career, and through his death. John's music career began with the look.

John wore tight jeans, a leather jacket, and his hair was slicked back (the " greaser" look). John idolized Elvis and Buddy Holly and the Crickets. After John begged his aunt to buy him a guitar, the first song he learned how to play was Buddy Holly's "That " ll bethe Day". John then decided to organize his own band. He gathered up people from his "gang" in grammar school: best friend Pete Shotten, washboard; Nigel Whalley, tea-chest; Ivan Vaughan, tea-chest; Eric Griffith, guitar; Colin Hanson, drums; and Rod Davis, banjo. As the leader of the band, and the only person with any musical talent, John played lead guitar.

The band, Quarrymen, was named after the school they attended. The band had a positive affect on john; he wasn't getting in any trouble. If John were to get into trouble the band wouldn't be able to play at school events, dances, parties, or weddings. They played popular rock'n' roll songs like "Blue Suede Shoes". John did not like to memorize the words to songs, so he often made up his own lyrics as he was going along. A double affect of inspiration happened when Ian Vaughan introduced John to Paul McCatrney.

John was impressed by Paul and he even admitted that Paul was as good at the guitar as he was. However, John wanted to be a leader and if Paul joined his band he would have to share his leadership. Then John, a few weeks later, came to his senses and asked John to join the band. Pete left the band after John smashed the washboard over his head; however, they still remained friends. Paul started writing songs and this made John jealous. This was probably a good thing, because then John started writing songs.

Then they started collaborating songs and they credited them to "Lennon / McCarthy". John's school work suffered from his guitar playing and songwriting. Aunt Mimi scolded him constantly", The guitar playing is all very well, John, but you " ll never make a living of it". (Corbin 16). William Edward Pob joy, headmaster of John's school, recommended he attend Art College of Liverpool. He enrolled in fall of 1957 and Paul introduced him to fourteen-year-old George Harrison.

George was an excellent guitarist and he taught Paul and John a few new chords. George joined the band and just after he joined Colin quit the band. John began to have a close relationship with his mother, Julia. He often stayed with her for days at a time. John saw her more as a sister than as a mother. Then tragedy struck when Julia was killed by a hit-and-run driver on July 15, 1958.

John was devastated over his mother's accident. John later said", I lost her twice. Once as a five year old when I moved in with my auntie, once again when she died. It just absolutely made me very, very bitter".

(Corbin 19). Through this experience, this caused John not to be able to express his feelings. The only way John expressed his sad feelings is through music. Soon after his mother's death, John started dating a woman who was the total opposite of him, Cynthia Powell. This supprizedJohn's friends, because she was quiet and looked nothing like John's favorite movie star, Brigitte Bardot. Cynthia often made herself up like Brigitte in order to please John.

Cynthia was not only attracted to John but frightened of him, because he was " violently jealous":" ... I was totally under his spell but I was really quite terrified of him for 75 percent of the time". (Cordin 20). John's only close friend in college was Stu Sutcliffe. John admired him for his paintings.

While Stu opened John up to painting, John opened Stu up to music. John encouraged Stu to play bass for the band. When Stu sold a painting for $195, he spent all of his money to buy a bass guitar. Paul and John often mocked Stu, because he did not play very well. Stu, despite his mockery, was loyal to the band and turned down many job offers that would require him to quit the band. Despite the lack of a drummer, the band played at the Casbah Coffee Club for $9 a night.

They also played at the Jacaranda, a coffee house where Stu and John hung out. They wen to the "Jac " so much that they befriended the owner, Allen Williams. Also, later Allen became their manager and he found a drummer for the group, Tommy Moore. The band went through a few names besides Quarrymen. John liked Buddy Holly and the Crickets so much that the came up with the Beatles, imitating the insect theme.

Beetle is how the insect is spelled but the band wanted to spell itB-E-A-T-L-E-S to have the "beat" of music in the name. Williams suggested to lengthen the name, because long band names were in fashion then. Williams suggested Long John and the Silver Beatles; however, John compromised with the Silver Beatles. The Silver Beatles auditioned for a tour as a back up band for singer Johnny Gentle.

All of the other bands that showed up to audition were in suits, but not the Silver Beatles. They wore turtle necks, tight jeans, and tennis shoes. They did get the job, but it was not much money ($54 per week). John's Aunt Mimi warned him again about his guitar playing, but he paid no attention to her. After the tour they drooped the silver in Silver Beatles. The only places they got jobs to play at were bars where fights were common.

Fed up with John and the audience's rowdiness, Tommy quit. Pete Best was available for the job, so he joined up as the Beatles new drummer. The Beatles then got a job playing at two night clubs for$45 a week. The shows were outrageous. The club was filthy and only had one restroom. The band drank beer and John and Paul jumped around the stage.

Once John came out on stage with a toilet seat around his neck. The rowdier he was the more German sailors and graders loved him. Even the Beatles competition like Derry and the Seniors came out to see them play. They packed the club. During this time John wrote Cynthia everyday. He sent long poems telling her how much he loves her.

AS the Beatles began to play at a club in Germany, the neighbors complained about the noise and the club shut down. Then another Club, Koschmeider, booked them to play for them. There the Beatles played alternating spots with another band, Roy and the Hurricanes, for eight or more hours every night. John became very good friends with their drummer, Ringo Starr. Nevertheless, it all ended badly in Germany. First, George was deported for playing in a night club while he was 17.

Next, Pete and Paul were deported for accidentally setting fire to drapes in a movie theater. After all of this, John and Stu had no choice but to go back home to Liverpool. Back home in Liverpool, the Beatles played four times a week for forty-five-minute spots at the Cavern. They developed a large loyal following, but they still were not making money. In the mean time Stu quit the Beatles, in order to per sue hid painting talent. Everyone in the band was getting fed up with doing the same old thing and came close to breaking up.

Then John met Brian Epstein. One night at a meeting Brian blurted out that the wanted to be their manager. John responded", Yes. Manage us". Brian straightened up the band's greaser image to a clean-cut image.

Heal so advised them to not smoke, drink, and eat during performances. In 1962 the Beatles completed their first studio recording. Also in 1962, Cynthia announced to John that she was pregnant. Then John and Cynthia were married and Brian was John's best man (They kept the marriage a secret in order to not lose any fans.

). In 1967 Brian died of an overdose of sleeping pills. John was most devastated by his death. January 12, 1963, the Beatles appeared on national television in England for the first time to perform their second single", Please Please Me."Please Please Me" reach number one and to capitalize from this they rushed out their first album with the same title. This was followed by a string of hit songs. This string of hit songs, touring, and televised performances is known as Beatlemania.

John's interviews resulted in the press labeling him the "wit,"rebel", and "intellectual" of the band. John " sw it hid the real him, and John saw interviews as a game. The only story the press knew about the Beatles was that they were "poorboy's made good". In 1966 at the Indica art gallery in London, John met Yoko Ono. John liked Yoko's art; however, Cynthia laughed at her art.

John and Yoko began going to art galleries together. Then John and Yoko began taking LSD together. As Cynthia and John were drifting apart, he fell in love with Yoko. John's fans blamed Yoko for the break up of his marriage.

Towards the end of 1969, John told the band he was leaving. The break up was not publicly announced until Paul released his first solo album. The Beatles " fans also blamed this on Yoko. John became a peace activist with Yoko.

At their honeymoon in 1969, they held the famous "bed-in" for peace. Later John released " Give Peace a Chance". In his first solo album, Imagine, John criticized Paul's music harshly. In 1980, John and Yoko released Double Fantasy. December 8, 1980, John gave an autograph to Mark David Chapman.

Another man was there, a photographer. Chapman asked the photographer if he got a nice picture of John, because it would be the last time the photographer would see him. Later on that night, John and Yoko were walking into their apartment building, the Dakota, when Chapman called out to them, "Mr. Lennon". As John turned Chapman unloaded five shots from his. 38-caliber revolver, hitting John in the shoulder and back. John was dead on arrival at the hospital.

Towards the end of John's life, his radical views were frowned upon by many. He has been called the anti-Christ, because he jokingly stated that he was larger than Christ. In all of the interviews I have read about John Lennon, the most common word used to describe his music was "cutting-edge". People also stated that he never duplicated a sound in any of his songs; each song had it's own unique sound.

"If it wasn't for John Lennon, I think that Paul McCartney would have had the Beatles writing " Yesterday' right up until they split up", Noel Gallagher said, talking about John's originality and leadership. Keith Richards said", There were the Beatles and there was John... he was his own man". Tom Petty said it best when he was talking about people's reactions to John's death: "I went home, and on the way could se people sitting in their cars at traffic lights just crying".

Bibliography

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