The Day the Music Died

It was a normal day in my life back in 1980; High School was in progress, I was working part-time in a grocery store after school, and life seemed perfectly normal, almost too normal. There was something different happening in my life, though. One of my favorite singers just came out with his solo album and I had just purchased his single the week before. I will give you a hint; he was a former Beatle. I was really excited that he had put out some new music for the first time in five years. Also, there were rumors that he might get back in the studio to work with his old band. The former Beatle was John Lennon and the date was December 8th, 1980.
The single I had just purchased was “(Just Like) Starting Over. I really liked this song because it seemed so different than the music that was popular while John’s career was in hiatus. Disco had ruled the charts for several years up to this time. I was not a fan of Disco at all! To me it was mindless dribble with a boring beat. It needed to die a quick death and some of the new music like new wave and Punk were going to help kill it off!
I was beginning to like some of this new music. The Punk music had anger and emotional lyrics while new wave had cool music and interesting lyrics. To me, these were the baby groups coming from the Beatles and their solo careers. The Fab Four and especially John were going to come back together again and really put the stake into the heart of Disco!
That day I had my regular senior classes and I had my after school job stocking shelves at the local I.G.A.
When I was finished work, I cruised around in my car playing my new cassette player that I had recently installed. I was listening to Devo’s “Whip It”, Gary Numan’s “Cars” and of course some Beatles music and John’s latest songs. To me, around this time, life seemed to be hectic and out of control, especially it being my last year in high school and preparing for college, but I would put in some cool music, especially John’s new stuff that it made me feel like the future would be a breeze!
That night my family and I watched some TV after supper. Then at 8 pm, Monday Night Football came on. My mother wasn’t a big fan of football, so she would go read a book. My father was a huge fan of football and would watch every Monday Night game. I would usually watch the Monday night game with Dad, but tonight the game was showcasing two AFC teams. My favorite team was the Green Bay Packers, and I liked the NFC, but I really didn’t care for the AFC teams. So I would sporadically watch the game, while I was also listening to some new records I had just picked up the following weeks.
During this time most people played their music on record players. It was the old standard and the music was pretty outstanding back then, especially the bass! I wasn’t a big punk fan, but I did like a few of the new wave groups. There was Billy Joel’s “Glass House” album that I had, and Hall and Oates “Voices” too and of course I was spinning John’s new single, too. His album just came out and I was saving money to buy that to add to my record collection, too! The future looked very bright and I was feeling that the end of 1980 was bringing a great end to a weak musical decade!
Around 10:30 that night, I was getting ready to hit the sack and I wanted to find out the score of the game before I went to bed, so I went out into the living room to see how the game was going. While I was waiting for the score, Howard Cosell who was one of the announcers for the game said he had an important announcement that the former Beatle John Lennon had been shot and killed in front of his apartment in New York. I just stared at the TV and I was in total shock. My mind was screaming, “This couldn’t be happening!” I raced to my bedroom and turned in my radio to see if Howard was wrong. The 11:00 news came on and the first thing they announced was exactly what was on the TV a half hour earlier. I was really confused. These facts would not leave my brain. All I could think of is why would someone kill John Lennon? I didn’t know if I wanted to cry or just smash something in anger. He never hurt anyone and he put out the greatest music in my lifetime. I found out the next day that his killer was Mark David Chapman, a former fan that was psychotic and felt like he needed to kill him. Then I thought, “Great, some crazy guy who should have been locked up murders John”. That’s the first time in my life where I felt that anything can happen.
I spent quite a bit of time feeling kind of lost and a bit depressed. They had all these memorials on TV about his murder and how so many people were upset by it. I think it must have felt the same way when John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King was murdered. On Christmas, my oldest sister gave me the John Lennon album that I wanted earlier in the month for a Christmas gift. I would have loved receiving this gift earlier, but after what had happened, I didn’t really feel like listening to it. I smiled and thanked my sister for the present, but deep inside I knew I didn’t want it. I waited until the next day to play it and the songs were upbeat and full of love. I listened to it once and put it away into my collection never to play it again.
The hardest part of being a big fan of a musical artist is when you think so much of them for such a long period and all of a sudden they are gone forever, it leaves a huge void in you. This was something I haven’t had to experience before, almost like a death in the family.
From all of this, I knew I had to move on and pick myself up. I started to listen to more and more of the new music that came out. Disco did die off completely, which did make me feel better and it seemed like there were a lot of new bands coming out that would feel the void left from John’s death. I matured a lot that summer. I was getting ready to go to college and go see new people; big changes for me!
I eventually moved on musically and found artist that could also make me feel good and inspire me to do positive things. I glad I was able to do this and I will never forget how John’s music inspired me!
Every so often, I will remember that day in my life and think of the good times and bad. Then I think that I never really got the song “American Pie” until John Lennon was murdered. I guess I felt the same way that the fans of Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper felt in 1959 when their plane crashed and ended their brilliant careers.
Yes, indeed, it was “the day the music had died.”