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Psychedelia:
The birth of psychedelic music is difficult to pinpoint. Some suggest it was the logical result of an increasing appreciation for and ingestion of psychoactive substances and a desire to emulate their effects in sound. Others regard it as a musical rebellion in keeping with the cultural upheaval of the 60's. Still others might limit its origin to a growing interest in studio experimentation, led by such artists as the Beatles and the Beach Boys.
Inspired by his experiences with LSD, John Lennon's compositions display this move in particular, especially \"I'm Only Sleeping\" (featuring backward guitar parts), \"She Said She Said\" (inspired by a conversation with Henry Fonda while he was tripping), and the enlightening \"Tomorrow Never Knows\". The psychedelic vision evident on Revolver was given full reign on 1967's Sgt. Pepper's.
Among the people on the cover of \"Sgt. Pepper\'s Lonely Hearts Club Band\" are Stuart Sutcliffe, Laurel and Hardy, Marilyn Monroe, Karl Marx, boxer Sonny Liston, Bob Dylan, Lenny Bruce and Shirley Temple. Shirley had visited the Beatles in their dressing room backstage at a San Francisco concert in 1964.
It is said when the Beatles requested her permission to use her image on the cover of the album, she was the only celebrity who insisted upon hearing the disc before granting permission.
John also wanted to add pictures of Hitler and Jesus to the cover but in the end, the Beatles' label was against that idea - John's "idols" - well, in a quite ironic way - had been banned.
John's Jesus-Christ-Comparison:
John's famous expression: \"We are more famous than Jesus Christ\" said in the interview of the \"Evening Standard\"on March 4, 1966 caused a scandal.
How I won the war:
is a ridiculous and absurd anti-war epic.
John plays Admiral Gripwead, a guy who should built um a cricket court in the middle of the desert.
1966 - last live concerts
Yoko Ono was an avantgarde artist and John's second wife.
Two Virgins: was recorded in 1968 at John\'s home in Kenwood, England.
John Lennon: \"It was midnight when we started \'Two Virgins,\' it was dawn when we finished, and then we made love at dawn. It was very beautiful". (The single was released with a notorious nude cover shot of the couple).
Hare Krishna
In September 1969 Srila Prabhupada, the founder of the Hare Krishna movement, arrived as a house guest at Tittenhurst Park, John Lennon\'s estate in England. 1969 was for John Lennon a year of intense search for social and personal liberation. He had already been to the Maharishi (to India) and later would enter primal therapy and left-wing politics. He was in a major transitional period; he had married Yoko in March.
Dissociation from the Beatles:
For John Lennon, being a Beatle simply wasn\'t enough. Prior to his rise to fame with the Fab Four (and that of his contemporaries, such as Bob Dylan), the role of pop star still fell within the confines of straight society. (Elvis was a rebel, perhaps, but he still served his hitch in the U.S. Army.) Lennon, Dylan, and other like-minded musicians of the \'60s spun that notion on its head, using their fame as a platform for social and political change - to promote world peace and to question generally accepted mores. Lennon did this through his work as a sharp-tongued but pop-savvy songwriter, visual artist, and absurdist poet, as well as through his life, particularly after he met avant-garde artist Yoko Ono, with whom he would spend the rest of his tragically shortened life. John and Paul - former best friends - became rivals and an in a way enenies.
Brian Epstein's death:
In August 1967, Beatle's manager Brian Epstein committed suicide.
The Beatles where totally shocked. Brian ran their hole business, they had no idea about organizing their money.
Lennon: \"After Brian died, we collapsed; We broke up and that was the disintegration.\"
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