Why John Lennon Didn’t Want to Relive the 1960s
TL;DR:
- John Lennon had similar feelings about the 1960s and World War II.
- When he was a child, adults never stopped complaining about the war.
- He also discussed the impact of The Beatles’ breakup.
John Lennon wanted people to know the 1960s were over. In addition, he wanted people to know that World War II was over. During interviews, the former Beatle criticized nostalgia.
John Lennon dismissed the 1960s in an interview and his song ‘God’
The book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono features a 1980 interview. In it, John wanted people to stop caring so much about World War II and the 1960s. “The war is over and the ’60s is over and The Beatles is over and it’s all the same,” he said. “I’m not against the war or The Beatles or Paul, George, and Ringo. John made similar remarks about the 1960s in his song “God” from the album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band.
“I’ve no ax to grind either way, but I don’t want to go to the reunion with Japanese fighter planes,” he added. “I don’t want to be one of those people meeting around the Messerschmitts and the Spitfires reliving World War II. I’m not interested in it, OK? It’s just irrelevant, absolutely irrelevant.” For context, Messerschmitts and Spitfires were both aircraft used in World War II. The former were used by the Nazis and the latter were used by the Allies.
The former Beatle compared some of his fans to Brits obsessed with World War II
John compared reactions to The Beatles’ breakup to reactions to World War II. “This moaning about The Beatles is the same as our parents who never stopped talking about the goddamn Second World War,” he said. “Yes, it was very important, but not to us.
“We used to get ‘We never had that in the war’ and ‘We didn’t have matches during the war. We didn’t have milk,'” John continued. “Too bad, but I’ve got it. That’s all I ever heard from home!” John didn’t know if Americans constantly referenced the war as the Brits did. Notably, John starred in the World War II movie How I Won the War.
John Lennon said that The Beatles’ split made them bigger than they would’ve been
During a 1980 interview with the Los Angeles Times, John discussed what would have happened if The Beatles kept going. He felt they probably would have “gone down the tubes” before finding an audience again. He said the breakup created more mythology for The Beatles. John argued the split only made the band more legendary.
The “Imagine” singer recalled reading a book about Mick Jagger. According to the book, Jagger said the end of the Fab Four meant The Rolling Stones were now No. 1. Despite this, John felt The Rolling Stones would never be able to catch up to The Beatles.
John said that, with hindsight, he could look back at the Fab Four and understand things more clearly. He also said he could now think about The Beatles without feeling tense.
While John was sick of Beatles nostalgia, he still acknowledged the band’s cultural importance.
