Except that, obviously, it clearly wasn't.
However, thanks to his death, he did find himself dominating the British singles chart. In fact, in the whole of that month, that chart had just two Number Ones.
The first was his, then venerable, single Imagine which claimed the top spot for the bulk of the month, before being deposed, in the last week of it, by his more recent track Woman.
When it came to the UK album chart, Lennon spent the entire month at Number Two, with Double Fantasy, as Super Trouper by ABBA and then Kings of the Wild Frontier by Adam and the Ants hogged the chart's peak position.
But there were other musical developments happening away from Britain because, that month, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences announced that, from now on, there would no longer be a Grammy Award for Disco, with the decision later being described as, "The official date of death," of the genre.
If the discotheques of the Western world were now to be verboten to all who sought Grammy approval, perhaps we could seek out refuge in the cinemas instead.
Or perhaps not. That January seems to have seen the unleashing upon the world of just four, "mainstream," movies; My Bloody Valentine, Sphinx, American Pop and Eyewitness.
I must confess I've never heard of any of these films, although I have, of course, heard of the band called My Bloody Valentine. Did they take their name from the movie? It would appear that they deny it, despite it being hard to believe they could have come up with the same name by pure chance.
Well, this is all very fine and dandy but what of the whole point of this post, which is The Galaxy's Greatest Comic?
I can't claim there's a lot to report, mostly because I have, as always, no recollection of the comics' actual contents - but I do have the feeling there wasn't anything too out of the ordinary going on. The usual strips were still running; Strontium Dog, Dash Decent, The Mean Arena, Judge Dredd and The Meltdown Man.
It is intriguing, though, to see that Judge Dredd was up against someone called Captain Skank. I have no idea who Captain Skank is but he certainly has a name that conjures up all kinds of images.
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24 comments:
Steve-
My Bloody Valentine is a marginally entertaing slasher-type flick, getting on the holiday-killer bandwagon after Carpenter's Halloween.
There was a remake a couple years ago, in 3-D no less. Some folks that saw it told me it was good, but I've never seen it.
I love the My Bloody Valentine band.
I play their CD at work and my co-workers give me a blank look at first when it starts. Lol.
I remember seeing My Bloody Valentine on the so-called "Rollercoaster" tour with Blur, Dinosaur Jr and the Jesus & Mary Chain, which was some line-up. I quite enjoyed MBV until the point they started thrashing out one note over and over and over. For about 15 minutes. It was a real "anyone fancy a pint?" moment...
Talking about great...or, notable, horror movies, anybody remember Motel Hell?
There's this cannibal farmer who knocks out anybody who comes around. Then he buries 'em in a field up to their necks. When he's ready to eat 'em, he pulls them out of the ground alive with a tractor, like they were big carrots.
It's worth watching, just to see a young Cliff Clavin from Cheers getting yanked out of the ground like a turnip.
M.P.
I've never seen that film, MP, but I always get excited when Cliff Clavin turns up in Warlords of Atlantis.
KD, thanks for the My Bloody Valentine movie info.
KD and Cerebus, I don't think I've ever heard any tracks by My Bloody Valentine but I could be wrong.
I blame Ken Bruce. He's clearly not playing them enough.
...so, that's why Atlantis sank.
M.P.
Death was a pretty good career move for John Lennon, Steve; besides the posthumous no.1 hits, it meant he wouldn't embarrass himself making terrible records like the Frog Chorus, or raving about brexit.
The only one of those films mentioned that I've seen is American Pop. Its unusual, but - like Ralph Bakshi's other films - not as good as you'd expect.
As for the comics - that was a great 2000AD line-up, although you forgot to mention the memorable but underrated Return to Armageddon (even though its on one of the covers!)
-sean
Death was indeed a good move for Lennon. It was just a matter of time before he ended up hosting the Muppet Show.
It made people forget his sometimes very questionable personal behavior.
And he coulda ended up like Ozzy Osbourne with his own reality T.V. show and his misbegotten spawn, or (gasp) Steven Tyler, who seems hell-bent on making a jack-ass of himself whenever somebody points a camera at him.
I know people would now be speaking better of me if I'd had the decency and sense to bite the dust decades ago. But, like the promise of spring or cholera, I endure.
M.P.
You don't think Imagine would have been greatly improved by a muppet chorus, M.P.?
-sean
Okay, Sean, I'll grant you that.
Lennon on the Muppet Show woulda been pretty cool!
(my favorite was Harry Belafonte, with Alice Cooper as a close second.)
M.P.
In the early '80s I read three novels by Robin Cook (not the late Labour politician) called COMA, BRAIN and FEVER which were all medical thrillers. He also wrote a book called SPHINX which I never read but it was adapted into the film mentioned in today's post (I've never seen the film either).
Lennon imagining no possessions must be the most hypocritical line ever written in pop music. I remember reading that he and Yoko Ono owned hundreds of fur coats not to mention all the other trappings of wealth.
So The Stones (Rolling) and McCartney are passing by this Summer. McCartney will be in Moline, a small town near the Mississippi River, and the Stones in Chicago.
I've seen both twice...
Suppose I only have money for one of the shows, which one? I would be going with my 20 year old son whose seen McCartney twice also (once with me) and the Stones zero.
I'm leaning towards Sir Paul... nothing gives us goose bumps like the opening chord to Hard Days Night or the bass opening to Get Back.
Plus young people can't name two Stones songs assuming they know the Stones wrote Satisfaction (and that's a big assumption).
I maaaay go see the Stones on a lark, the day of, to see if I can a cheap seat.
So, what would you chaps do???
Although I massively prefer the Beatles to the Stones, I'd personally plump for the Stones because, in what footage I've seen of McCartney lately, his voice has deteriorated so badly in the last year that you worry he's not even going to be able to get through a song anymore.
MP-
Motel Hell is great fun.
"MEAT'S MEAT, AND A MAN'S GOTTA EAT!!"
Boy, cannibalism sure finds it's way on this site A lot.
I'd opt for neither Charlie.
-sean
Steve - I didn't realize his voice was that weak. When I last saw him a few years ago it was clear he was no longer in his prime but he managed well enough.
In a way, it's one more reason to take one last opportunity to see the legend before it all comes to an end. So, in an odd way I think I'm taking the negative and going forward!
I saw McCartney at Glastonbury maybe 10 years ago, wasn't that fussed about watching him try and promote his latest album but went along. He was actually brilliant, stuck to Beatles and Wings classics and wasn't above giving the crowd what they want. Hearing 100,000 odd people in various degrees of drug induced stupor singing along to Hey Jude is not an experience I will forget in a hurry. Even if he did come across as a rambling old hippy when talking to the crowd.
Tim, we saw him 5 years ago in Milwaukee. Around 60,000 folks. When he hit the stage it was a one hour, non-stop, Beatles sing along. He did play 1- 2 new songs from New. And, then back to Beatles and Wings and some later solo stuff.
But he and his band were something to see. Glad I did it. Loved it when he broke out his Ukulele and played Something as a tribute to George.
Funny story... my son saw him outdoors at La La Palooza on a Sunday night two years ago. He was next to the stage. Given the music fest has multiple stages, you could hear the mega hip- hop dude playing 500 yards away. Paul stops the show and goes, "My god... how can anyone listen the that shit?" The teens and adults broke out cheering!
Aw, he's okay.
I never understood that Uncle Albert stuff, or Band on the Run. I think there was a lotta doobie smokin' going on.
But his music was melodic. I have a bit of a sentimental attachment to some of it. I can handle whimsy in limited doses.
M.P.
You do strike me as something of a whimsical sort M.P., inbetween bouts of lurking in your fortress of darkness.
The last even slightly well-known band I went to see was reformed American beat combo the Swans, who were good but... the size of the place - hardly huge by the standards of the enormo-dome arena circuit - killed it for me a bit.
So even if I liked McCartney or the Rolling Stones, I can't really see the appeal of watching them on a giant screen.
Plus, I don't like paying a lot to get into anywhere I'm not allowed to smoke (which is everywhere public in this country).
-sean
I love the Beatles and the Stones, but if I wanna see a buncha old wrinkly guys in person I can just go to the local strip club, and I don't gotta pay three hundred bucks to do it.
Unless I opt for the private dance. That'll cost ya.
M.P.
Bah. Charlie only pays like $75 max for these things. No way he is popping $300. I think we paid only around $65 to see Sir Paul a few years ago.
He sells out in these smaller cities but only at lower ticket prices from what I can see. E.g., Moline is a smaller city on the Missississippippppi River. I can't imagine there are over 1 MM folks in a 50 mile radius.
And, so I've been told, the day of the Stones I s.b. able to get a ticket for about $50 - $75.
Sean - smoking is not good for your health! Please stop! We want you blogging as long as possible!
Yes, I know Charlie - its next on the list to give up (as I no longer drink alcohol, take assorted uh... other substances or eat dead animals I might be a boring git in my old age, but I'm not doing too badly on the health front).
-sean
Sean - I feel you buddy! I've nearly given up everything. I'm only 1 - 2 drinks a month, 1- 2 cigs a year, nearly vegan... Thank heavens sex is still safe!
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