Cosell’s shocking announcement 45 years later
A Nation Stunned: Remembering the Night Music Lost a Voice
December 8, 1980. Millions of Americans were settling in for a Monday night of football – a rather unremarkable matchup between the New England Patriots and the Miami Dolphins. But the game quickly faded into the background, overshadowed by a bulletin that ripped through the national consciousness. During a broadcast, sportscaster Howard Cosell delivered the news of John Lennon’s murder, a moment etched forever in the memories of those who witnessed it.
“Remember, this is just a football game, no matter who wins or loses,” Cosell stated in his characteristically direct tone, before delivering the devastating report: Lennon, outside his New York City apartment, had been shot and was dead on arrival at Roosevelt Hospital. The abrupt intrusion of tragedy into the realm of entertainment mirrored a similar shockwave that had gripped the nation nearly two decades earlier, with Walter Cronkite’s somber announcement of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. Both events marked a collective loss of innocence, broadcast live into American homes.
The Dakota and a World in Mourning
Lennon, 40 at the time, was shot four times in the back as he and his wife, Yoko Ono, returned to the Dakota, the iconic Manhattan co-op where they lived with their five-year-old son, Sean. The shooter, Mark David Chapman, remains incarcerated to this day.
The immediate aftermath was a tidal wave of grief. From impromptu candlelight vigils in Los Angeles to a silent tribute on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and a massive gathering of 225,000 mourners in New York’s Central Park, the world collectively grieved. Even Lennon’s hometown of Liverpool held a six-hour celebration of his life, punctuated by a ten-minute moment of silence. The outpouring of emotion was a testament to the profound impact Lennon and The Beatles had on a generation.
Beyond the Music: A Cultural Earthquake
The news wasn’t just a loss for music fans; it was a cultural earthquake. Sales of Lennon and Ono’s recently released album, “Double Fantasy”, skyrocketed despite initially lukewarm reviews. Radio stations across the United States abandoned their scheduled programming to play Beatles songs and Lennon’s solo work around the clock. The event forced a re-evaluation of the band’s legacy, even among those who had previously dismissed their music.
David Hepworth, a veteran British music writer and podcaster, observed that the outpouring of emotion wasn’t necessarily about Lennon himself, but about the memories and emotions he evoked. “Rock stars are fantasy friends you acquire at the age of 12 and, in some cases, they’re still there in your 70s,” he explained. “You meet many people today who say it was only when John Lennon died that they realized he’d been in a group with that bloke from Wings.”
A Legacy Endures, Reimagined for New Generations
While The Beatles’ popularity had waned somewhat in the years leading up to 1980, eclipsed by the rise of punk and new wave, Lennon’s death sparked a renewed interest in their music. That resurgence has continued in recent years, fueled by projects like Peter Jackson’s critically acclaimed documentary series, “The Beatles: Get Back”. The documentary offered an unprecedented glimpse into the band’s creative process, captivating both longtime fans and a new generation of listeners.
This renewed interest extends to other projects, including an updated version of “The Beatles Anthology” available on Disney+, the documentary “One to One: John & Yoko” on HBO Max, and upcoming biopics directed by Sam Mendes, slated for release in 2028. The enduring fascination with The Beatles speaks to their timeless appeal and their profound influence on popular culture.
The Weight of Remembrance: A Personal Connection
For some, the connection to Lennon’s music is deeply personal. Cha-Chi Loprete, a Boston DJ, recalls the night of the shooting vividly. “I immediately put on WBCN and started recording cassettes,” she said. “My apartment at the time was a complete Beatles museum — Beatles memorabilia everywhere. That night was one of the worst moments of my life, and I still remember it vividly.” Loprete has hosted a Beatles show on Boston radio since 1983, continuing to share the music that continues to resonate with listeners.
The impact of Lennon’s death extends beyond the realm of music. According to the United Nations Human Rights Office, the promotion of peace and non-violence, themes central to Lennon’s work, remains a critical global challenge. In 2022, an estimated 87.4 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide due to conflict and persecution, highlighting the ongoing need for advocates of peace like Lennon.
Forty-five years later, the memory of John Lennon’s death remains a poignant reminder of the fragility of life and the enduring power of music. It was a moment that stopped the world, and continues to echo through the decades, inspiring generations to imagine a better future.
ARTICOL ORIGINAL:
Millions of Americans were watching the Patriots and Dolphins on “Monday Night Football,” a humdrum game between two mediocre teams, when Howard Cosell delivered the news that still feels shocking 45 years later.
“Remember, this is just a football game, no matter who wins or loses,” Cosell said in his distinctive staccato just before 11 p.m. on Dec. 8, 1980. “John Lennon, outside of his apartment building on the West Side of New York City — the most famous, perhaps, of all the Beatles — shot twice in the back, rushed to Roosevelt Hospital, dead on arrival.”
It was an indelible TV moment, much like Walter Cronkite’s trembly, on-the-verge-of-tears announcement in 1963 that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated in Dallas. Lennon, the world soon learned, had been shot four times in the back as he and wife Yoko Ono were walking into the Dakota, the historic Manhattan co-op where the couple lived with their 5-year-old son, Sean. (The killer, Mark David Chapman, is still in prison.)
News of Lennon’s murder was met with an avalanche of grief. In the days that followed, there was an anguished candlelight vigil in Los Angeles; a wordless tribute on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial; a gathering in Central Park attended by 225,000 mourners; and a six-hour celebration of Lennon’s life (including a 10-minute moment of silence) in the Beatles’ hometown of Liverpool.
Sales of Lennon and Ono’s just-released album, “Double Fantasy,” immediately soared (in spite of mostly lukewarm reviews), as did interest in the Beatles’ catalog, and radio stations across the United States, and up and down the dial, scrapped program schedules and played the Beatles and Lennon around the clock.
“I immediately put on WBCN and started recording cassettes,” says Cha-Chi Loprete, a longtime Boston DJ who was just a 23-year-old listener the night Lennon was shot. “My apartment at the time was a complete Beatles museum — Beatles memorabilia everywhere.
“I was devastated,” says Loprete, who got hired at WBCN the next year and has hosted a Beatles show on Boston radio since 1983. (The current incarnation, “Breakfast with the Beatles,” can be heard on Saturday mornings on WUMB.) “That night was one of the worst moments of my life, and I still remember it vividly.”
At the time of Lennon’s death — he’d turned 40 that fall — the Beatles had been broken up for a decade and, while not irrelevant, the band was certainly out of fashion, especially among younger music fans. David Quantick, an English critic and comedy writer who’s written extensively about the Beatles (including a play about Lennon), recalls being ridiculed for enjoying the Fab Four.
“When I was at school, round about 1978, I had friends who would mock me,” Quantick says. “It was the age of punk and new wave, and liking the Beatles was like liking Fred Astaire.”
David Hepworth, a veteran British music writer and podcaster, said the outpouring of emotion that followed Lennon’s death had very little to do with Lennon himself.
“Rock stars are fantasy friends you acquire at the age of 12 and, in some cases, they’re still there in your 70s,” says Hepworth, who, at 75, is old enough to remember when John, Paul, George, and Ringo were a real-life rock ’n’ roll band, not a myth or distant memory. “You meet many people today who say it was only when John Lennon died that they realized he’d been in a group with that bloke from Wings.”
In the 45 years since that chaotic night outside the Dakota, the popularity of the Beatles has waxed and waned. But since the release in 2021 of “The Beatles: Get Back,” Peter Jackson’s acclaimed eight-hour docuseries, there’s been, it seems, an unquenchable appetite for all things Beatles. Lately, that has included the newly updated nine-hour Beatles documentary “Anthology” (available on Disney+); the stellar “One to One: John & Yoko” documentary (on HBO Max), focused on the 18 months the couple spent living in a basement apartment in the West Village; and whatever it is you call director Sam Mendes’s current project: four separate Beatles biopics to be released in theaters in April 2028.
For some, though, like Jude Southerland Kessler, the fascination with the Beatles — and Lennon, in particular — has never ebbed. Kessler, who lives in Louisiana, is to John Lennon what Robert Caro is to Lyndon Johnson. She’s spent the past 40 years researching and writing what, eventually, will be a 10-volume narrative of Lennon’s life. She’d hoped to get the job done in nine volumes — a nod to “number 9, number 9…” from the Beatles song “Revolution 9” — but the fifth book, covering the band’s whereabouts in 1965, ran to 1,600 pages.
“When I got to page 800 and the boys were only in August, I knew I was going to have to break it up,” Kessler says. “It’s really a landmark year for them.”
On the 45th anniversary of Lennon’s death, Kessler said she has no plans. But she did the night he was shot. An English teacher at the time, Kessler was at home getting ready to see her husband, a Navy officer who was due to return the next day from a long deployment overseas.
“I had a brand new dress laid out on the bed. I cleaned the house and had fresh flowers,” she says. “Then a friend of mine called and said, ‘I need you to sit down.’”
Mark Shanahan can be reached at mark.shanahan@globe.com. Follow him @MarkAShanahan.