December 8, 1980: I'm in school, waiting for class to start. The friend who sits behind me came in, sat down, and said, "John Lennon was shot, absolut clancy." We'd heard it that morning on the local classic rock station. We talked about it for the next couple weeks at school. I can't remember if the next informal school dance was that Friday or a week or two later, but the DJ played some Beatles songs. Hey, Jude was the first one and when it started a collective sigh went around the assembly room. From Wikipedia : On the evening of 8 December 1980, English musician John Lennon , formerly of the Beatles , was fatally shot in the archway of The Dakota , his residence in New York City. The perpetrator was Mark David Chapman , a recently unemployed resident of Hawaii. Chapman stated that he was incensed by Lennon's lifestyle and public statements, especially his much-publicized remark about the Beatles being " more popular than Jesus " and the lyri