Analyzing the Impact of John Lennon's Music on Global Culture

This essay examines the profound cultural impact of John Lennon, focusing on his role as a songwriter, singer, and peace activist. It explores his early life, the formation of The Beatles, and his rebellious spirit, which was evident in his music. The essay delves into Lennon's advocacy for social change, particularly his stance against racism and the Vietnam War, highlighting his iconic song "Imagine" as a symbol of his vision for a just and equitable society. It analyzes how Lennon's music influenced societal perspectives, especially during times of conflict and inequality, and concludes by emphasizing his lasting legacy in shaping modern communities and inspiring generations through his art and activism. The essay references various scholarly sources to support its claims, providing a comprehensive analysis of Lennon's influence on the world.

Running head: IMPACT OF JOHN LENNON ON CULTURE
Impact of John Lennon on culture
Name of the Student
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Author Note

1IMPACT OF JOHN LENNON ON CULTURE
The human civilization is made up with a lot of sociological and psychological
underpinnings. The existence of all these various underpinnings deeply impact the life of an
individual, especially the way they handle their personal life problems (Maultsby 2017). It is the
way a person communicates or behaves with the other individual members of the society which
decides on their personality and character development. The field of music has a domineering
role to play within the lives of the human civilization (Urbain 2015). Music has a way of
influencing the lives of the people by deeply impacting the society and the different sociological
and psychological underpinnings. This essay tries to understand the impact that music has been
able to make on the human society. In this respect, the essay takes the case study of John Lennon
and his music. The essay concludes with the examination of how music aids in bringing about
significant changes within the community of the human race.
John Lennon was born on 9th October, 1940 and was more popularly known as a song
writer and a singer (Na 2016). He is said to have co-founded the famous band called “The
Beatles”. It was during his teenager lives that he became highly interested in the field of skiffle
craze. During this time, around 1957, he laid foundations of his first band of his life known as
the “Quarrymen” which later got transformed in to “The Beatles” during the year of 1960 (Na
2016). Lennon had a rebellious spirit inside him which was revealed through the kind of songs
he wrote. He believed in bringing about a serious change in the society with his music and
passion.
John Lennon is also known for his ideas of peace activism. He believed that the society
was heavily influenced by a number of myths and superstitions which prevented the members of
the society to achieve their true potential (Womack and Kapurch 2016). He was a firm advocator
of equal rights of the people and stood for the eradication of racism as experienced within the

2IMPACT OF JOHN LENNON ON CULTURE
United States of America during that time. Lennon also raised his voice against the Vietnam
crisis where he severely criticized the activities of the state leaders of the United States (White
2016).
One of the most prominent and socially aware songs that was written by John Lennon is
that of “Imagine”. In this song, Lennon wanted to portray the idea of an equitable and just
society where every individual live in harmony with each other without being involved in any
conflict of any kind (Womack and Kapurch 2016). This is quite significant considering the time
when the lyrics of this song was written. “Imagine” was written in the year of 1971 (Womack
and Kapurch 2016). During this time, the two most powerful nation states of the world that is the
United States of America and the Soviet Union were engaged in a hostile relation with each
other. The world was experiencing a lot of conflict and hostility during this time which involved
the entire human civilization.
The elements of racism was quite dominant in the world during the period of the
twentieth century. Racism refers to the situation where an individual discriminated against
another individual as a result of his or her color of skin. In the context of the human civilization,
such racism occurred when a ‘white’ skin toned person considered himself or herself to be
superior to a ‘black’ skin toned person simply because of the variation in their skin tone. Such a
mentality existed as a result of the period of colonialism whereby the powerful nations of the
world tried to impose their rule on the vulnerable section of the human population. Most
invariably, such imperial masters were ‘white’ skin toned and they justified their rule on the
grounds that it was destined for them to inculcate the importance of ‘civilization’ to the
barbarians of the world, who were invariably, the ‘dark’ skin toned people.
Such an idea of racism is seen to be in existence even in the modern time period. John

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Lennon and a host of other musicians tried to bring about a change in such mentality and outlook
of the people by imbibing the importance of the spirit of culture and traditions among the people
(Brown et al. 2016). This was necessitated because it is the adherence to such customs and
culture of the world which would be able to bring about a change in the personality of the
individuals by the way of increasing their level of tolerance to each other.
The Beatles, and especially the song of Lennon, known as “Imagine” has been able to
bring about a change in the perspective of the common public. He has been able to harp on the
importance of the need of a just and tolerant society especially during such turbulent times
(Cohen 2017). Needless to say, many individuals of the society were highly influenced by his
activities and thought process. However, the twentieth century was stifled with a lot of major and
significant events. One of such events was the support for the right to equality and the other
universal rights which are granted and guaranteed to all the human beings of the society (Driver
2016).
To conclude, it can be observed that the main motive of music is that of providing
entertainment and to act as a relied measure for the people. However, music has always been the
harbinger of change and a need for a drastic revolution through the mechanism of peace. John
Lennon aimed to achieve precisely this. He wanted to influence the people through his music and
wanted to bring about changes in the society for the betterment of the society. His song on
“Imagine” aimed to do precisely this. Thus, it can be said that Lennon had quite a significant
impact on the structuring of the modern community of the world.

4IMPACT OF JOHN LENNON ON CULTURE
References:
Brown, M.S.A.R., Spracklen, K. and Kahn-Harris, K., 2016. Introduction: global metal music
and culture and metal studies. In Global Metal Music and Culture (pp. 19-39). Routledge.
Cohen, S., 2017. Decline, renewal and the city in popular music culture: Beyond the Beatles.
Routledge.
Driver, R.D., 2016. Images of England through Popular Music: Class, Youth and Rock ‘n’Roll,
1955–1976.
Maultsby, P.K., 2017. Soul Music: Its Sociological and Political Significance in American
Popular Culture”. In From Soul to Hip Hop (pp. 277-286). Routledge.
Na, N., 2016. The Beatles, popular music and society: a thousand voices. Springer.
Urbain, O., 2015. Music and conflict transformation: Harmonies and dissonances in
geopolitics (Vol. 19). IB Tauris.
White, A.L. ed., 2016. Lost in music: Culture, style and the musical event. Routledge.
Womack, K. and Kapurch, K., 2016. New critical perspectives on the Beatles. Palgrave
Macmillan,.