I’ll say this; the Beatles were the greatest band, period. The Stones were the greatest rock-and-roll band, specifically. The Stones had a formula and they stuck with it from the beginning and over the decades. The Beatles’ formula was to never have a formula. Every one of their songs and albums was different from the last. Their albums were evolutionary if not necessarily revolutionary.

I’ll say another thing about Lennon; he was the real deal. He had the courage of his convictions. Sure, he had a controversial history, but he could and did evolve too. I lived in NYC when Lennon was fighting Nixon/Agnew and Attorney General John Mitchell, for the privilege of living in his beloved NYC. The administration wanted him deported ostensibly because of a marijuana charge in London, but really because of Lennon’s anti-Vietnam War activity. Lennon’s attorneys advised him to keep a low profile while they fought his battle in the courts. So, what did Lennon do? He befriended Abbie Hoffman and toured with David Peel and continued his involvement with war protests and peace activism. [You can find the full story in “John Lennon vs. the USA,” by Leon Wildes. And "The USA vs. John Lennon," documentary.]

Long story short, Nixon and Agnew were finally found to be the real criminals, disgraced and narrowly escaping prison. Mitchell was not so lucky and spent 19 months in federal prison for the administration’s criminal enterprise, Watergate. Lennon was free to continue his covert philanthropy and his overt activism. He never stopped singing about peace and love, even on the day he was murdered.

John Lennon will always be one of my personal heroes.

Imagine.