DBWI: John Lennon Was Assassinated in 1980?

I was reading a bit about Mark Chapman, the man who assassinated New York Mayor Ed Koch in December of 1980. It turns out, that Chapman was actually planning on killing Music Legend John Lennon, how ever he kept on putting it off until he ended up killing Koch instead.

What if, instead of killing Koch, Chapman killed Lennon instead? What effect would this have on the history of music, as well as the history of the Beatles?

For that matter, how would American and New York politics be different with Koch not being assassinated?
 
I was reading a bit about Mark Chapman, the man who assassinated New York Mayor Ed Koch in December of 1980. It turns out, that Chapman was actually planning on killing Music Legend John Lennon, how ever he kept on putting it off until he ended up killing Koch instead.

What if, instead of killing Koch, Chapman killed Lennon instead? What effect would this have on the history of music, as well as the history of the Beatles?

I dunno.. Would Geffen Records be as successful without John Lennon?

I know he made some pretty dire moves in the '80s. (Anyone here remember that rock-for-peace album?) But many artists from the '60s struggled with that decade.

Plus remember he was the one who got Mudhoney signed to Geffen - without them, rock might never have come-back in the early '90s.

(OOC - in this TL, Lennon keeps an eye on the alternative rock scene in the late '80s, and on his advice Geffen signs Mudhoney instead of Nirvana...)
 
Wings might've split up for good around the time of the release of 'McCartney II' and not meandered on into the 90's, considering Paul McCartney was hinting at a mid-life crisis and going into stodgy recaps of his teenage years, terraced house mentality an' all. I can imagine him thinking he was a Beatle again and making some f**king crap movie akin to 'A Hard Day's Night' all to get over the guilt of never reconciling properly with Lennon. Lennon seemed to just get angrier at McCartney through the 90's, while promoting his own particular brand of peace and love, it's very crass but very funny, the fella seems to give better and better interviews as he approaches 70. George Harrison was a realist, right up to his death and he would've just got on with it, making rock n' roll records and chipping in the odd interview painting Lennon as a flawed fella but ultimately a nice guy who died too young. There hasn't been a Beatles reunion up to now, bar talk on an anthology project that went nowhere due to Lennon point blank refusing to, and I quote - 'Wishing another dull as fuck second childhood on the obsessives' - and Lennon dying young (40!) would've certainly put the skidders on all that. The Beatles were a great little rock 'n roll band, it's a shame they all turned into lawyers. At least the ol' complaining sod divorced Yoko, he's shacked up with a model 25 years younger than himself, good on him, Heather Mills or something...
 
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Up until the assassination of Koch, his name was mentioned as a future governor of New York. Polls showed him as the favorite over then Lt. Governor Maroo Cuomo. I think Koch would have won.

When Koch died, there was a special election in April of 1981, which was won by Basil Patterson who became NYC's first black mayor. He had an underachieving son named David. Wonder what happened to him.

Too bad Patterson's 4 years as mayor were marked by fiscal mismanagement, rave riots in Crown Heights, and corruption scandals. It was no surprise that he lost reelection in 1985 to Herman Badillo. He was the first mayor to serve two full terms since John Lindsay.

After Rudy Giuliani failed to defeat Badillo in 1989 and Mark Green in 1993, he quit politics and became Commissioner of Major League Baseball in 1994. I wonder if any other baseball commissioner would have prevented a strike that year. Every Montreal Expos baseball fan is certainly thanking Rudy.

Mark Green's leadership in the aftermath of 9/11/01 earned him the title of "America's Mayor" and it helped him defeat incumbent Governor Pataki in 2002. As Green approaches the end of his second term, he is looking forward to retirement in 2011. It was a good thing he did not listen to Chuck Schumer who wanted Rep. Kirstin Gillibrand appointed to Hillay Clinton's Senate seat. He appointed Carolyn Maloney instead, and she currently enjoys 75 percent job approval ratings. So far, no Republican wants to run against her.
 
Expos

Up until the assassination of Koch, his name was mentioned as a future governor of New York. Polls showed him as the favorite over then Lt. Governor Maroo Cuomo. I think Koch would have won.

When Koch died, there was a special election in April of 1981, which was won by Basil Patterson who became NYC's first black mayor. He had an underachieving son named David. Wonder what happened to him.

Too bad Patterson's 4 years as mayor were marked by fiscal mismanagement, rave riots in Crown Heights, and corruption scandals. It was no surprise that he lost reelection in 1985 to Herman Badillo. He was the first mayor to serve two full terms since John Lindsay.

After Rudy Giuliani failed to defeat Badillo in 1989 and Mark Green in 1993, he quit politics and became Commissioner of Major League Baseball in 1994. I wonder if any other baseball commissioner would have prevented a strike that year. Every Montreal Expos baseball fan is certainly thanking Rudy.

Mark Green's leadership in the aftermath of 9/11/01 earned him the title of "America's Mayor" and it helped him defeat incumbent Governor Pataki in 2002. As Green approaches the end of his second term, he is looking forward to retirement in 2011. It was a good thing he did not listen to Chuck Schumer who wanted Rep. Kirstin Gillibrand appointed to Hillay Clinton's Senate seat. He appointed Carolyn Maloney instead, and she currently enjoys 75 percent job approval ratings. So far, no Republican wants to run against her.

Expo fans should. They were able to win two WS in a row in 1994 and 1995, and they have still been able to field a consistent playoff contender since. Those championships were the impetus for the brand new stadium to be built in downtown Montreal. LaBatt Park opened in the year 2000, and it is celebrating it's 10th anniversary.
 
If Lennon died back in 1980, I say GOOD! His songs after that had been full of crap, to put it lightly. Yet he insisted on continuing his music career. His reunion with the Beatles was the only bright spot out of the very very dark tunnel in that they made a decent album (but then they broke up faster than you could say 'Hey Jude'). Seriously, it's better for him to die as a halfway decent (if not excellent) musician than to live long enough to be crappy one.
 
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