Today the Beatles are possibly my second favorite group and John Lennon my favorite Beatle, but when he died I was 10 days shy of my 13th birthday, and just a casual fan of their music, so it wasn't a jarring experinence for me. But when I watch segments on tv or read about it in a book or online I feel a very deep sadness, and can't help wonder what could have been. I stiill can't understand what that madman was thinking to this day

I had a similar experience however with Pantera's Dimebag Darrell (who coincedently died on the same day as Lennon!) I'm not trying to put Dimebag in the same catagory as Lennon, but he is still a music legend in his own way- but I was hanging out with a friend i hadn't seen in a while and we were listining to all sorts of music. I put on Dimebag's remake of Ace Frehley's instrumental Fractured Mirror and we had a long discussion about how great a guitar player that Dimebag was. The next day i heard he was murdered on stage the night before! That blew my mind. I called my friend and he was sure I was messing with him. If i was as big of a fan of John Lennon then as I am now, I know EXACTLY how i would have felt on December 8th, 1980