--- title: John Lennon's Death, 35 Years Later: How the World Reacted description: It's been 35 years since Lennon was shot on Dec. 8, 1980 canonical: https://time.com/4131751/john-lennon-1980-anniversary/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-08T12:00:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:00:50.104Z article:section: History og:title: John Lennon's Death, 35 Years Later: How the World Reacted og:description: He was shot on Dec. 8, 1980 og:url: https://time.com/4131751/john-lennon-1980-anniversary/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteeea10f852f70e60/6988735d8e0601ec38463906/1101801222_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Dec. 22, 1980 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John Lennon's Death, 35 Years Later: How the World Reacted twitter:description: He was shot on Dec. 8, 1980 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteeea10f852f70e60/6988735d8e0601ec38463906/1101801222_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How the World Reacted to John Lennon's Death 35 Years Ago  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Dec 8, 2015 12:00 PM UTC  The Dec. 22, 1980, cover of TIME The Dec. 22, 1980, cover of TIMETIME  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Dec 8, 2015 12:00 PM UTC In the days after Mark David Chapman shot John Lennon on Dec. 8, 1980, the area around the gates of the Dakota, Lennon’s apartment building in New York City, quickly turned into a makeshift memorial. Flowers and signs from fans quoting Beatles lyrics were displayed alongside the more official remembrances, as world leaders made their way to honor an artist whose life had been ended too early. The killing was shocking not only for its senselessness, but also because Lennon managed to escape many of other pitfalls of rock stardom. “He beat the rock-‘n’-roll life,” TIME’s remembrance quoted Steve Van Zandt saying the day after Lennon died. “Beat the drugs, beat the fame, beat the damage. He was the only guy who beat it all.” So it makes sense that, as the story reported, flowers and signs were just the beginning of the aftershock: --- > “” --- **_Read more from 1980, here in the TIME Vault:_** [When the Music Died](http://time.com/vault/issue/1980-12-22/page/1/) ### See Photos of John Lennon Through the Decades  Portrait of John Lennon as a child, circa 1948. Pictorial Press—Getty Images  John Lennon as a child, with his mother Julia Lennon, 1949\. To date, this is the only known photograph of John with his mother. It was taken by John's cousin, Stanley Parkes. Mark and Colleen Hayward—Getty Images  John Lennon at home in Liverpool during his schooldays, circa 1950. Gems/Redferns—Getty Images  John Lennon, Pre-Beatles, circa 1960/1961. Michael Ochs Archives—Getty Images  The Beatles standing outside Paul's Liverpool home (left to right) George Harrison (1943 - 2001), John Lennon (1940 - 1980), Paul McCartney. Ringo Starr was not to join the band for another two years. Circa 1960. Keystone—Getty Images  John Lennon playing guitar, circa 1960. Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone—Getty Images  John Lennon performing with The Beatles at the Star Club, Hamburg, April-May 1962. TS Productions—Getty Images  John Lennon, of The Beatles, posed, on set, holding a cigarette at Alpha Television Studios, Aston, Birmingham David Farrell—Redferns/Getty Images  The Beatles posing in a small backyard in London with their instruments, 1963. Terry O'Neill—Getty Images  John Lennon sitting on bed in sunglasses signing a book. GAB Archive—Redferns/Getty Images  John Lennon playing a Gibson guitar, circa 1964. Michael Ochs Archives—Getty Images  John Lennon poses for a photo in the snow in March 1965 in Obertauern, Austria during a break from filming their second movie HELP!. Michael Ochs Archives—Getty Images  John Lennon in character as Musketeer Gripweed during the filming of the Dick Lester film 'How I Won The War' in September 1966 in Germany. Gunter Zint/K7K Ulf Kruger OHG/Redferns—Getty Images  John Lennon of the Beatles, after making a formal apology for his controversial statement that the group were 'more popular than Jesus'. August 16, 1966. Harry Benson—Express/Getty Images  John Lennon filming Magical Mystery Tour, 1967. David Redfern—Redferns/Getty Images  John Lennon wearing a frilly shirt and a sporran at the press launch for the Beatles' new album 'Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band', held at Brian Epstein's house at 24 Chapel Street, London, May 19, 1967. John Downing—Getty Images  Yoko Ono and John Lennon, December 1968. Susan Wood—Getty Images  John Lennon with his son, Julian Lennon, circa 1968. Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone—Getty Images  John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono holding a press conference in their bed at Amsterdam Hilton Hotel, during their honeymoon. March 26, 1969. Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone—Getty Images  Former Beatle John Lennon with his wife Yoko Ono at his home, Tittenhurst Park, near Ascot, Berkshire, July 1971. Michael Putland—Getty Images  John Lennon and Yoko Ono (extreme left) as they attend a rally in Hyde Park, London, England, 1975. Rowland Scherman—Getty Images  John Lennon and Yoko Ono in New york, 1980. David Mcgough/DMI—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4131751/john-lennon-1980-anniversary/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4131751/john-lennon-1980-anniversary/"},"headline":"How the World Reacted to John Lennon's Death 35 Years Ago","datePublished":"2015-12-08T12:00:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:00:50.104Z","description":"He was shot on Dec. 8, 1980","url":"https://time.com/4131751/john-lennon-1980-anniversary/","keywords":["Crime","People"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteeea10f852f70e60/6988735d8e0601ec38463906/1101801222_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteeea10f852f70e60/6988735d8e0601ec38463906/1101801222_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Dec. 22, 1980","caption":"Dec. 22, 1980","creditText":"TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4131751/john-lennon-1980-anniversary/","name":"How the World Reacted to John Lennon's Death 35 Years Ago"}}]}] ```