Monday marks the 34th anniversary of the death of John Lennon, the Beatles megastar who was gunned down in New York City in 1980.
To commemorate the anniversary, Rolling Stone rereleased an interview writer Jonathan Cott conducted with Lennon just three days before the fatal shooting.
Cott told USA Today that the singer/songwriter spoke harshly of his critics during the eerily foreshadowing nine-hour sit-down, accusing them of trying to tear down him professionally and personally after he left The Beatles and embarked on a solo career.
"These critics with the illusions they've created about artists — it's like idol worship," Lennon told Cott at the time. "They only like people when they're on their way up . . . I cannot be on the way up again. What they want [are] dead heroes, like Sid Vicious and James Dean. I'm not interesting in being a dead [expletive] hero . . . So forget 'em, forget 'em."
Lennon's songwriting partner Paul McCartney, whom he bitterly feuded with numerous times throughout their relationship, talked about the late star Saturday on ITV's "The Jonathan Ross Show."
"The story about the breakup, it's true but it's not the main bit, the main bit was the affection," McCartney said. "I'm so glad because it would have been the worst thing in the world to have this great relationship that then soured and he gets killed, so there was some solace in the fact that we got back together. We were good friends."
Mark David Chapman was convicted of killing Lennon on Dec. 8, 1980, outside The Dakota apartment building in Manhattan.
In August, Chapman was again denied parole again by the New York Department of Corrections after failing on convince the board he could be a law-abiding citizen if he was
freed, according to the Journal News in Westchester, New York.
"After a review of the record and interview, the panel has determined that if released at this time, there is a reasonable probability that you would not live and remain at liberty without again violating the law," the panel's report stated.
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