Genius Award 20th Century Genius Award: John Lennon

It is with great pleasure and honor that the Committee of Genius presents the 20th Century Genius Award for Excellence in the Age of Pluralism and the Age of Modernism to English artist, musician, and social activist John Lennon.

John Lennon was born in Liverpool, England in 1940. In 1957, when he was still a teenager, Lennon founded a rock and roll band with a bass player Paul McCartney. Their friendship and musical talents blossomed and became the Beatles -- one of the biggest, most successful, and world-renowned musical acts in history. As his biographer Anthony DeCurtis (n.d.) points out, "If John Lennon had only been one of the four members of the Beatles, his artistic immortality would already have been assured." However, there is more to John Lennon than the Beatles. Lennon's life work "suggested not merely a profound musical and literary sensibility -- a genius, in short -- but a vision of life that was simultaneously reflective, utopian and poignantly realistic," (DeCurtis, n.d.).

After the breakup of the Beatles, John Lennon formed a multi-level partnership with Japanese artist Yoko Ono. Bridging the two cultures proved the John Lennon was the living embodiment of the Age of Pluralism. Lennon and Yoko became life partners, artistic and creative partners, and partners for political action. Together, Yoko and John staged political protests such as their famous "bed-in," which was a type of sit-in for peace.

Lennon was a genius on many levels. One of those levels was in the realm of media and popular culture. Lennon once told a reporter that the Beatles were "bigger than Jesus." This controversial statement might have upset people in America, who burned Beatles albums in protest (DeCurtis). However, this incident served to show how dedicated a Pluralist Lennon really was. When he and Yoko staged their bed-ins, they mastered the art of using the media to garner attention for important political causes. Lennon and Ono were dedicated to peace. Lennon also understood that "low brow" art forms like rock and roll were critical to the formation of popular culture, and that popular culture and the media were tools of social and political empowerment. Therefore, John Lennon proved himself continually to be a spokesperson for Modernism as well as Pluralism.

According to an eNotes explanation of the tenets of Modernism, five main issues are listed including the following:

modernist poetry with an open verse and free form.

"lost generation" and disillusionment with America and materialism stream of consciousness capture "despair and angst"

"decadence and sexual freedom"

When these five issues are evaluated in turn, it is clear that no other Twentieth Century figure could meet all five of these parameters other than the late John Lennon. First, the format of modernist poetry is evident in the many songs that John Lennon wrote both during and after The Beatles. Songs like "Strawberry Fields Forever," and "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" are two of Lennon's iconic Beatles songs, and both use an open verse. While some of Lennon's songs rhyme for their musical impact, most of them are composed in free and open form.

The lyrics for "Norwegian Wood" are as follows:

"I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me...

She showed me her room, isn't it good, Norwegian wood?

She asked me to stay and she told me to sit anywhere,

So I looked around and I noticed there wasn't a chair.

I sat on a rug, biding my time, drinking her wine

We talked until two and then she said, "It's time for bed"

She told me she worked in the morning and started to laugh.

I told her I didn't and crawled off to sleep in the bath

And when I awoke, I was alone, this bird had flown

So I lit a fire, isn't it good, Norwegian wood.

Lennon was a member of what Gertrude Stein called the "lost generation." Although Stein used the term to refer specifically to Americans, the tenets of the "lost generation" apply equally as well to Englishmen like John Lennon. The lost generation members were characteristically disillusioned with American culture, values, and policies, which is why many literary and artistic Americans in the first half of the twentieth century moved to Europe ("Modernism," eNotes). In Lennon's case, the artist was also disillusioned with American culture. He was an outspoken opponent of the war in Vietnam (DeCurtis).

One of the hallmarks of Modernism in the arts and culture is the use of stream of consciousness. Any casual listen to Beatles albums such as...

Lennon's stream of consciousness went beyond the lyrics of his songs; the music itself was avant-garde and unstructured. Songs like "Number Nine," written with Yoko and recorded with Yoko, are exemplary examples of how a musician uses stream of consciousness instead of being bound by the restraints of conventional song structure.
The Modernist movement also coincided with existential philosophy. John Lennon bore many qualities of being an existentialist philosopher, as he was concerned with the direct personal inquiry method of spirituality like that used by existential philosophers. Another feature of existentialism was the awareness that human life is punctuated, if not characterized totally, by angst and suffering. Lennon was not pessimistic, but he did understand that angst and suffering are related to being alienated from love and truth.

Finally, John Lennon deserves the Twentieth Century Genius Award because he also fulfills the final of the five components of Modernity, which is sexual liberation and the embrace of the pleasures of the flesh. Lennon's lifestyle was open and progressive. He took drugs openly during his time with the Beatles, using psychedelics to open his mind and liberate his creative spirit. Later, he and Yoko embarked on a cleaner but no less experimental artistic journey. Their relationship itself was experimental, and they made music and art together, recording songs that were not as famous as the Beatles but still heart-warming. He and Yoko painted and photographed themselves naked. Their sexual openness and liberation were part of their overall worldview, which was both Modernist and Pluralist.

Pluralism is the philosophical tradition that has permeated all realms of inquiry. (Tully & Weinstock, 1994). As one of the core components of the Twentieth Century Genius Awards, Pluralism is important because it is one of the core philosophies of the Twentieth Century. The underlying basis of pluralism is globalization. A globalized world is heterogeneous and pluralistic. The age of Western imperialism is over, and Lennon understood the importance for enabling the birth of a pluralistic society in which "all the people live in peace." Nowhere was John Lennon's pluralistic philosophy more evident than in his song "Imagine."

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too

Imagine all the people

Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will be as one

John Lennon embodied pluralism in everything he did as a musician, as well as in his personal life. The art, music, and social activism of John Lennon make him the ideal recipient of the Genius Award. Few musical bands have captured the hearts of people all over the world as the Beatles, and the Beatles would not have been the Beatles if it were not for John Lennon. Yet it is equally impossible to imagine the 1960s counterculture movement without John Lennon. Lennon's influence extended beyond Grammys and Gold Records, into the ways people lived their lives. Lennon's experimentalism, his open-mindedness, and his open heart made him an ideal role model for young people in his time. Lennon was aware of his role: "Lennon came to view his life as a work of art in which every act shimmered with potential meaning for the world at large," (DeCurtis, n.d.).

Lennon was tragically shot in 1980. A bullet ended the life of John Lennon, but nothing could kill his spirit or the legacy he left on the world. The entire world benefitted from the presence of John Lennon. His song writing genius inspired many musicians; his attitude towards pluralism and culture offered hope for world peace and harmony; and Lennon practiced all that he preached. The genius of Lennon's music is that it cut across all cultural boundaries to the heart of what it means to be human.