The Inspiration:
In 1979, an avant-garde new wave band from Atlanta called the B-52s released their debut single, "Rock Lobster," a song that, if it hasn't already, should be used as the inspiration for a SyFy Channel Original Movie about mutant lobsters that kill people during a 1960s beach party.
In 1980, John Lennon found himself in a club in Bermuda called Disco 40, which was split into two levels: disco upstairs, new wave downstairs. Lennon went downstairs. Later, in an interview with Rolling Stone, Lennon said, "I suddenly heard 'Rock Lobster' by the B-52s for the first time. Do you know it? It sounds just like Yoko's music, so I said to myself, 'It's time to get out the old ax and wake the wife up!'"
Joan Athey/Peaceworks Now Productions
John Lennon strums wife while sitting beside ax.
Like a retired Rambo being called in for one last mission, "Rock Lobster" convinced John Lennon it was time to make music again. He and Ono traded off writing duties on what would eventually become the album Double Fantasy. Three weeks after its release, John Lennon was murdered. A year later, Double Fantasy won the Grammy for Album of the Year. John Lennon wouldn't have had that one last hurrah if not for one of the silliest songs ever written.
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