The tragic killing of John Lennon has almost grown mythical by way of the strange cultural details interwoven into the assassination: the fact that Yoko Ono had received warnings about Lennon’s safety, Mark David Chapman’s obsession with Catcher in the Rye, and the odd connection between the event and other musical stars like Todd Rundgren and James Taylor, to name only a few. In a morbid way, the entire twisted narrative seems oddly appropriate for the death of one of the world’s biggest rock stars known for his eccentricity, experimentalism, and psychedelia.
Some connecting threads, like the passive ways Rundgren and Taylor appear in the overall story, are merely coincidental. But for Chapman, a coincidence was all he needed to justify his actions, whether from J.D. Salinger’s Holden Caulfield or one of Lennon’s contemporaries.
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The Strange Connection Between Todd Rundgren and John Lennon
Decades after his death, the details of John Lennon’s violent assassination in 1980 are well-known. Mark David Chapman approached Lennon twice outside the former Beatle’s apartment in the Dakota in New York City. The first time on the morning of December 8, Lennon signed Chapman’s copy of Double Fantasy. The second time would prove fatal for Lennon. Chapman shot in the back five times as the musician walked toward his apartment. Chapman famously sat on the sidewalk and read Catcher in the Rye until the police arrived and quickly arrested him.
But J.D. Salinger’s book about an angsty teenager who despises hypocrisy and dubs his adversaries “phonies” wasn’t the only piece of popular media Chapman had in his possession that day. “Apparently, after he was assassinated, the police found a copy of one of my albums in the hotel Mark David Chapman was staying at,” Todd Rundgren revealed in a 2009 interview with Classic Rock. “I never had any contact with him. And I don’t believe that there’s any evidence that the little spat me and John had any effect on Mark Chapman at all. I’m not even sure he knew about it.”
The “little spat” Rundgren referred to was a publicized back and forth between the two rock ‘n’ rollers in the early 1970s. Lennon was at his peak debauchery post-Beatles, and Rundgren made cutting remarks about him in a Melody Maker interview in either 1973 or 1974 (sources vary).
The Little Spat Between The Two Musicians
In his infamous Melody Maker interview, Todd Rundgren said of John Lennon, “John Lennon ain’t no revolutionary. He’s a f***ing idiot, man. Shouting about revolution and acting like an a**. It just makes people feel uncomfortable. All he really wants to do is get attention for himself. If revolution gets him that attention, he’ll get attention through revolution. Hitting a waitress in the Troubadour. What kind of revolution is that?” Lennon responded in kind. He accused Rundgren of having issues with his father. Then, he said the latter artist was upset with Lennon because he didn’t recognize Rundgren when they first met at the Rainbow in Los Angeles.
To be clear, even if Mark David Chapman did know about the “little spat” between Rundgren and Lennon, that wouldn’t put any blame on Rundgren. Chapman allowed a fictional character to catalyze his hatred of Lennon and other artists like David Bowie, who Chapman had also allegedly targeted. Lennon’s killer would have found any excuse to act out his deranged fantasies, no matter who was spatting with who.
Nevertheless, it’s interesting to note how big of a Rundgren fan Chapman was. Chapman was wearing a Rundgren t-shirt when he committed the crime. Later, he would say that Rundgren’s music was the “soundtrack to my life.” In hindsight, the connection between Rundgren and Lennon is another darkly curious detail of a violent tragedy.
Photo by Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns