John Lennon Influence On Pop Culture

Jaylynn Armijo
Pop Culture Essay
Music is expression, passion, and influence. All throughout history, music has been a medium in which one can exert feelings of unconditional love, burning rage, drowning misery, or teenage angst. But more importantly, music holds the ability to influence masses of people. Music surrounds the lives of almost everyone in the world, as every culture has individual tastes for rhythm, language, melody; virtually everyone in the world is exposed to music and everything it represents. For this reason, many people use music as a medium to evoke a need for change. John Lennon, often recognized for his contribution to the world famous band, the Beatles, used his influence in the musical world to promote peace, while still
Perhaps one of John Lennon’s more controversial songs is “Woman is the N*****r of the World”, which strongly states the need for a high social status for women. Many deemed this song as racist, however it was the strong statement it made that forced many to recognize the oppression women face all around the world. Often times, people of color associated with oppression. Through comparing women to a highly oppressed body of people, it forced many people to recognize the serious amounts of sexism and oppression that women experience. This caused many to recognize the problem, and helped our culture work towards advancing the social status of women. “Sister, O Sister”, written by John Lennon and performed by Yoko Ono, also willed women to stand up for their rights. Through promoting women’s rights with his songs, this also inspired women to fight against oppression. Lennon also supported women in other ways as well; for example, Lennon also took on his wife’s last name when married. The fact that such an admired musical artist respected his wife to that extent, while promoting women’s rights even further contributed to the advancement of women in