B-52s Honored to Have Inspired John Lennon's Return to Recording

B-52s guitarist Keith Strickland recently turned to YouTube to find out if a rumor about John Lennon and the B-52s was true. According to the story, once reported by Rolling Stone, Lennon was so moved after hearing the B-52s' 'Rock Lobster' in a disco that he ended his extended hiatus from music.

"I just wanted to hear it with my own ears," Strickland tells Spinner, and after a little Internet searching, he found a BBC audio clip of Lennon that confirmed the rumor. "That was really something. I've always been a huge Beatles fan."

According to Strickland, it's no surprise that the song reminded Lennon of music created by his wife, Yoko Ono. "Yoko was such an inspiration for us in the early days," he says. "That's definitely an homage to Yoko when Cindy [Wilson] does that scream at the end."

While Ono was gaining fans among the punk audience, it was still unusual for anyone to pay tribute to her at the time 'Rock Lobster' was recorded in 1978. Less than a decade after the Beatles broke up, Strickland says, many people were still critical of the avant-garde artist and singer.

"You know, 'she broke up the Beatles' and all that bulls---," he says. "But there was this whole generation of kids that just loved her. We just thought she was fantastic, so it felt good that we were kind of able to give back and say, 'Look, we love what you did' and they heard that. Then, in turn, it inspired John to continue writing."

After taking nearly five years off to spend time with family, Lennon and Ono recorded the songs that would comprise 'Double Fantasy,' which would be Lennon's last album. He was assassinated three weeks after the record was released in 1980.

"Of course, there's the personal loss and the sadness of a human life ended in such a way," Strickland says. "But also, as an artist, you regret that he couldn't have continued because he was such a young man -- he was only 40. He would still be working to this day, I'm sure."

The Lennon-Ono-B-52s connection came full circle a few years ago when Ono appeared onstage with the group for a 25th anniversary performance in New York.

"The audience didn't know and we started doing 'Rock Lobster,' and then she comes out and does the scream," says Strickland, whose B-52s are currently touring again. "It was so exciting. It was one of the highlights of our career for me."