The new wave hit that inspired John Lennon to return to music

16 July 2026, 13:52

John Lennon was inspired to return to music in part by this unlikely track.

After The Beatles broke up, John Lennon flung himself into his solo career.

He barely played live, but released six albums in just over five years, before he seemingly went into semi-retirement

Lennon released covers album Rock ‘n’ Roll in February 1975 and after the birth of his second son Sean Ono Lennon eight months later he decided to stay away from music and instead devote himself to being a stay-at-home dad.

His only recording session for the next five years would be on ‘Cookin’ (In the Kitchen of Love)’ for his old bandmate Ringo Starr‘s Ringo’s Rotogravure album in 1976.

“We have basically decided, without any great decision, to be with our baby as much as we can until we feel we can take time off to indulge ourselves in creating things outside of the family,” Lennon said in 1977.

It wasn’t until the summer of 1980 that he returned to music, laying down the tracks that would eventually be released as Double Fantasy in November of that year, just weeks before he was murdered in New York.

And there was an unlikely influence on Lennon’s return to music: new wave icons The B-52s and in particular their 1978 debut single ‘Rock Lobster’.

“I was at a dance club one night in Bermuda,” Lennon told Rolling Stone on December 5, 1980, in his final interview, conducted just three days before his death.

The B-52’s – Rock Lobster (Official Music Video)

“Upstairs, they were playing disco, and downstairs, I suddenly heard ‘Rock Lobster’ by the B-52’s for the first time.

“Do you know it? It sounds just like Yoko’s music, so I said to meself, ‘It’s time to get out the old axe and wake the wife up!’

“We wrote about twenty-five songs during those three weeks, and we’ve recorded enough for another album.”

14 of those songs were released on the Double Fantasy album, with further songs released on the posthumous album Milk and Honey in 1984