{"id":236436,"date":"2025-10-19T13:58:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T13:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/236436\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T13:58:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T13:58:07","slug":"how-john-lennon-ended-his-fight-with-todd-rundgren","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/236436\/","title":{"rendered":"How John Lennon Ended His Fight With Todd Rundgren"},"content":{"rendered":"

Todd Rundgren<\/a> recalled how John Lennon<\/a> contacted him privately to end a public war of words that broke out in 1974.<\/p>\n

The pair met during the ex-Beatle<\/a>\u2019s infamous \u201clost weekend,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0a time when he was frequently drunk, stoned and out of control. It had been a disappointing experience for Rundgren, a massive fan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI met him at a party in the period he was drinking with Harry Nilsson<\/a> and misbehaving all over Hollywood,\u201d the guitarist and producer told the The\u00a0Guardian<\/a> in a recent interview.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Todd Rundgren Reveals His Songwriting Inspiration<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe looked like a bundle of rags in the corner and…I was disappointed that he had nothing to say. Later I was being interviewed…and I said something along the lines of that you can\u2019t be a revolutionary and preach one thing if you\u2019re behaving in another way, and that became the headline.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lennon read the article and responded by sending an open letter to the magazine, writing: \u201cI have never claimed to be a revolutionary. But I am allowed to sing about anything I want! Right?<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess we\u2019re all looking for attention…do you really think I don\u2019t know how to get it, without \u2018revolution?\u2019 I could dye my hair green and pink for a start! I don\u2019t represent anyone but my self.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rundgren remembered the disagreement developing into a “kerfuffle,\u201d which the press\u00a0appeared to be enjoying. \u201cThen one day I got a call and it was John, saying: \u2018I think we\u2019re being used here, so let\u2019s bury the hatchet.\u2019 I said: \u2018Fine!\u2019 and that was that.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the same interview, Rundgren admitted to having upset the Band<\/a> when he worked with them as a studio engineer \u2013 his first major professional engagement. \u201cI was a smart-ass kid, like calling Garth Hudson<\/a> \u2018old man,\u2019 thinking he was too old to stay awake, not realizing he had narcolepsy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t into that kind of music and not cognitive of the fact the Band were one of the biggest acts in the world. \u2026 Levon Helm<\/a> got into opiates; so while he may have chased me round the studio he spent as much time underneath a pile of curtains, dead to the world.<\/p>\n

Todd Rundgren Doesn\u2019t Understand Prince\u2019s \u2018Purple Rain\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIn later years they all became my friends,” Rundgren continued, “except Robbie Robertson<\/a>, who was kind of a snob.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rundgren also said he had no memory of meeting a young Prince<\/a>, who was reported to have waited backstage to see him. \u2018[Which] isn\u2019t to say it didn\u2019t happen,\u201d he pointed out.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrince took the play-every-instrument thing to another level. I wanted to write beyond what I could play and realized there are better players, whereas he tailored the songs to his capabilities as a player. So the drums are simple, certainly not like Stevie Wonder<\/a>\u2019s, who was a crazily funky drummer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought some of Prince\u2019s stuff was great, but some of the lyrics made no sense to me at all. I don\u2019t know what the hell \u2018Purple Rain\u2019 is. Is it some kind of pollution?\u201d<\/p>\n

Todd Rundgren Albums Ranked <\/p>\n

For more than half a century, the superstar producer has made some of the weirdest records to hit the charts.<\/p>\n

Gallery Credit: Michael Gallucci<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Todd Rundgren recalled how John Lennon contacted him privately to end a public war of words that broke…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216,3],"class_list":{"0":"post-236436","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}