December 8th marks the 31st anniversary of Beatles legend John Lennon being shot to death outside his NYC apartment by Mark David Chapman at the age of 40. His shooter fired off 7 times and apparently did it to “gain (Lennon’s) fame”. On this tragic day, we remember his legacy with nearly 150 rarely seen photos and video of the Nightline report featuring Ted Koppel’s announcement and Geraldo Rivera’s retrospective. Leave your thoughts and memories in the comments after the jump.

Thirty years ago today, Beatles founding member John Lennon was murdered. The shocking announcement was delivered by the always poignant Howard Cosell during a telecast of Monday Night Football. We celebrated his 70th birthday in early October with a collection of rarely seen photos and we’ve been meaning to see “Nowhere Boy”, the movie that depicts the years leading up to his fortuitous meeting with Paul McCartney. Now, we take a look at ABC Nightline’s report on the death of legend John Lennon.

It’s hard to believe it’s been 29 years since that infamous day Mark David Chapman cowardly gunned down John Lennon in front of the Dakota in NYC. It was a time when the dial on your radio was an analog wheel and to get from station to station you spun the wheel. Sounds pretty archaic I know. This audio clip is an analog dial scan from New York radio recorded shortly after Lennon was killed.

December 8th is a day of infamy in Rock N’ Roll. On this date in 1980 Mark David Chapman murdered John Lennon outside of his hotel in New York City. Twenty-four years later, on the same date, Former Pantera and Damageplan guitarist Dimebag Darrell was murdered onstage during a performance in Columbus, Ohio.
Born Darrell Lance Abbott, Dimebag, was a founding m… Click to read more