Todd Rundgren's second album, 'Runt: The Ballad Of Todd Rundgren' from 1971, with its focused, crafted and witty piano pop was described by Rolling Stone magazine as "the best album Paul McCartney never made". But it would go on to have a far more sinister connection with The Beatles than anyone could have imagined.
On Monday, December 8 1980, a big fan of Rundgren's woke up in the Sheraton hotel, New York. After putting his clothes on, he placed a copy of 'The Ballad Of Todd Rundgren' on the dressing table. Next to it he left a photo of himself from when he worked at a Vietnamese refugee camp along with a letter of thanks for his work there. He finished this tableau with the hotel Bible, which he had opened to John's Gospel and written the word 'Lennon'.
Mark Chapman was a big fan of Todd Rundgren. He learned the lyrics and studied the album sleeves for clues and was later particularly drawn to 1973's 'A Wizard, A True Star' album, becoming convinced Todd was beaming signals to him. It was then that an article about the singer by Melody Maker journalist Allan Jones appeared focussing on Rundgren's song 'Rock And Roll Pussy', said to be a critique of Lennon's revolutionary stance. Lennon wrote an open letter to Todd in the music paper, stating:
"I guess we're all looking for attention Rodd, do you really think I don't know how to get it, without "revolution"?"
It's said that this affected Chapman greatly. Just after 10:40pm, on the evening of the 8th, Mark Chapman approached John Lennon outside the Dakota hotel and shot him four times.
Todd Rundgren's first nine albums are available on Rhino.
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