I do believe Lennon was/is a hero to many, FBOFW, and did affect the lives of many who admire/admired him.
THe saddest thing to me about his death was that he appeared to be entering a new phase of his public life with some new perspectives perhaps as a result of being a newly engaged father and family man. We'll never know what kind of new musical directions he might have gone down. As one of the undeniable great pop/rock musical talents of his time, and not one to rest on is laurels I would say, he might well had delivered a lot of interesting new music and remained relevant for many years IMO.
I believe pop/rock music would be much different today had he lived into the 1980s. No way to know for sure though.
THe saddest thing to me about his death was that he appeared to be entering a new phase of his public life with some new perspectives perhaps as a result of being a newly engaged father and family man. We'll never know what kind of new musical directions he might have gone down. As one of the undeniable great pop/rock musical talents of his time, and not one to rest on is laurels I would say, he might well had delivered a lot of interesting new music and remained relevant for many years IMO.
I believe pop/rock music would be much different today had he lived into the 1980s. No way to know for sure though.