"These critics with the illusions they've created about artists - it's like idol worship. They only like people when they're on their way up... I cannot be on the way up again"
About this Quote
Lennon’s complaint isn’t really about “critics” as individuals; it’s about the cultural machine that needs artists to be a story with momentum. The “illusions” aren’t just flattering myths, they’re a job description imposed from the outside: genius as purity, rebellion as brand, suffering as proof of authenticity. Calling it “idol worship” is a deliberately corrosive metaphor from someone who had watched Beatlemania turn human beings into religious objects and then, inevitably, into heretics the moment the congregation got bored.
The key line is the most fatalistic: “They only like people when they’re on their way up.” That’s not merely bitterness; it’s an indictment of how tastemakers reward narrative arc over actual work. The ascent is legible, marketable, easy to root for. The plateau is harder: it forces everyone to confront the fact that artists are workers, not miracles. Lennon’s “cannot be on the way up again” lands like a refusal and a trap. Fame, once achieved, collapses the possibility of being received innocently. Every new song arrives pre-interpreted by legacy, gossip, and expectation; the artist becomes a museum exhibit competing against their own highlights reel.
Context sharpens the sting. Post-Beatles Lennon lived through backlash, political scrutiny, and a long public pause before his 1980 return. He’s speaking as someone who knows that reinvention doesn’t reset the scoreboard. The subtext is grief disguised as contempt: not just that critics misunderstand him, but that the culture’s hunger for “the next” makes it structurally incapable of loving what endures.
The key line is the most fatalistic: “They only like people when they’re on their way up.” That’s not merely bitterness; it’s an indictment of how tastemakers reward narrative arc over actual work. The ascent is legible, marketable, easy to root for. The plateau is harder: it forces everyone to confront the fact that artists are workers, not miracles. Lennon’s “cannot be on the way up again” lands like a refusal and a trap. Fame, once achieved, collapses the possibility of being received innocently. Every new song arrives pre-interpreted by legacy, gossip, and expectation; the artist becomes a museum exhibit competing against their own highlights reel.
Context sharpens the sting. Post-Beatles Lennon lived through backlash, political scrutiny, and a long public pause before his 1980 return. He’s speaking as someone who knows that reinvention doesn’t reset the scoreboard. The subtext is grief disguised as contempt: not just that critics misunderstand him, but that the culture’s hunger for “the next” makes it structurally incapable of loving what endures.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
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