This is a very interesting essay from Markmaking:
John Lennon, one of the very greatest musicians, was killed 25 years ago. Years before the deaths of Princess Diana or Kurt Cobain, this prompted his fans, who immediately gathered in public to manically erect homemade shrines, an outpouring of self-indulgent bathos so unreflectively creepy as to involuntarily call to mind the unbalanced psychological relationship that connected his killer (only in his own mind) to Lennon…
According to the critical consensus, both Lennon and McCartney reached their greatest heights owing to the tension of their partnership and the general framework of the Beatles.* Afterwards there was nothing to hold either one back from their worst excesses. Until then, however, there were seven straight years of routinely achieved perfection.
This would be hard to gather, though, from the music that invariably accompanied the televised tributes. Apparently the death of “John Lennon” has little to do with the Beatles but only with his intermittently successful solo career. To accompany the flashbacks, there is no “Twist and Shout,” no “Ticket to Ride,” “Help,” “Nowhere Man,” “Strawberry Fields Forever,” “Revolution,” or “Come Together” — all songs where McCartney’s talent helped polish Lennon’s raw brilliance.
More here.