The Beatles: 10 Perfect Solo Albums

The end of the Beatles seemed to hit John Lennon a lot harder than most people. Apart from losing some of his best friends in the world, he also had to deal with the business disaster of Apple Records that would keep breathing down his neck for the next few years. Lennon was still determined to promote his messages though, and a little bit of sugar coating gave him one of the biggest hits of his career.

While Imagine does have some of the same ideals that John touched on on his debut solo record, the tunes are a lot more lighthearted this time, like the title track imagining a world where we live in a utopia. John isn't off the soap box just yet though, and some of the songs on here are the most searing indictments of people in power, like Gimme Some Truth calling out Richard Nixon directly and Crippled Inside tearing down people who put on a nice face but are completely insecure on the inside.

That's not to say that John has all the answers here though, with a song like How? showing his struggles with learning how to love someone and Jealous Guy being the first time he tried to atone for some of the abusive behavior that he had in the past. John was still learning along with the rest of us, but there's a lot more optimism that things will turn around on this record.