rollingstone:

Thirty years ago today—on December 8, 1980—John Lennon was shot to death by a deranged fan outside of the Dakota, an apartment building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Three days before his death, Lennon spent nine hours talking with Rolling Stone for a planned cover story. Now, 30 years later, this extraordinary interview is being presented for the first time in the new issue of the magazine, on newsstands Friday.

Check out our web-exclusive companion coverage to the piece, including audio clips from the interview, a gallery of Lennon’s years in New York with Yoko Ono, other stories from our archives and more at RollingStone.com.