Born in Liverpool, England, during a German air raid on the city, John Lennon was raised largely by his aunt Mimi after his parents split, and found his way into music through skiffle, forming the Quarrymen in 1957. That same year he met a young Paul McCartney at a church fete in Woolton, and the pair's partnership eventually grew into the Beatles alongside George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Credited jointly as Lennon-McCartney, Lennon and McCartney wrote "A Hard Day's Night," "Strawberry Fields Forever," and "All You Need Is Love," reshaping popular music through the 1960s before the band's breakup in 1970. Lennon's solo career leaned into raw confession and political activism alongside Yoko Ono, from the primal scream influenced Plastic Ono Band to the anthem Imagine and bed-ins staged for peace. After a lengthy hiatus raising his son Sean, he returned with Double Fantasy in late 1980, released just weeks before he was shot and killed outside his home at the Dakota in New York City on December 8, 1980, at age 40.

Born in London, John Entwistle became the bass guitarist for the Who, a role that earned him the nicknames "The Ox" and "Thunderfingers" for his thunderous, lead melody approach to the instrument. While most bassists of the era held down simple root notes, Entwistle wove intricate, pentatonic runs beneath Pete Townshend's guitar and Keith Moon's chaotic drumming, developing a percussive "typewriter" technique that let him hammer multiple strings at once. He also contributed dark, comic songwriting to the band's catalog, penning tracks like "Boris the Spider" and "My Wife." Rolling Stone later ranked him among the greatest bassists of all time, citing his influence on generations of players from Geddy Lee to Flea. Entwistle died in Las Vegas in 2002, the night before a Who tour was set to begin.

Born in Havana, Cuba, Al Jourgensen founded Ministry in Chicago in 1981, initially as a synth-pop outfit before dragging the band toward the pounding, distorted sound that would define industrial metal. Albums like The Land of Rape and Honey and Psalm 69 fused grinding guitars, sampled noise, and Jourgensen's snarling vocals into something heavier and more aggressive than anything else on rock radio, influencing the industrial and nu metal scenes that followed. Restless and prolific, he kept Ministry as his only constant band while running a rotating cast of side projects including Revolting Cocks and Lard, collaborating with musicians from Metallica and Nine Inch Nails along the way. Decades of hard living cemented his reputation as one of rock's most notorious survivors, and Ministry still tours and records with Jourgensen at the helm.