Drake Bell Has a John Lennon Inspired Tattoo

Drake Bell was as much of an icon to 2000s kids as John Lennon was to the children of the 1960s. During an interview, the Drake & Josh star explained why he had a tattoo inspired by one of John’s most famous quotations. The quotation appeared in one of the former Beatle’s most enduring songs.

Drake Bell has tattoos inspired by John Lennon and The Beach Boys

During a 2011 interview with PopSugar, Bell discussed his tattoos. “‘War Is Over,’ it’s from John Lennon, it spoke to me,” he said. “I’m a huge fan of Lennon. The feather on my arm means a lot of things, depends on what the day is and which mood I’m in. I have Lennon’s glasses on my back. They have a broken lens, which is something that spoke to me.” Yoko Ono famously included John’s bloodied glasses on the cover of her record Season of Glass, which came out in the wake of John’s tragic death.

John Lennon wasn’t the only 1960s star Bell paid tribute to with his ink. “Finally, there’s ‘Smile,’ which is the title of Brian Wilson from The Beach Boys’ amazing opus,” he said. “I don’t know if I’ll get more.” For context, Smile was the album The Beach Boys were set to release as the follow-up to the hit “Good Vibrations.” It was never released, though Wilson put out a rerecorded version of the album as a solo artist in 2004.

Drake Bell loves The Beatles and The Rolling Stones

Bell went on to discuss his musical taste further. He had pretty retro tastes. “I love The Beatles, Rolling Stones, and British music has been a constant in my life ever since I started playing and listening to music,” he said. “The Beatles are my biggest musical influences. Currently, I also like Midlake and Bruno Mars. I like working with multi-instrumentalists.” While Midlake and Mars are both currently active, they both draw a lot of inspiration from the music of earlier generations.

The former child star discussed some of the projects he would love to work on in the future. “Working with Paul McCartney would be a dream come true,” he said. “I would love to do one of the remakes of the Jerry Lewis films. There are a lot of dream projects.”

How John Lennon’s ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’ performed

The line “War Is Over” became a lyric in the Plastic Ono Band’s seasonal favorite “Happy Xmas (War Is Over).” That record hit No. 38 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for six weeks. The tune appeared on the essential compilation album Shaved Fish. Shaved Fish hit No. 12 on the Billboard 200 and lasted on the chart for 32 weeks.

The Official Charts Company reports “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” as a hit in the United Kingdom as well. There, the Christmas song hit No. 2 in 1972, staying on the chart for 30 weeks. It charted again in the U.K. in 2003 and in 2007. In the U.K., Shaved Fish reached No. 8 and stayed on the chart for 29 weeks.

Bell is a 2000s icon taking a lot of inspiration from the 1960s and 1970s.