Why Bob Dylan.

[THC]

Any Poet Laureate has all my respect

Blood on the Tracks is one of my favorite albums

[Speedbird-1]

Originally Posted by Kinnakeet

As far as Bob Dylan, must be one of the luckiest humans ever.

Bob's, second in that queue, after a certain Richard Starkey!

[GB-man]

This is easily my favorite post from you all time Peter. I agree generally not into Dylan. Sounds like a really good subway performer at 2am lol

[Blansky]

Career.....https://www.deseret.com/entertainmen...lans-birthday/

Top 10 lyrics....https://americansongwriter.com/top-1...s-of-all-time/

[77T]

I don't have an answer for you Peter, at least not in the way you posed the questions.

She does...



I just have gratitude now for the time I spent then while singing those songs Bob Dylan wrote.


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[Moondoggy]

Right place, right time singing about stuff that resonated with people.

He read the room well.

[scarlet knight]

I idolize Dylan as a poet. My wife says he can’t sing. We him live before covid. He can’t sing, great band.

[Calatrava r]

I really like some of his songs back in the day. Not much of a fan of the later stuff.

[cglondon]

It’s similar to The Smiths. There’s an equal amount of people that are in awe of the lyrics, the poetry, the sadness in the words backed up by one of the most underrated guitarists ever. Mr Johnny Marr.

The same amount of people can’t stand to hear that moaning, depresssing voice whining about his Girl being in a coma.

What a great song by the way!!’


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[scarlet knight]

Originally Posted by cglondon

It’s similar to The Smiths. There’s an equal amount of people that are in awe of the lyrics, the poetry, the sadness in the words backed up by one of the most underrated guitarists ever. Mr Johnny Marr.

The same amount of people can’t stand to hear that moaning, depresssing voice whining about his Girl being in a coma.

What a great song by the way!!’


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I like Morrissey and the Smiths. My wife says their songs are trite.

[pensandwatches]

Dylan writes great lyrics. Some say he can’t sing while others love it.

Seen him a few times and he reconfigures all his songs to sound different than his recordings, really amazing musicianship - plus his band is always top notch.

If you can, give Infidels a listen….

[Rock]

In my youth - '70s - Dylan was always there - always revered.
Never in my 'Top Ten' favourite artists, but always respected for the quality/imagination/innovation of his lyrics - and melodies. Voice not so much.
First Dylan album I bought was a 'best of' and on the basis of that I bought another 15 or so albums over the years.
Dylan is - to me - one of those artists (like Bowie) that will often have only one or two really good songs on an album. Contrast that with Billy Joel where ALL the songs will be great. Dylan is a bit like Springsteen in that respect.
There is no denying however, that regardless of a large number of mediocre songs and a crap voice, Dylan is one of the Great singer-songwriters - up there with Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Elton John, Ian Anderson, Don Henley and a small number of others from all eras.

[zengineer]

I've never felt the need to spend countless hours trying to understand why people like something that I don't like, or insist they explain themselves to me. Seems like a colossal waste of time.

I like olives, my brother does not like olives. I don't want him to buy 35 different types and learn to like them. He doesn't suggest I only like them because they are trendy.

The internet is full of "hot takes" and "edgy", "I don't get it" opinions about Dylan. It's tedious.

[Tricolore66]

I love music and like Dylan, but after seeing him live a number of times I’ve just grown to not care for him much anymore. He just seems indifferent to his fans and performing for people who pay a lot of money to see him. He’s made some epic, important music and deserves the status he has.

Another musician who is criticized for his voice, as overrated, etc, is Neil Young, and he’s possibly my favorite musician. I connect with his music in a way I cannot with Dylan’s.

[BroncoOne]

Originally Posted by Dan Pierce

I've always considered Bob Dylan an acquired taste. The songs I love, I really love [Like a Rolling Stone, Tangled up in Blue, Hurricane, Positively 4th Street]. But much of his library is lost on me. Which is cool, I don't need to like or understand all of it.
dP

I agree with this.
There are much better singers acoustically, but you could say that about David Byrne and Remain in Light is still arguably one of the most influential American albums made
I suppose that I think about them the same way.

[Blansky]

A funny story from a few years ago was Dylan being detained by police who thought he was a bit off and wandering the streets.

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/jersey-ho...ory?id=8331830

[zengineer]

Originally Posted by padi56

Maybe someone can help me out here, it is widely accepted that Bob is one of the founders of modern pop music. Creating many different styles like country rock and folk rock, as well as destroying the notion that a performer had to have a good voice (yeah cheers for that) and creating more introspective lyrical styles. I know all this. I realise his importance. But I still cannot bring myself to like him.



I cannot understand why people hold Bob Dylan and his music in such high regard. And it’s not for want of trying. I have bought and downloaded most of his ‘classic’ albums and I have sat and forced myself to listen, over and over again to his tuneless droning voice, permeated with the ever present grating mouth organ. And I feel precisely nothing, not even a gentle stirring. In fact the only thing I feel is an almost irresistible urge to chuck my Hi-fi out of the window, to escape that awful blinking mouth organ, I really hate that mouth organ. And his voice, barrier breaking it may be, but that does not distract form the fact that it is absolutely terrible. A horrible rough sounding drawl, which he uses to great effect, singing every single line and verse in exactly the same way,



I have tried to put his music into the context of the times, figuring that people must like him because of what his lyrics related to during the turbulence of the sixties, but I can’t decipher them. After 30 seconds of concentration it becomes an exercise in extreme masochism, but without the sexual pleasure. I have tried comparing him with his contemporaries, and he comes out worse. I have tried listening to his pre-motorbike accident albums, where his voice is supposed to be better, it’s not. I have tried listening to his later albums, they are awful. In fact, I have come to realise that the only Dylan songs that I like, are the ones that have been covered and sung, by other artists.



So it was with great excitement last night that I sat down to watch a documentary on the man himself, hoping to finally get some enlightenment into the why and wherefores surrounding this living legend. After half an hour I had almost lost the will to live, it was so depressingly boring. Even some of the interviewees seemed bemused by Dylan’s mass appeal. And I found a tuneless,duet with some sixties so called artist that was at least a semi-tone different from each other. Worse than a dawn chorus of Tom cats after a night on the tiles



I have finally come to the conclusion that his popularity is a case of the emperor’s new clothes, and a generous portion of nostalgia. I mean, nobody could seriously enjoy listening to the awful cat-wailing of this fuzzy haired chancer could they?



Are there any Bob fan’s out there. If so can one please explain to me how, or why this 'musician' has become a living legend? Because I’m blowed if I know,perhaps the answer my friends is blowing in the wind,just blowing in

the wind. Well we in the UK spawned our own Dylan in the form of Donovan, now IMO a much better all round artist.

Substitute Daytona for Bob Dylan and Watches for Music and it's just another day on the Rolex forum.

[Maleg]

Originally Posted by zengineer

Substitute Daytona for Bob Dylan and Watches for Music and it's just another day on the Rolex forum.

Having down day? Do you need a hug?

[zengineer]

Originally Posted by Maleg

Having down day? Do you need a hug?

Thanks, but no thanks. I'm fine.

I just think it's odd to ask...almost demand...that strangers on the internet convince you to like something that you don't like or explain to them why you like it.

People love, love, love the date window cyclops. I think it's an eyesore but I don't insist they owe me an explanation.

Maybe go hug yourself.

[White Collar Boy]

It’s hard to write about the specific qualities of a voice, which is why so much music criticism avoids it and takes a literary-criticism (songwriting/lyrics) or sociological (social impact) focus instead.

Most likely, no explanation about ‘why Dylan?’ will do what the songs don’t do for a particular listener. This is especially the case with a singer like Dylan, whose technical limitations are just as salient as the qualities some others love: a polarising expressiveness and willingness to experiment with rhythm and phrasing, and not just words and personae.

Leaving aside his songwriting and impact as an artist, which are obviously significant, he always seems to sound like he looks and acts: alternately ironical, angry and earnest, impossible to pin down, cool and defensive in Wayfarers, and penetratingly smart but more like a Shakespearean fool than the Bard himself. He either moves you or he doesn’t. He contains multitudes.

[Rock]

zengineer - It's called a 'discussion' or 'conversation. It's entertaining.
A lot of interaction between humans involves attitudes, opinions, personal preference.
This is what 'Other Topics' sections of Forums is about.
I enjoy hearing what other people think about things. Sometimes it even changes my own opinion.

[Andad]

Originally Posted by Rock

zengineer - It's called a 'discussion' or 'conversation. It's entertaining.
A lot of interaction between humans involves attitudes, opinions, personal preference.
This is what 'Other Topics' sections of Forums is about.
I enjoy hearing what other people think about things. Sometimes it even changes my own opinion.

So zengineer is entitled to his opinion Rocky?:chuckle

To Peter.

With a net worth of over $500 million, Bob doesn’t have to sing anymore.

This should make you feel better?

[White Collar Boy]

Originally Posted by Andad

With a net worth of over $500 million, Bob doesn’t have to sing anymore.

This should make you feel better?

That said, his ‘Never Ending Tour’ is 36 years on and still running. Go Bob, go!

[Andad]

Originally Posted by White Collar Boy

That said, his ‘Never Ending Tour’ is 36 years on and still running. Go Bob, go!

Bob Dylan is rated 10th on the list of greatest singers of all time.

Sir Harry Secome didn’t make it.

I liked Harry with a song in my heart.

[rolexpatek363]

Originally Posted by Dr. Robert

I like Bob’s music, not all of it tough.
I do love the only Bob Dylan album I own very much…….it is Highway 61 Revisited


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I like The Freewheelin' also. Some of his live stuff is good.

Legend has it that some people don't like Mozart or The Beatles.

[Maleg]

Originally Posted by zengineer

Thanks, but no thanks. I'm fine.

I just think it's odd to ask...almost demand...that strangers on the internet convince you to like something that you don't like or explain to them why you like it.

People love, love, love the date window cyclops. I think it's an eyesore but I don't insist they owe me an explanation.

Maybe go hug yourself.

It’s a conversation starter. It creates content on a site that is all about conversations.

Starting a discussion that isn’t offensive is becoming a rare art. Peter is simply opening a door. The discussion has been civil.

Why someone has to criticize the OP in public is beyond me. It’s neither polite nor justified to condemn in public, which I do here since that doesn’t seem to matter to you.

[zengineer]

Originally Posted by Maleg

It’s a conversation starter. It creates content on a site that is all about conversations.



Starting a discussion that isn’t offensive is becoming a rare art. Peter is simply opening a door. The discussion has been civil.



Why someone has to criticize the OP in public is beyond me. It’s neither polite nor justified to condemn in public, which I do here since that doesn’t seem to matter to you.

I think even you figured out in the middle of typing that it made no sense, but I know what you are saying and why and will stay out of the thread going forward.

"Don't think twice, It's all right."

[Yobber76]

I think for people that grew up in the 50's and 60's, Dylan was a bridge between Folk music Rock music, and the Beatnik poets. While his voice was grating, his poetry, mixed with a social conscience, struck a nerve during the turbulent times of Vietnam, racial discord, and the widening gap of a more conservative older generation with their ever growing liberal minded youth. In fact, to some degree, his voice, rhythm and cadence weirdly brought some of the song's messages through like a slap to society's face, which to some degree they were. I find today, he is harder to listen to, because I no longer have the backdrop of Nam, Selma, Watts, flashing thru my head as I listen. He deserves the reverence he's gotten thru the years.
By the way, i saw him live twice, once around 1979-80, and once around 2002. Hugely disappointed each time.

[m j b]

Kind of almost by accident, I bought an album (the name escapes me at the moment) by a guy covering Burt Bacharach songs... he's actually a producer, not a performer, has a horrible gravely voice. It's not the voice really, it's the phrasing, the nuances, and of course the songs, orchestrations, etc. This is my professional music background and education talking I guess. It's about so much more than the voice. Tay-tay does not have a great voice, it's kind of thin and there's not much there, but she's a good writer, an excellent performer and a superlative marketing genius, IMHO.

So, back on point: there are a lot of revered artists out there that I just don't get. Dylan is one. Miles Davis, obviously very influential and revered, I don't care for at all. I've been watching a Netflix/Prime/whatever show on Wayne Shorter who I first discovered as part of Weather Report (which had the incomparable Jaco) and I recognize his genius but don't really care for much of his stuff...

Then you've got someone who is the epitome of campy, vanilla pop music, Mr. Barry Manilow himself, and I can listen to that stuff all day. Go figure.

At the Copa, Copa Cabana. Music and passion... come on boys, sing it with me!

[Blansky]

Originally Posted by m j b

Kind of almost by accident, I bought an album (the name escapes me at the moment) by a guy covering Burt Bacharach songs... he's actually a producer, not a performer, has a horrible gravely voice. It's not the voice really, it's the phrasing, the nuances, and of course the songs, orchestrations, etc. This is my professional music background and education talking I guess. It's about so much more than the voice. Tay-tay does not have a great voice, it's kind of thin and there's not much there, but she's a good writer, an excellent performer and a superlative marketing genius, IMHO.

So, back on point: there are a lot of revered artists out there that I just don't get. Dylan is one. Miles Davis, obviously very influential and revered, I don't care for at all. I've been watching a Netflix/Prime/whatever show on Wayne Shorter who I first discovered as part of Weather Report (which had the incomparable Jaco) and I recognize his genius but don't really care for much of his stuff...

Then you've got someone who is the epitome of campy, vanilla pop music, Mr. Barry Manilow himself, and I can listen to that stuff all day. Go figure.

At the Copa, Copa Cabana. Music and passion... come on boys, sing it with me!

I think there is a definite difference if we lived it, or we later acquire the taste for a musician. Living it during it's "times" probably leans far more to liking some artists/songs than discovering them a generation or more later.

I liked Barry Manilow as well but now would porbably find it rather campy.

How about Neil Diamond??? A guilty pleasure or a great artist??

I've seen them singing Sweet Caroline during time-outs during hockey games lately.