Bob Dylan stinks. Right?

Karl Hungus wrote:

Paul Finch = Equipped wrote:

Bob Dylan sucks. "Like A Rolling Stone" or whatever it's called is a nauseating listen. Dylan only is "cool" because someone told you he was.

This is how I feel. I never understood him or why he was popular other than he was the hero of aging dirty hippies and counterculture people and those wanting to bang counterculture people and/or dirty hippies. I've been listening to the "Dylan is genius!" stuff since the 70's and I've just thought he was an obnoxious jerk who can't sing and had rather banal lyrics.

ItsAlright wrote:

Karl Hungus wrote:

This is how I feel. I never understood him or why he was popular other than he was the hero of aging dirty hippies and counterculture people and those wanting to bang counterculture people and/or dirty hippies. I've been listening to the "Dylan is genius!" stuff since the 70's and I've just thought he was an obnoxious jerk who can't sing and had rather banal lyrics.

https://youtu.be/mYajHZ4QUVM

Would any Dylan critics here care to post an example of their prefered artist work and songwriting for comparison or critique??

The only two guys close to Dylan.

Google: Townes Van Zandt-"St John, the Gambler" or "Our Mother, the Mountain"

Leonard Cohen- "Bird on a Wire" or "The Stories of the Street"

old guy 72 wrote:

The only two guys close to Dylan.

Google: Townes Van Zandt-"St John, the Gambler" or "Our Mother, the Mountain"

Leonard Cohen- "Bird on a Wire" or "The Stories of the Street"

Townes was a million miles ahead of Dylan. So much so that he turned down the opportunity to write for Dylan.

Lets See It wrote:

Would any Dylan critics here care to post an example of their prefered artist work and songwriting for comparison or critique??

How about:

no I don't have a gun wrote:

John Utah wrote:

Good point, but not true for me. I absolutely love Pearl Jam and EV is about as whack-job leftist extremist as it gets. I don't expect artists to be conservative, rational, prudent, responsible, etc. If they are, they usually suck, like Ted Nugent.

You are criticizing Bob's vocals yet you honor that pretentious yodeling dwarf? I'm sorry for that traumatic head injury you must have suffered as a child.

Millions upon millions of EV fans will agree with my take.

You do realize BD's singing has been made fun of and mocked by virtually every single comic in pop culture. People like BD because of his "poetry", not because of his vocal skills. In spite of his vocal skills.

Dylan is a terrible singer and musician, but he is undoubtedly one of the greatest songwriters of the 20th century.

The Word wrote:

Dylan is a terrible singer and musician, but he is undoubtedly one of the greatest songwriters of the 20th century.

I think that sums it up. I don't care for his messages, but many obviously do. I can't argue that.

Lets See It wrote:

ItsAlright wrote:

https://youtu.be/mYajHZ4QUVM

Would any Dylan critics here care to post an example of their prefered artist work and songwriting for comparison or critique??

Ok, challenge accepted. I will submit a video of my dog howling and she will outclass BD "singing" in the video above. I will also submit a video of any random dude in Guitar Center pulling a guitar off the wall to play "smoke on the water" or the intro to "stairway to heaven", which will compare favorably to BD's guitar playing skills.

This thread can be used as strong evidence proving there are quite a few trolls on LRC with limited mental capacity. Not that it would come as a shock to anyone, that an assorted mix of basement dwellers, over the hill hobby joggers, and computer obsessed runners have zero musical sensibilities.

Although the Internet can be an outlet to express one's opinions on various topics doesn't mean you have the ability to converse intelligently on areas where you have limited knowledge.

Stick to complaining about Sage and his Olympic Qualifier 'thon attempts and leave Bob alone.

M.A.G.A...

Trump2020OP-the real one... wrote:

This thread can be used as strong evidence proving there are quite a few trolls on LRC with limited mental capacity. Not that it would come as a shock to anyone, that an assorted mix of basement dwellers, over the hill hobby joggers, and computer obsessed runners have zero musical sensibilities.

Although the Internet can be an outlet to express one's opinions on various topics doesn't mean you have the ability to converse intelligently on areas where you have limited knowledge.

Stick to complaining about Sage and his Olympic Qualifier 'thon attempts and leave Bob alone.

M.A.G.A...

You prove your own point.

John Utah wrote:

Lets See It wrote:

Would any Dylan critics here care to post an example of their prefered artist work and songwriting for comparison or critique??

Ok, challenge accepted. I will submit a video of my dog howling and she will outclass BD "singing" in the video above. I will also submit a video of any random dude in Guitar Center pulling a guitar off the wall to play "smoke on the water" or the intro to "stairway to heaven", which will compare favorably to BD's guitar playing skills.

So you're throwing Smoke on the Water, Stairway, and your dog in the mix?

Did your dog write those two "songs"?

I do believe your dog probably could have written Smoke on the Water.

Stairway?? Doubt if the roadies from Zep would have let such an innocent creature survive that scene after hearing what they did with a red snapper and groupies.

I'm sure your dog can give Dylan some competition in the singing department, but your dog, nor you, nor practically anybody is writing lyrics like It's Alright Ma these days, or ever.

unrevisionist wrote:

Bad Wigins wrote:

Same reason as everyone else playing there - they weren't world-famous pop stars selling lots of records, so they had to work to make a buck.

Pop quiz, no cheating - who else played there? List them all. The ones you can't think of are unknowns to you. To the vast majority of the public, that's everyone there but Dylan and maybe Seeger.

In 1963 Dylan performed "Blowin in the Wind" with ppm and Baez at Newport, 2 years before his electric appearance. I would say were pretty well known. The ppm version went to number 2 on the pop charts in '63. I was in 6th grade at the time and the song got a lot of play.

In 1965 Dylan was by far the biggest star of the folk music world. That's the reason his going electric was a big deal.

Totally different year, but I doubt you could name everyone who played then either, and certainly the general public couldn't, nor even name everyone who played specifically with Baez or PPM. The bar for pop stardom is a bit higher than that.

The point that is driving people nuts and making them rudely lash out at me stands: without the electric thing, most people would never have heard of Bob Dylan. He'd be about as famous as Bonnie Dobson, a better and initially better-known musician.

You ring the bell with that one: "If it weren't for the notoriety Dylan accidentally got by controversially using an electric guitar in folk music, nobody would ever have heard of him." Way to sum up the career of one rock/folk's most successful, long lived, enduring and respected musician and song writers. You nailed it. It was the guitar, stupid. And it was electric! Good one. I couldn't make this stuff up.

Dylan was big news, with a huge following, when I first saw him in Liverpool May 1965 ( two months before going electric at Newport ) on a countrywide UK sell-out tour.

That tour was thought important enough for filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker, to use it as the basis for the celebrated documentary "Don' Look Back".

Again, so many critics on this forum have no historical perspective on the matter.

I think Keith Richards once said that Dylan's voice was the best instrument in rock and roll.

I agree with this for the first 30 years of his career or so. There are exceptions, but for the most part I find it rare to listen to a Dylan cover that I prefer to the original. His phrasing and voice sort of force me to hear the words and the meaning behind the song. That doesn't happen when a singer with a beautiful voice sings, at least not for me.

It isn't for everybody. Many can't get past his voice, Many more just like to hear something pleasant and not think when they hear music.

Am I the only one who actually loves his voice? He uses a different voice on each album.

Like I pointed out earlier, Woody Guthrie loved Dylan's voice. It's real, just like the old Mississippi bluesmen from the 30's & 40's.

Some may like a voice that is like a hot knife through butter, but I prefer the roughness of a jagged edge. A voice that reaches down inside of you and doesn't just stroke your cheek.

ha! Good post!!

I don't think anyone is arguing that he's not a great lyricist/poet/word-rhymer. I think he's a great lyricist, but I'm just not interested in what he's singing about. Couple that with repetitive guitar and harmonica and you've got a long song ahead of you about stuff.