Dave Holmberg If you don’t like Bob
Dylan, please do not write to Holmberg at [email protected], because he
really doesn’t care.
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For all of us who have ever listened to the radio, read a
contemporary novel, or watched a film made after 1960, let us take
a moment to say “Happy Birthday” to the man who made
modern American culture what it is today: Bob Dylan.
While Elvis may be the King, and Clapton is God, there is no
mistaking he who is Bob. Today, there is no way of viewing life
without doing so through the lens of Dylan.
A time existed when phrases like “blowing in the
wind” or “don’t need a weather man to know which
way the wind blows” were not universally known and understood
in popular culture. But 60 years ago today, in Duluth, Minn., there
was a signal that the times were about to be a-changin’.
Whether or not you like him is irrelevant when it comes to
understanding Dylan’s impact as an artist on the world. His
influence is not restricted to his own primary form of expression,
music, but extends far and wide to every facet of society. Despite
those who think his voice is intolerable and his harmonica is weak,
there are few who do not believe he altered music indefinitely.
In the music world, there are countless artists who have become
popular due almost entirely to their success covering a Dylan song.
The Byrds’ “Mr. Tambourine Man” and Peter, Paul,
and Mary’s “Blowin’ In the Wind” are
excellent examples of this borrowed success. Others include Jimi
Hendrix and Dave Matthews, who covered “All Along the
Watchtower,” Eric Clapton and his rendition of
“Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” and the
British band the Hollies, who went so far as to release an enitre
album of Dylan covers.
Dylan’s contributions are considered by some to be on the
level of William Shakespeare, and the connection is a valid one.
With a unique blend of folk, blues, rock and gospel, Dylan created
a musical style that spoke not only to his generation, but to every
era since.
His classics “Like a Rolling Stone” and “The
Times They Are A-Changin'” embodied the mid-1960s
counter-culture that was forming, and throughout the 1970s his
music captured a disillusioned world.
The 1980s saw a born-again Christian Dylan with albums,
particularly “Slow Train Coming” and “Shot of
Love,” that reflected society’s search for meaning in
the wake of the meaningless Vietnam War.
Most recently, his Grammy-winning album “Time Out Of
Mind” and Oscar-winning song “Things Have
Changed,” from the film “Wonder Boys,” reveal a
Dylan who is returning to his blues and folk roots, surely an
indication of the future cultural distillation of our own
collective soul.
Boiling Dylan down to his core means ultimately starting with
his birth as Robert Zimmerman on May 24, 1941. He started going by
his new moniker while playing at the University of Minnesota, which
he attended in the early 1960s.
The new last name was in homage to the great poet Dylan Thomas,
and the reference is well-fitted to the man who infused his
carefully-crafted song lyrics with meaningful poetry.
Much of Dylan’s history is the stuff of legends, a modern
myth in its own right. He is rumored to have introduced the Beatles
to marijuana, thus altering the band’s clean-cut British pop
image for good.
And the now notorious Newport Folk Festival on July 25, 1965, is
remembered as a testament to Dylan’s ability to blaze his own
path of artistic expression. For the first time, Dylan played with
a band ““ the Paul Butterfield Blues Band ““ and with an
electric guitar. To Dylan’s folk following, his move away
from acoustic was revolutionary at best, sacrilegious at worst. The
debate would culminate in 1966 London, with a fan yelling
“Judas!” in opposition of Dylan’s supposed
betrayal of folk tradition.
It was this early belief that Dylan served only as a single
focal point, be it for folk music or protesting the government or
what have you, that caused a problem. Now, almost 40 years later,
it is clear that Bob Dylan is simply Bob Dylan, nothing more and
certainly nothing less. He is a living legend whose relevance has
not diminished with time but has evolved to become an indelible
mark on our culture.
Dylan recognizes his own significance. Watching him in concert,
it is clear that with every word, every blow on his harmonica, he
is more aware than we are of his purpose. Many who saw his
performance of “Things Have Changed” at this
year’s Academy Awards did not understand the odd camera
movements and felt his gravely voice was now just a novelty of a
once-great man. Dylan’s continuous confrontation of societal
norms and values was enacted so precisely that it was missed by
many. In celebration of a medium where image is everything, Dylan
explosively showed that the narrative is most consequential, the
soul is what matters, and that the camera be damned.
With pop music today being overwhelmed by the talent, or lack
thereof, of the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears, it is
comforting to know Bob Dylan is still out there, challenging
society to rethink and reevaluate all it takes for granted. So
happy birthday, Bob. Thank you for not letting us simply be content
with an imperfect society.