Mr Bob Dylan

He is still thirty years from relevance.

I think Dylan is still very relevant today, have you heard his last 3 albums?

His most recent releases include another greatest hits collection, his 14th, a live album (recorded in '63), and an officially released "bootleg" of demos recorded from '62 to '64. So, yeah, he was certainly relevant then.

His last set of studio recordings (from 2009) was Christmas In The Heart, a collection of classic Christmas songs. I'm sure it's a vital addition to the canon, but honestly I have no need or desire to Bob's rendition of Here Comes Santa Claus.

Very clever, you know I was talking about his last 3 'new' studio albums.

Modern Times, Time Out of Mind and Love and Theft.

Oh, I forgot, he won a Grammy.

As did Milli Vanilli. Over-broad example, sure, but okay how many artists have won Grammys (Grammies?) and disappeared into obscurity forever? It's not really a good measure by itself.

Bob Dylan poops, people buy it, and the critics paint it gold. Hero worship, nostalgia, and all that. Doesn't make it relevant. And let's define "relevant", shall we? Something to do with being connected to the current flow of culture? Meaningful to me, in any way, as a human being, or at least a consumer of pop? What? How would you define relevancy?

You're entitled to your opinions on any artist. Lots of people enjoy Bob's recent records. It's okay. He donates some of the proceeds of a record to fighting hunger. Good for him. I respect that. I suspect that it would do more for hunger if he donated the proceeds of some of his back catalog, since Freewheelin' or Highway 61 still outsell anything he's done lately. I'm guessing. Not going to bother researching sales numbers. Little could be drier.

...But, really, nothing you can say will convince me of his current relevance as an artist. And nothing he says will move me, or affect me, or have any meaning to me and my life now.

Tuffy, all I'll say is this: you're going the right way about a divorce.

You went out for cigarettes six months ago. Six months!

He is the most over-rated pile of shit to ever come down the turnpike. The most entertaining thing Bob Dylan ever did was to star in a "Victoria Secret's" Bra-commercial at the age of 70 and make a bunch of hipsters cry in their corduroys.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW4QpZV9O5Q

I haven't ever been a big music freak, and I haven't listened to much of Bob Dylan's music, but from what I have heard, he's pretty awesome.

I wouldn't go nearly that far.

I would recommend Martin Scorsese's documentary on Bob Dylan, No Direction Home. It gives a good idea of what he is about.

I'm Not There was a pretty awful movie.

Not a huge Dylan fan but "Tangled Up in Blue" is an awesome song.

I could go on a massive rant here and debate it until the thread folds in on itself and is eaten by the Drupal monster. But I won't. Dylan has given an unfathomable amount of good to the music industry. Countless musicians from wildly varied genres have been influenced by his work and, for that alone, I think he deserves all the praise he gets, because without that influence a lot of the stuff everyone loves wouldn't be around. The Beatles were heavily influenced by Bob. And thats just one example. Whether he can sing or play guitar or harmonica well or not doesn't really matter. At all. He is an incredible songwriter. Some of his melodies are some of the most recognisable tunes of the last 100 years. His lyricism is sheer poetry. He can pull together an interesting and unique turn of phrase and is fantastic at word play. He revolutionised folk music.

Too, he's fucking 70 and he's still touring and writing music, not that he needs to because he'd be richer than God. That sort of longevity should be praised. Fucking badarse.

Blah blah. Point is: Dylan's better than you.

Have you seen Bob Dylan live lately? Ugh.

I saw him twice in April last year. Both nights were incredible.

B.B King, in the other hand, needs to cease playing live. It sounded like a fucking child fumbling around a 12-bar. Made me kind of sad.

That's how I felt about Dylan.

THAT'S HOW I FEEL ABOUT YOU!!!

I'm joking, of course

Definitely not a Dylan fan. I recognize his song writing abilities, and his contribution to the music industry as such, but his voice is awful, and I feel like he gets more recognition for being the guy who wrote the songs that so many people covered. I never really understood all the hype.

As I've said before, apparently this has been BB's M.O. for several decades.

Not a Dylan fan. Thats all.

"Eat the Document" and "Don't Look Back" are some pretty awesome documentary's as well. I saw Dylan in 2008 at the Virgin Festival and it was pretty bad...You could barely hear him and he just didn't seem to be into it...but I do think seeing him in a smaller venue would be amazing and better. That aside I think Dylan is wonderful and hope he lives past his 100's lol

I knew there was a reason why I stopped coming here regularly. All this lack of Dylan appreciation has made it clear. Tisk, tisk, Cult, tisk, bloody, tisk.

Look, I listen to the worst music ever and I don't expect anyone to appreciate it.

I'm only mucking about. I don't judge people for what they do or don't like, musically. I couldn't care either way whether people like Dylan. It does bum me out that he seems to be severely unappreciated in contemporary society. But what've you gotta do?

I'm sure that, as he lazes upon his solid gold waterbed, he doesn't give the slightest damn.

I do like Bob Dylan's music but prefer a lot of his contemporaries.

"Not a Dylan fan" people are such simple creatures, like baby mice.

That said, he's no Milli Vanilli.

Simple, eh? Go ahead, make me a baby mouse. I'll wait.

Whoa.

Sure. Just give me some hamburger meat, a sewing kit and a thunderstorm and I'll whip you up a few squeakers.

I mean, if that bloke God can do it...

Before this thread gets dereailled, I would like to throw in my opinion on Bob Dylan, I think he is the greatest songwriter of all time (not a pretty voice I admit). Blood on the Tracks is one of the saddest ablums of all time, and has some of his best, though less well known works, Tangled Up in Blue, Shelter from the Storm, If You See Her Say Hello, The Ballad of Lilly Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts (my favorite song of all time)... Really every song is brilliant. I will keep it breif so people may read it, but the trick to Bob Dylan is to pick an album (Blonde on Blonde, Hiway 61 Revisited, or Blood on the Tracks) and just put it on and listenin to it a few times all the way through, doesn't have to be all at once, just put Hiway 61 in your car CD player, and don't touch it for a week, and see if it doesn't suck you in.

this is a joke btw

Jokes are strictly forbidden, according to Article 3, Section 7, Line 5b of the Palahniuk Cult Charter.

That is a brilliant point I thought no one would bring up. But to be completely fair, I believe my mother (now long gone) named me that with a purpose. I didn't like Bob Dylan for a long time, but I came to understand him when life got hard.

I feel like my mom was trying to tell me sometime by naming me after him, or she was a batshit crazy drug addict insane. 50/50 really, (she was 100% batshit crazy drug addict insane, just 50/50 on the name... at that moment)...

P.T.S. audreythirteen gets a HUGE favor (within my power) for remembering my real name

I would never dispute his songwriting abilities or his influence on many a musician through the decades, but I wouldn't call myself a Dylan fan, per se. I do have my favourites, but he's just not one of my guys.

See thats where I differ from alot of hard core Dylan fans. If you give alittle respect, even though you dont like him. I love that.

I get it why people dont like him, and I dont think you have to like him to "fully understand life" or whatever hipsters say. I think hes brilliant, but I will never look down on people who dislike him, theres alot of genuis, and alot of grating voice and harmanica solos.

I always thought you were a lady, but Im sure I could find a proxy. (Unless your super good looking)

she's a lady.

(woah woah woah, she's a laaaady)

woah woah woah...

She's also super good looking. No excuses.

I don't really expect everyone to be a Dylan fan. That would be silliness.

But I do find that when someone starts a sentence with the actual phrase "I'm not a Dylan fan" they follow up with some irritating nonsense shortly after.