There was ana rticle in some music mag years ago saying pretty much the same thing.
It was hilarious.
I like Bob though.
Four really good records
then a lifetime of average/shit ones.
I think he's done alright out of it though, to be fair.
I'd actually say it's New Order (not technically a person)
but Dylan would be an easy second.
new order
are one of the most important bands from the last 25 years
lcd soundsystem? klaxons?
dylan aint bad too. time out of mind is a decent record.
new order.
are also responsible for influencing a LOT of shit bands. klaxons being one of many.
that's not new order's fault... :(
hmph!
like...
the rapture, hot hot heat, the bravery (ugggg), and at points, the killers.
I used to think that. In fact I hated him unitl I saw Cate Blanchet's portrayal...
...and now i love him very much indeed.
i hate him
because he's mostly terrible, so boring
i like a couple of songs but i do wish he'd just had one album
lol
yeah whatever..
Dylan is (for me) the most important person in music of the last 50 years or so.
I am not sure even where to start.
He has written about 8 albums that could all conceivably be in a number of greatest albums ever written list.
The 3 albums of Bringing it all back home, Highway 61 and Blonde on Blonde written in the space of 18 months are of staggering genius quality.
He has always marched to his own beat, never ever followed the fads and never given a shit what anybody thinks.
Bob Dylan is the fucking man!!!!!
So overrated.
His whole career is based on trying to prove how clever with words he is which really isn't appealing to me when the music is watered-down American roots folk.
^^^that is pish!
Dylan has never set out to prove how clever he is with words. He just happens (on most occasions) to be brilliant with words, the imagery he builds is second to none.
Also Dylans early musaic is influenced as much by British folk as it is by American, but all through his career there are a number of genres that are evident in his music.
I will be the first to admit that Dylan has ripped off a lot in his days but like all greats he rips off and adds.
Talent borrows, genius steals and all that.
no it's not
yes it is
Well...
isn't everyone here trying to prove how clever they are with words?
no thanks
i dont partake in this sort of wrongness
He's the best man alive
Not just at music, but at everything. I'm being serious, Dylan is amazing.
he's not
he really isn't
i'm going to say he's not overrated...
although, I think in terms of technicality and originality (at least in terms of the types of music he plays) he's nothing special. I think he's so highly rated because his music, or at least the most famous albums and songs, are so loved and so influential because they had real effect on people.
But yeah, I've read quie a few articles on Dylan being overrated and rarely is there any criteria, it's a kind of 'I don't get it' reaction, which is fair enough but that doesn't make him overrated.
I like Bob though, so there.
Nope.
That honour belongs to Pink Floyd.
you're probably right
bob dylan has some good songs
Neil Young > Bob Dylan
blatantly.
too close to call
Bob connects on an intellectual level for me
but Neil connects on an emotional one and that makes him the winner (imho).
yeah, i get that.
but every time i think of the first drum hit in like a rolling stone i then think of the chorus to old man. and then i think 'oh yeah but bob dylan wrote desolation row, he wins' i then remember ambulance blues...
i can't do it!
I think if you spent a day with neil
he'd probably show you around his ranch and tell you some interesting stories about people he's known, but if you spent a day with bob he'd spout something pseudo-intellectual and come across as aloof. Did that help you decide?
If not...Powderfinger!
bob dylan doesn't come across like that to me
but yeah, i'd much rather spend the day with neil. neil's a better guitarist too. but bob dylan wrote sad eyed lady of the lowlands! AAARRRGGHHH I CAN NEVER DECIDE.
granted I tend to stay away from his newer stuff
but I haven't come across a Neil Young song I didn't like. Wheras there are quite a few Dylan songs that grate on me somewhat. I have to be in the mood to listen to Dylan but Neil is good all the time.
I sound like a crazy fan :(
you've obviously not got Everybody's Rockin...
Good points, again. I'm always in the mood for Neil. I'm an obsessive neil young fan anyway. but i'm also a fairly obsessive bob fan. they're my all-time 1 and 2. just can't decide which is which...
Sorry to casue a terrible dilemma
who needs a 1. or 2. anyway?
i'm with neil young on this
i can't bear bob's delivery
i do.
I reckon
Bob would try and feel you up. Dirty old goat.
^ this post has made this thread worthwhile
fact.
you know he got an honorary degree from st andrews (i think it was st andrews)
he spent the whole ceremony asleep and then wouldn't talk to anyone except some receptionist he was trying to chat up. =
: D
See
KNEW IT.
Everyone knows the only reason any bloke picks up a guitar and sings about his "feelings" is to get laid.
please get out
blatantly
?
holy mother of jesus
there's some retards on here. i'm not even going to present my argument for why bob dylan is teh awesomeness because i know i'm right. half the people who say they don't like him are (i'm sure) only doing that to get indie points.
yeah, trying to argue his greatness really isn't worth it with this level of idiocy
might as well say Elvis is the most overrated person in the history of music. or that the Beatles are the most overrated band in the history of music.
Elvis sort of is.
For one sole reason: he wrote absolutely none of his songs. He was just a handsome face and a good dancer. See also: Michael Jackson.
Elvis is.
nope
i literally don't get it at all. i'm not particularly indie
Are indie points
the same as Club Card points - do you get money off at Alton Towers?
sort of
but with indie points you get money off vinyl purchases at pure groove. and you get to be a boring bastard.
Mark E. Smith
bob dylan good songwriter
but i can't stand him singing his own songs, i just hate his voice, but he's not the most overrated person in the history of music, bryan ferry is.
William Shakespeare
???????????????
please make a thread about this
you're wrong.
bob rocks.
actually it's probably Radiohead
Thom Yorke is like a spoilt child, talk about naive for a 40ish year old man.
I've persevered with Dylan
on a number of occassions but I still don't really like his stuff. That said, I'm not that bothered about lyrics tbh.
But whether or not he's overrated is not really relevant. If loads of other people like something i don't then good for them.
No.
to clarify
bob dylan is good, obviously good with words and has some songs i like. but why is he held in such high regard?
Because the man
is a genius.
Thats why.
why is he a genius?
Because so many of his songs are timeless classics...
that in 100 years will still be relevant. He may not wanted to have been the poster boy for the counter culture/protest movement in the 60's but his sings were core to this and you cannot deny the power of songs like Blowin in the wind, Times they are a changin, masters of was, Hard rains a gonna fall, Lonsome Death of Hattie Carrol etc etc.
His love songs are tender and show a vulnerability to this most acerbic of writers, songs like Girl from the north country, don't think twice etc etc.
His caustis put downs Like a rolling stone, positively 4th street, idiot wind.
He has written music which encompasses all the emotions and he has done it with wit and style.
The Beatles songwriting changed dramatically (and for the better) after they had mat and started listening to Dylan. His mid 70's record Blood on the tracks remains arguably the greatest break-up album ever, and in my own humble opinion the greatest album of all time.
To disregard Dylan totally, you have either a) never properly given him a listen or b) you are trying to be controversial.
I appreciate he is not everybodys cup of tea but you should still be able to appreciate how important he is to music.
you're the closest person to talking me round
i have listened to him and i don't like him but i do recognise his range and influence. i just don't think that he can be held up as a holy cow like he is now.
Dylan lost it for a good while...
mainly when he found christianity (why is it all music connected with god is pish?) but his last 3 albums, Time out of Mind, Love and Theft and Modern Times have all been excellent as well and show a man dealing with his age, his loves and his life with dignity and humour.
To be honest too_black_too_strong at least you have given him a try and if you don't like him then cool, everyone has their own tastes and no doubt there is a musician that you adore but that I won't like. But if we didn't have different opinions then there would be no point in having websites like this.
i'm not disputing that people like him
and that he's really popular, but we all know that's not a way to judge something
i just think that elevating someone to the level of an icon, or judging them on their influence on others means that their own work isn't evaluated fairly.
i'm definately not saying he's shit
I think the fact that he has been elevated to....
something of an icon and is a major influence on just about every major/important artist of the last 50 years speaks volumes for Dylan.
And I believe he has gotten to that level because his music has been evaluated fairly, in fact no other musician in the last 50 years has had as much study, discussion or debate as Dylan.
Not all music
connected with God is pish.
The ahppy clappy stuff i'll give you, but some of the Johnny cash religious stuff is magic
^ this
(as in Lo-Pan) not to mention that what other musician has not only become such a respected figure in his field but has also transcended it by becoming a cultural icon, discussed in the context of literature, art and film?
actually, all you need to do
is watch/listen to footage from the tour where he went electric. find a version of like a rolling stone and you'll realise how wrong you are. actually, i'll make it easier. i'll find one.
is that i wish i looked like him
i don't see anything outstanding about much of the rest of it
you've really stopped making any sense
if you realise he's good (i'll take that you mean genius), why can you not understand that he would be immensely popular with millions of music listeners, thus cementing his greatness even further?
he's not a genius
who is?
bob dylan
i was replying to poptimus
i think he's asking "who is a genius?"
yeah. emphasis on 'is'
ahhh i see
i dunno if i should name anyone because they'll look ridiculous next to someone as established as bob dylan, but i'd say they'd have to make equally as good music as lyrics. if bob dylan was a poet he'd have been one of the best of the century, but the music is average
someone whose lyrics are as good as their music?
des'ree?
someone good
why not suggest some people then?
even if you think it'll look daft. you'll look better if you offer up some suggestions. chances are they were influenced by Dylan themselves.
Bert Jansch?
perhaps.
Chuck D
.
^ thats one
James
Brown we begat George Clinton who begat Prince.
All begatted (is that a word) from a lineage that on an alternative branch begat the wizened old fruit that is Dylan.
This thread has made me think (dangerous)
i can't actually remember actively listening to a Bob Dylan track in full.
I used to think that my music knowledge was pretty good but this is titanic lack of audio education on my behalf , no?
also
i was sure that the author of this thread would be wrightylew.
Its just the kind of inflammatory spunk he usually comes out with.
i don't think wrightylew would ever make a thread like this.
about Dylan, i mean.
i'm sure he likes Dylan, although i'm not 100% sure
I'm a complete purist to the 60s.
If I ever, ever make a thread like this about a 60s band (bar The Who), absolutely kill me.
i dont understand why people think Dylan is overrated, pretty much one of the most important people in popular music. If not THE most.
This whole
courtroom is overrated
Visions Of Rihanna
...
JUDAS!
;oD
Yeah, I'll go with that.
Yoooo used meee like the jack o cluuUuuuUBS!!!!!!!
:`D
Dylan's albums
are great records, with the expection (in my eyes) of the first album, as thats all covers apart from maybe 2 songs and every record after 'desire', the albums are masterpeices. Name another band or artist(who isnt influenced by Dylan) who continously changed what music they made and still made very good records. Just actully sit down and listen to the records, get passed his voice and actully accept that saying he is overrated is not a very smart thing to say.
rant over.
The Ballad of Frankie Dean and Jack Osborne
....
my friend and my housemate
both bum Bob Dylan on a massive scale (my housemate listened/talked nothing but Bob Dylan for about a month around the time that film came out)
I can't stand him, his voice or his irritating guitar playing.
bob
have to disagree absolutely with this! I can see why people may hate his voice but the point sopme people are making about lack of originality is a bit foolish i think, he is the best person ever at ripping off something old and making into something amazingly new and great. I think he just breathes the past and all that old american myth of the beats and so on.
i think his newest album was bummed way too much just because it was Dylan so i understand why a lot of you think he is not as good as he is put out to be.but i think everyone who likes him has a different record or song which is their favourite, theres so much to choose from. I have barely listened to his 80's albums except Oh Mercy, yet he threw away 'blind Willie McTell' without putting it on a record. It takes some kind of genius followed by stupidity to do that!
Dylan
is easily one of the most important people in the history of music.
Yup Yup
^^^^Yip!
What themanwhofellasleep has to say about Dylan...
"In the sixties, Bob Dylan sung his immortal line: 'The answer is blowing in the wind'. However, it is worth remembering that a) Bob Dylan is the worst lyricist in the world and b) he is no meteorologist, and as such, has no fucking idea what is blowing in the wind. Even on the rare occasion that Bob Dylan does write a decent line, it is marred by the fact that he sings in like a nasal tax inspector. Because he lived through politically turbulent times, Dylan could get away with lines like 'In the red Mississippi, the overfed Sheriff turned to the bride, and smiling he told her to scurry inside', and people would nod knowingly as though it were a telling comment about civil rights. It's not, it's just nonsense. Was that line real Dylan, or did I just make it up? Does it matter? I think not."
I hate this term "overrated". It basically infers that the artist's huge success is undeserved and somehow "unnatural" because the individual has a clearsight that the masses don't possess. It's horrid.
I don't even like dylan, i've only got one album but I can appreciate the huge influence he's had and basically that he's just a cool dude.
Any influence he (or anyone) has is completely deserved purely because it exists.
Basically yawn. Same as "oh the beatles/radiohead/pink floyd are overrated". Total shite.
^^^^Aye, a well balanced and valid point yes_
^^this may be true
Lyrics mean nothing to me.
This is why I find Dylan and The Smiths boring. Would anyone be arsed about The Smiths if they were singing about walking down a hall faster than a cannonball? No.
that's insane!
half the stuff i like is mostly because of lyrics!
-
Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child's balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying.
Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool's gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proves to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.
Temptation's page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover
That you'd just be
One more person crying.
So don't fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing.
As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don't hate nothing at all
Except hatred.
Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred.
While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.
An' though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only people's games that you got to dodge
And it's alright, Ma, I can make it.
Advertising signs that con you
Into thinking you're the one
That can do what's never been done
That can win what's never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.
You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks
They really found you.
A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy
Insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not fergit
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to.
Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.
For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something
They invest in.
While some on principles baptized
To strict party platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say God bless him.
While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in.
But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him.
Old lady judges watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn't talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony.
While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer's pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes
Must get lonely.
My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards
False gods, I scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough
What else can you show me?
And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only.
tl;dr
fw
i listened to that song today. McGuinn's version from Easy Rider.
I like it.
i'm not sure if i know it
which part of easy rider is it in?
the byrds did some wonderful dylan covers. My Back Pages especially is loooovely.
I'm never going to say he is rubbish
because he clearly isn't. But I really really don't like him anymore. His music annoys the hell out of me.
bringing it all back home, highway 61 revisited, blonde on blonde
all released in the space of 9 months. argument over.
not that down with his recent records
or with his live show in my living memory, or the way he keeps appearing in adverts, but some of his work is incredible.
John Lennon....as a human being and as a songwriter is FAR more overated
Tangled Up In Blue
is the greatest song evah!
^this
Only in a world without RADIOHEAD
Thread CLOSED.
Nah. Far too influential on all the greats to be 'overrated'.
However, I do think other people did his songs better than him.
See: Spanish Harlem Incident - The Byrds
See: All Along The Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix
Bob Dylan IS overrated
a handful of ok to decent songs with years and years of mediocrity. Even his best moments aren't world class. He never meant shit to me and is not up there with my heroes. Whilst Johnny Cash and Neil Young have never lost it, Dylan sings like some kind of meths pickled tramp. Totally agree Hendrix's version of All Along The Watchtower is superior.
I agree too with what you're saying, on second thought.
If you looked at it percentage-wise...
His first album was out in 62?
So he's been going since then.
62-72 = brilliant
72-2008 = not brilliant
*-)
1995 "Time Out Of Mind"
Utterly brilliant!
"Highlands" one of the best Dylan songs EEEEEEEVVERRR!
jesus wept, what nonsense, seriously, some people....
:(
Dylan
is the lyrical equivalent of a jazz musician. A lot of expression, a lot of imagination and a lot of freeness - but prone to many clumsy exercises in self indulgence
A lot of his music is incredible - touching, witty, visceral, but a lot of his weaknesses seem to be mixed in with his goodnesses. Basically, he's just a bit too relaxed in his approach, and could maybe do with a bit of rigidity
on the other hand, i prefer his earlier, more expressionistic stuff to his 70s period "bish bash bosh" lyrical style. The Times They Are A' Changin ftw
"jazz is the last refuge of the untalented"
*cough*
hagen-dazz honey vanilla is ridiculously delicious
and wool socks really do keep your feet dryer.
bloody amazing
I used to think he was overrated before i got wise
If he was so rubbish The Byrds and Hendrix wouldn't have covered his tunes. He had a purple patch of around 7 or 8 years, that's pretty incredible. The new stuff is overrated for sure, but you can't knock Bring It All Back Home or Nashville Skyline. Or Free-wheelin.
It's Alright Ma I'm Only Bleeding
Thanks 83746725! I forgive you your Devo blaspheme.
I saw Dylan and The Band in 1974 and he did that song (of course). 10,000 people were transfixed, except much cheering at the end of the choruses.
In 2000 Dylan and his current band came to the Montana town where I grew up and played in a little gymnasium (The Shrine Auditorium) where I went to boxing matches with my Dad when I was a kid. It was like Deja Vu- people just went mad over hearing those iconic lyrics- it was chilling to the bone- to the depths of the soul; like listening to a god. Dylan has been examined, studied and judged by world scholars for decades. He has influenced countless seminal artists in every genre of music. His influence trancends music; he has inspired generations of people all over the globe from all walks of life, every vocation, all ages, all races and all religions but finally DiS user 2 black 2 strong has gotten on to something with this thread! Oh, man, thank jesus for your insightful genius- I feel free from the weighty bonds that loving Bob Dylan have kept me in all these years- I've been getting a bit board with this forum lately but your presence is like the promise of fresh meat and you are my favorite kind: free range idiot.
just some fava beans and a nice chianti
DiSembowel
haha! did i blaspheme against Devo?
i was probably just in a grouchy mood. i've nothing against devo really. Saw him with The Band in '74? Before the flood...
How about rolling thunder the following year? Being a young'un, i've only seen him in recent years. Someone i know saw him in '66 though. Grrr.
please note
Bringing It All Back Home
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Another Side of Bob Dylan
Blonde on Blonde
Blood on the Tracks
Highway 61 Revisited
now SHUT UP.
oh dear
is this thread still going? super lame
i wasnt being entirely serious, i'd just had to liten to him against my will too much
I have not listened to any Bob Dylan.
So I don't know. I really don't.
i think overrated is definately that right word
overrated doesnt necessarily = bad
for every amazing album he's written there have been 5 or 6 shit ones.
his voices grates on me sometimes, but he definately does have his moments of greatness.
i know a girl who thinks he is god, and is totally untouchable, and it's people like that that make him overrated.
good points and yet
he remains untouchable
and remains
overrated
that's like saying Shakespeare is overrated
it just gets to the point where they are beyond criticism- accept it
not overrated
not overloved
not overadmired
not penetrable
abort
he isn't beyond criticism
here's some criticism: his vocals are at times unlistenable, and a large percentage of his music is boring.
SHIT, did you just see what happened?
I saw you being critical yes
but to no effect
no avail
SHIT, did you just see what DIDN'T happen?
I feel like this argument that he's released a lot of shit albums for every great one
doesn't hold up. He's just released a lot of albums (far more than most artists) and a result he does have a good few duds. But look at the amount that aren't! How many people can you think of that have released about seven or eight albums that could be considered classics?
There was ana rticle in some music mag years ago saying pretty much the same thing.
It was hilarious.
I like Bob though.
Four really good records
then a lifetime of average/shit ones.
I think he's done alright out of it though, to be fair.
I'd actually say it's New Order (not technically a person)
but Dylan would be an easy second.
new order
are one of the most important bands from the last 25 years
lcd soundsystem? klaxons?
dylan aint bad too. time out of mind is a decent record.
new order.
are also responsible for influencing a LOT of shit bands. klaxons being one of many.
that's not new order's fault... :(
hmph!
like...
the rapture, hot hot heat, the bravery (ugggg), and at points, the killers.
I used to think that. In fact I hated him unitl I saw Cate Blanchet's portrayal...
...and now i love him very much indeed.
i hate him
because he's mostly terrible, so boring
i like a couple of songs but i do wish he'd just had one album
lol
yeah whatever..
Dylan is (for me) the most important person in music of the last 50 years or so.
I am not sure even where to start.
He has written about 8 albums that could all conceivably be in a number of greatest albums ever written list.
The 3 albums of Bringing it all back home, Highway 61 and Blonde on Blonde written in the space of 18 months are of staggering genius quality.
He has always marched to his own beat, never ever followed the fads and never given a shit what anybody thinks.
Bob Dylan is the fucking man!!!!!
So overrated.
His whole career is based on trying to prove how clever with words he is which really isn't appealing to me when the music is watered-down American roots folk.
^^^that is pish!
Dylan has never set out to prove how clever he is with words. He just happens (on most occasions) to be brilliant with words, the imagery he builds is second to none.
Also Dylans early musaic is influenced as much by British folk as it is by American, but all through his career there are a number of genres that are evident in his music.
I will be the first to admit that Dylan has ripped off a lot in his days but like all greats he rips off and adds.
Talent borrows, genius steals and all that.
no it's not
yes it is
Well...
isn't everyone here trying to prove how clever they are with words?
no thanks
i dont partake in this sort of wrongness
He's the best man alive
Not just at music, but at everything. I'm being serious, Dylan is amazing.
he's not
he really isn't
i'm going to say he's not overrated...
although, I think in terms of technicality and originality (at least in terms of the types of music he plays) he's nothing special. I think he's so highly rated because his music, or at least the most famous albums and songs, are so loved and so influential because they had real effect on people.
But yeah, I've read quie a few articles on Dylan being overrated and rarely is there any criteria, it's a kind of 'I don't get it' reaction, which is fair enough but that doesn't make him overrated.
I like Bob though, so there.
Nope.
That honour belongs to Pink Floyd.
you're probably right
bob dylan has some good songs
Neil Young > Bob Dylan
blatantly.
too close to call
Bob connects on an intellectual level for me
but Neil connects on an emotional one and that makes him the winner (imho).
yeah, i get that.
but every time i think of the first drum hit in like a rolling stone i then think of the chorus to old man. and then i think 'oh yeah but bob dylan wrote desolation row, he wins' i then remember ambulance blues...
i can't do it!
I think if you spent a day with neil
he'd probably show you around his ranch and tell you some interesting stories about people he's known, but if you spent a day with bob he'd spout something pseudo-intellectual and come across as aloof. Did that help you decide?
If not...Powderfinger!
bob dylan doesn't come across like that to me
but yeah, i'd much rather spend the day with neil. neil's a better guitarist too. but bob dylan wrote sad eyed lady of the lowlands! AAARRRGGHHH I CAN NEVER DECIDE.
granted I tend to stay away from his newer stuff
but I haven't come across a Neil Young song I didn't like. Wheras there are quite a few Dylan songs that grate on me somewhat. I have to be in the mood to listen to Dylan but Neil is good all the time.
I sound like a crazy fan :(
you've obviously not got Everybody's Rockin...
Good points, again. I'm always in the mood for Neil. I'm an obsessive neil young fan anyway. but i'm also a fairly obsessive bob fan. they're my all-time 1 and 2. just can't decide which is which...
Sorry to casue a terrible dilemma
who needs a 1. or 2. anyway?
i'm with neil young on this
i can't bear bob's delivery
i do.
I reckon
Bob would try and feel you up. Dirty old goat.
^ this post has made this thread worthwhile
fact.
you know he got an honorary degree from st andrews (i think it was st andrews)
he spent the whole ceremony asleep and then wouldn't talk to anyone except some receptionist he was trying to chat up. =
: D
See
KNEW IT.
Everyone knows the only reason any bloke picks up a guitar and sings about his "feelings" is to get laid.
please get out
blatantly
?
holy mother of jesus
there's some retards on here. i'm not even going to present my argument for why bob dylan is teh awesomeness because i know i'm right. half the people who say they don't like him are (i'm sure) only doing that to get indie points.
yeah, trying to argue his greatness really isn't worth it with this level of idiocy
might as well say Elvis is the most overrated person in the history of music. or that the Beatles are the most overrated band in the history of music.
Elvis sort of is.
For one sole reason: he wrote absolutely none of his songs. He was just a handsome face and a good dancer. See also: Michael Jackson.
Elvis is.
nope
i literally don't get it at all. i'm not particularly indie
Are indie points
the same as Club Card points - do you get money off at Alton Towers?
sort of
but with indie points you get money off vinyl purchases at pure groove. and you get to be a boring bastard.
Mark E. Smith
bob dylan good songwriter
but i can't stand him singing his own songs, i just hate his voice, but he's not the most overrated person in the history of music, bryan ferry is.
William Shakespeare
???????????????
please make a thread about this
you're wrong.
bob rocks.
actually it's probably Radiohead
Thom Yorke is like a spoilt child, talk about naive for a 40ish year old man.
I've persevered with Dylan
on a number of occassions but I still don't really like his stuff. That said, I'm not that bothered about lyrics tbh.
But whether or not he's overrated is not really relevant. If loads of other people like something i don't then good for them.
No.
to clarify
bob dylan is good, obviously good with words and has some songs i like. but why is he held in such high regard?
Because the man
is a genius.
Thats why.
why is he a genius?
Because so many of his songs are timeless classics...
that in 100 years will still be relevant. He may not wanted to have been the poster boy for the counter culture/protest movement in the 60's but his sings were core to this and you cannot deny the power of songs like Blowin in the wind, Times they are a changin, masters of was, Hard rains a gonna fall, Lonsome Death of Hattie Carrol etc etc.
His love songs are tender and show a vulnerability to this most acerbic of writers, songs like Girl from the north country, don't think twice etc etc.
His caustis put downs Like a rolling stone, positively 4th street, idiot wind.
He has written music which encompasses all the emotions and he has done it with wit and style.
The Beatles songwriting changed dramatically (and for the better) after they had mat and started listening to Dylan. His mid 70's record Blood on the tracks remains arguably the greatest break-up album ever, and in my own humble opinion the greatest album of all time.
To disregard Dylan totally, you have either a) never properly given him a listen or b) you are trying to be controversial.
I appreciate he is not everybodys cup of tea but you should still be able to appreciate how important he is to music.
you're the closest person to talking me round
i have listened to him and i don't like him but i do recognise his range and influence. i just don't think that he can be held up as a holy cow like he is now.
Dylan lost it for a good while...
mainly when he found christianity (why is it all music connected with god is pish?) but his last 3 albums, Time out of Mind, Love and Theft and Modern Times have all been excellent as well and show a man dealing with his age, his loves and his life with dignity and humour.
To be honest too_black_too_strong at least you have given him a try and if you don't like him then cool, everyone has their own tastes and no doubt there is a musician that you adore but that I won't like. But if we didn't have different opinions then there would be no point in having websites like this.
i'm not disputing that people like him
and that he's really popular, but we all know that's not a way to judge something
i just think that elevating someone to the level of an icon, or judging them on their influence on others means that their own work isn't evaluated fairly.
i'm definately not saying he's shit
I think the fact that he has been elevated to....
something of an icon and is a major influence on just about every major/important artist of the last 50 years speaks volumes for Dylan.
And I believe he has gotten to that level because his music has been evaluated fairly, in fact no other musician in the last 50 years has had as much study, discussion or debate as Dylan.
Not all music
connected with God is pish.
The ahppy clappy stuff i'll give you, but some of the Johnny cash religious stuff is magic
^ this
(as in Lo-Pan) not to mention that what other musician has not only become such a respected figure in his field but has also transcended it by becoming a cultural icon, discussed in the context of literature, art and film?
actually, all you need to do
is watch/listen to footage from the tour where he went electric. find a version of like a rolling stone and you'll realise how wrong you are. actually, i'll make it easier. i'll find one.
this is why you are wrong: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO0gSJGJ7Fs
this
is obviously very good
and he obviously looks very cool
but does it make him one of the best artists of all time?
yes. it does.
try this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCpYYjyerZw
all this is making me think
is that i wish i looked like him
i don't see anything outstanding about much of the rest of it
you've really stopped making any sense
if you realise he's good (i'll take that you mean genius), why can you not understand that he would be immensely popular with millions of music listeners, thus cementing his greatness even further?
he's not a genius
who is?
bob dylan
i was replying to poptimus
i think he's asking "who is a genius?"
yeah. emphasis on 'is'
ahhh i see
i dunno if i should name anyone because they'll look ridiculous next to someone as established as bob dylan, but i'd say they'd have to make equally as good music as lyrics. if bob dylan was a poet he'd have been one of the best of the century, but the music is average
someone whose lyrics are as good as their music?
des'ree?
someone good
why not suggest some people then?
even if you think it'll look daft. you'll look better if you offer up some suggestions. chances are they were influenced by Dylan themselves.
Bert Jansch?
perhaps.
Chuck D
.
^ thats one
James
Brown we begat George Clinton who begat Prince.
All begatted (is that a word) from a lineage that on an alternative branch begat the wizened old fruit that is Dylan.
This thread has made me think (dangerous)
i can't actually remember actively listening to a Bob Dylan track in full.
I used to think that my music knowledge was pretty good but this is titanic lack of audio education on my behalf , no?
also
i was sure that the author of this thread would be wrightylew.
Its just the kind of inflammatory spunk he usually comes out with.
i don't think wrightylew would ever make a thread like this.
about Dylan, i mean.
i'm sure he likes Dylan, although i'm not 100% sure
I'm a complete purist to the 60s.
If I ever, ever make a thread like this about a 60s band (bar The Who), absolutely kill me.
i don't believe you
you're a liiaaaaarrrr
^ 5
I AGREE
DYLAN IS OVERATED
1. no
2. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb48/losninosdelparque/aguidetodis.jpg
...
i dont understand why people think Dylan is overrated, pretty much one of the most important people in popular music. If not THE most.
This whole
courtroom is overrated
Visions Of Rihanna
...
JUDAS!
;oD
Yeah, I'll go with that.
Yoooo used meee like the jack o cluuUuuuUBS!!!!!!!
:`D
Dylan's albums
are great records, with the expection (in my eyes) of the first album, as thats all covers apart from maybe 2 songs and every record after 'desire', the albums are masterpeices. Name another band or artist(who isnt influenced by Dylan) who continously changed what music they made and still made very good records. Just actully sit down and listen to the records, get passed his voice and actully accept that saying he is overrated is not a very smart thing to say.
rant over.
The Ballad of Frankie Dean and Jack Osborne
....
my friend and my housemate
both bum Bob Dylan on a massive scale (my housemate listened/talked nothing but Bob Dylan for about a month around the time that film came out)
I can't stand him, his voice or his irritating guitar playing.
bob
have to disagree absolutely with this! I can see why people may hate his voice but the point sopme people are making about lack of originality is a bit foolish i think, he is the best person ever at ripping off something old and making into something amazingly new and great. I think he just breathes the past and all that old american myth of the beats and so on.
i think his newest album was bummed way too much just because it was Dylan so i understand why a lot of you think he is not as good as he is put out to be.but i think everyone who likes him has a different record or song which is their favourite, theres so much to choose from. I have barely listened to his 80's albums except Oh Mercy, yet he threw away 'blind Willie McTell' without putting it on a record. It takes some kind of genius followed by stupidity to do that!
Dylan
is easily one of the most important people in the history of music.
Yup Yup
^^^^Yip!
What themanwhofellasleep has to say about Dylan...
"In the sixties, Bob Dylan sung his immortal line: 'The answer is blowing in the wind'. However, it is worth remembering that a) Bob Dylan is the worst lyricist in the world and b) he is no meteorologist, and as such, has no fucking idea what is blowing in the wind. Even on the rare occasion that Bob Dylan does write a decent line, it is marred by the fact that he sings in like a nasal tax inspector. Because he lived through politically turbulent times, Dylan could get away with lines like 'In the red Mississippi, the overfed Sheriff turned to the bride, and smiling he told her to scurry inside', and people would nod knowingly as though it were a telling comment about civil rights. It's not, it's just nonsense. Was that line real Dylan, or did I just make it up? Does it matter? I think not."
But what the fuck does that guy know?
i concur
<3
YOU'RE WRONG
no, i'm not
helene, he is AWESOME
http://drownedinsound.com/articles/3507128#r3507690
josh, i don't even care
EURGH
I hate this term "overrated". It basically infers that the artist's huge success is undeserved and somehow "unnatural" because the individual has a clearsight that the masses don't possess. It's horrid.
I don't even like dylan, i've only got one album but I can appreciate the huge influence he's had and basically that he's just a cool dude.
Any influence he (or anyone) has is completely deserved purely because it exists.
Basically yawn. Same as "oh the beatles/radiohead/pink floyd are overrated". Total shite.
^^^^Aye, a well balanced and valid point yes_
^^this may be true
Lyrics mean nothing to me.
This is why I find Dylan and The Smiths boring. Would anyone be arsed about The Smiths if they were singing about walking down a hall faster than a cannonball? No.
that's insane!
half the stuff i like is mostly because of lyrics!
-
Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child's balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying.
Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool's gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proves to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.
Temptation's page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover
That you'd just be
One more person crying.
So don't fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing.
As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don't hate nothing at all
Except hatred.
Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred.
While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.
An' though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only people's games that you got to dodge
And it's alright, Ma, I can make it.
Advertising signs that con you
Into thinking you're the one
That can do what's never been done
That can win what's never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.
You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks
They really found you.
A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy
Insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not fergit
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to.
Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.
For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something
They invest in.
While some on principles baptized
To strict party platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say God bless him.
While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in.
But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him.
Old lady judges watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn't talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony.
While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer's pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes
Must get lonely.
My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards
False gods, I scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough
What else can you show me?
And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only.
tl;dr
fw
i listened to that song today. McGuinn's version from Easy Rider.
I like it.
i'm not sure if i know it
which part of easy rider is it in?
the byrds did some wonderful dylan covers. My Back Pages especially is loooovely.
I'm never going to say he is rubbish
because he clearly isn't. But I really really don't like him anymore. His music annoys the hell out of me.
bringing it all back home, highway 61 revisited, blonde on blonde
all released in the space of 9 months. argument over.
not that down with his recent records
or with his live show in my living memory, or the way he keeps appearing in adverts, but some of his work is incredible.
John Lennon....as a human being and as a songwriter is FAR more overated
Tangled Up In Blue
is the greatest song evah!
^this
Only in a world without RADIOHEAD
Thread CLOSED.
Nah. Far too influential on all the greats to be 'overrated'.
However, I do think other people did his songs better than him.
See: Spanish Harlem Incident - The Byrds
See: All Along The Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix
Bob Dylan IS overrated
a handful of ok to decent songs with years and years of mediocrity. Even his best moments aren't world class. He never meant shit to me and is not up there with my heroes. Whilst Johnny Cash and Neil Young have never lost it, Dylan sings like some kind of meths pickled tramp. Totally agree Hendrix's version of All Along The Watchtower is superior.
I agree too with what you're saying, on second thought.
If you looked at it percentage-wise...
His first album was out in 62?
So he's been going since then.
62-72 = brilliant
72-2008 = not brilliant
*-)
1995 "Time Out Of Mind"
Utterly brilliant!
"Highlands" one of the best Dylan songs EEEEEEEVVERRR!
'a handful of ok to decent songs'
= ban request!
one thing....
WHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTTTTT????????!!!!!!!!!
jesus wept, what nonsense, seriously, some people....
:(
Dylan
is the lyrical equivalent of a jazz musician. A lot of expression, a lot of imagination and a lot of freeness - but prone to many clumsy exercises in self indulgence
A lot of his music is incredible - touching, witty, visceral, but a lot of his weaknesses seem to be mixed in with his goodnesses. Basically, he's just a bit too relaxed in his approach, and could maybe do with a bit of rigidity
on the other hand, i prefer his earlier, more expressionistic stuff to his 70s period "bish bash bosh" lyrical style. The Times They Are A' Changin ftw
"jazz is the last refuge of the untalented"
*cough*
hagen-dazz honey vanilla is ridiculously delicious
and wool socks really do keep your feet dryer.
bloody amazing
I used to think he was overrated before i got wise
If he was so rubbish The Byrds and Hendrix wouldn't have covered his tunes. He had a purple patch of around 7 or 8 years, that's pretty incredible. The new stuff is overrated for sure, but you can't knock Bring It All Back Home or Nashville Skyline. Or Free-wheelin.
It's Alright Ma I'm Only Bleeding
Thanks 83746725! I forgive you your Devo blaspheme.
I saw Dylan and The Band in 1974 and he did that song (of course). 10,000 people were transfixed, except much cheering at the end of the choruses.
In 2000 Dylan and his current band came to the Montana town where I grew up and played in a little gymnasium (The Shrine Auditorium) where I went to boxing matches with my Dad when I was a kid. It was like Deja Vu- people just went mad over hearing those iconic lyrics- it was chilling to the bone- to the depths of the soul; like listening to a god. Dylan has been examined, studied and judged by world scholars for decades. He has influenced countless seminal artists in every genre of music. His influence trancends music; he has inspired generations of people all over the globe from all walks of life, every vocation, all ages, all races and all religions but finally DiS user 2 black 2 strong has gotten on to something with this thread! Oh, man, thank jesus for your insightful genius- I feel free from the weighty bonds that loving Bob Dylan have kept me in all these years- I've been getting a bit board with this forum lately but your presence is like the promise of fresh meat and you are my favorite kind: free range idiot.
just some fava beans and a nice chianti
DiSembowel
haha! did i blaspheme against Devo?
i was probably just in a grouchy mood. i've nothing against devo really. Saw him with The Band in '74? Before the flood...
How about rolling thunder the following year? Being a young'un, i've only seen him in recent years. Someone i know saw him in '66 though. Grrr.
please note
Bringing It All Back Home
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Another Side of Bob Dylan
Blonde on Blonde
Blood on the Tracks
Highway 61 Revisited
now SHUT UP.
oh dear
is this thread still going? super lame
i wasnt being entirely serious, i'd just had to liten to him against my will too much
I have not listened to any Bob Dylan.
So I don't know. I really don't.
i think overrated is definately that right word
overrated doesnt necessarily = bad
for every amazing album he's written there have been 5 or 6 shit ones.
his voices grates on me sometimes, but he definately does have his moments of greatness.
i know a girl who thinks he is god, and is totally untouchable, and it's people like that that make him overrated.
good points and yet
he remains untouchable
and remains
overrated
that's like saying Shakespeare is overrated
it just gets to the point where they are beyond criticism- accept it
not overrated
not overloved
not overadmired
not penetrable
abort
he isn't beyond criticism
here's some criticism: his vocals are at times unlistenable, and a large percentage of his music is boring.
SHIT, did you just see what happened?
I saw you being critical yes
but to no effect
no avail
SHIT, did you just see what DIDN'T happen?
I feel like this argument that he's released a lot of shit albums for every great one
doesn't hold up. He's just released a lot of albums (far more than most artists) and a result he does have a good few duds. But look at the amount that aren't! How many people can you think of that have released about seven or eight albums that could be considered classics?