By Stephen Colbert logic, Lennon sells more T-shirts, so the market has spoken

I think the nod has got to go to Lennon here. He's commonly held as much more of a revolutionary and visionary.

And of course an early, "before his time", death lends itself very well to icon status. He was never able to get around to doing anything to tarnish his image, like making a CD for Victoria's Secret, Bob!

Exactly.

Vladimir Lenin gets my vote.

Dylan Fo' Sho!!!

He was huge in the 80's

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i1.../lukeperry.jpg

agreed

Lennon - because listening to Dylan for any extended period makes you suicidal...

Yeah id have 2 go Lennon. Its a close call though.

ignorance ftw.

Dylan wins the goggle fight, I give him the nod because of his social impact; Lennon was big because of the Beatles and didn't start making deeply thoughtful music with the band around 1966. His solo career was that of a renegade, but many of his fans at the time we're simply longing for the Beatles, he did little to mobilize thought, in fact his death sort of elevated his social impact status. Dylan's music was always driven by it's ability to relate to a generation without a voice. To me Dylan is THEE Folk Music Icon (right or wrong) for American culture. He is the first person you associate with the music Woodstock and the 1960's in general.

Also in The Who's "The Seeker" the title character in his quest for knowledge and music first asks Bobby Dylan then the Beatles...so take that "For What it's Worth" (a song inspired by Bob Dylan by the way)

Also he claims to have made a deal with "the devil", pure Icon shit!