Halen

Where's Elvis and Buddy Holly?

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Black Francis

Dead..


lololol

blastingas10

Do you think that he aimed that at the Beatles? Because that song sounds a bit like "Norwegian wood".

Electrophonic Tonic

I think the influence of Dylan is more along the lines of Elvis Presley, where the music itself wasn't as big of a deal as the persona and image he presented.

Elvis was the white guy that made black music accessible to young Americans, simply because of the color of his skin. Elvis' music alone is nothing all that remarkable or influential to me, but he was damn influential in getting rock and roll to a white audience. Bob Dylan's legacy is in the message of his music and the influx of socio-political commentary in mainstream music that followed his lead. While his music did bleed into the sound of bands like the Beatles and the Byrds, the musical roots the Beatles extend far beyond Dylan's.

I'm not sure why you're disparaging "I Feel Fine" and "Ticket to Ride". Sure, they're no "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "A Day in the Life", but throwing feedback in the first few seconds of a pop single in the early 60's is a pretty big deal. I seriously wonder how many people thought their records were mis-pressed when the suburbs heard that now famous feedback. And "Ticket to Ride" has a pretty unique, jagged rhythm with even a slight hint of drone in the background.

Dylan influencing the Beatles to write a handful of songs like his is one thing. The Beatles (yes, among others) influencing Dylan to totally re-invent his sound and reshape his career by going electric is another.

I've always felt "4th Time Around" was more of a playful parody rather than a scathing critique of the Beatles, despite the last line you mentioned. More along the lines of the Beach Boys part of "Back in the USSR."

William Zanzinger

"4th Time Around" is IMO, a parody of "Norwegian Wood". It was written shortly after he met Lennon for the fourth time in London. I wouldn`t say it was a scathing crit of The Beatles per se, just of John`s Dylanesque songs (I`m a Loser, Hide your love away, etc). It was actually The Animals recording of "House of the Rising Sun" which prompted Dylan to abandon folk music.(He had recorded an acoustic version for his second album). It should be remembered that he actually turned his back on his core audience and had to endure all the "Judas" taunts afterwards. Al Kooper, who played organ on "Like a Rolling Stone", refused to tour with Dylan because of the animosity from the folkies.
But the main point is that Dylan gave music a vocabulary which transcended straightforward love songs.No-one had ever recorded anything resembling "Like A Rolling Stone" or "Just Like a Woman". I would be the last person to disparage The Beatles, but in the context of who had the greater influence on popular music, I`d still opt for Dylan.

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blastingas10

I wouldn't really compare dylan with Elvis in that sense. Yes, the persona was big, but bob actually was making music that was unlike anything else. The political influence was definitely huge, but It wasn't his only influence. He really made songwriters re-think the way they were writing songs. There was no one that I've come across who was writing such poetic and surrealistic songs before Dylan. Combine that with his voice and the overall sound of the music, it was a mainstream breakthrough. So much that even frank Zappa said, "When I heard Like a Rolling Stone, I wanted to quit the music business because I felt: 'If this wins and it does what it's supposed to do, I don't need to do anything else.'" That's a pretty big testament, coming from Zappa.

j.w.

I think the Beatles certainly influenced Dylan, but Dylan influenced the Beatles much more. It seems to me that the Beatles were more impressionable, & that was really their true strength. And Dylan's strength was how contentious he was. You also see it in how the Beatles/Stones/Beach Boys were all following a similar trajectory, & Dylan never really got caught up in that, for instance avoiding psychedelia when everyone else was headlong into it.

For me, Dylan's influence on the Beatles is obvious, the opposite is harder to pin down.

Are you saying the roots of the Beatles extend far beyond Dylan's roots, or that their roots extend far beyond just Bob Dylan? If it's the former, I would object to that. If it's the later, I would agree... I think all of the artists in this poll offer their own thing & none are wholly derivative of another.

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wiggums

Reportedly one of the main things that cause Dylan to go electric was I Want to Hold Your Hand.

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Rjinn

Yeah but I meant in terms of being one of the most influential. I wouldn't compare them to a lot of others.

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j.w.

I hadn't heard that. Makes sense.

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