Why is Bob Dylan good?

[Dis]

I don't get it. What am I missing?

[Nostromo]

He wrote great songs. duh. There's not a single song of his that you like? Or you like the songs, but don't like the way he sings them or the way he plays them?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Dylan

[Drake Tungsten]

He's a great poet. I don't know why that makes him a good musician, but many people think it does.

[Nostromo]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
He's a great poet. I don't know why that makes him a good musician, but many people think it does.

Well, he wrote a couple of great songs in his days. He may not be a great singer or a great guitarist, but he's a great songwriter.

[Dis]

tip: this is a cue for you guys to post some of his greatest lyrics in this thread. . maybe you can convince me he's good

[SlowwHand]

Dylan was on the cutting edge of folk rock in the early to mid 60's. He wrote songs, like any folk writer, that reflected the times in stark reality.
It's been said he's not a singer. No, he's a story teller.
Listen to the stories he tells. If he has a "role model", it's Woody Guthrie.
How can one criticize that influence in music?

[LordShiva]

Re: Why is Bob Dylan good?

Originally posted by Dis
I don't get it. What am I missing?

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind.

[SlowwHand]

http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/

[Nostromo]

Taken from All Music:

Bob Dylan's influence on popular music is incalculable. As a songwriter, he pioneered several different schools of pop songwriting, from confessional singer/songwriter to winding, hallucinatory, stream-of-conscious narratives. As a vocalist, he broke down the notions that in order to perform, a singer had to have a conventionally good voice, thereby redefining the role of vocalist in popular music. As a musician, he sparked several genres of pop music, including electrified folk-rock and country-rock. And that just touches on the tip of his achievements. Dylan's force was evident during his height of popularity in the '60s -- the Beatles' shift toward introspective songwriting in the mid-'60s never would have happened without him -- but his influence echoed throughout several subsequent generations. Many of his songs became popular standards, and his best albums were undisputed classics of the rock & roll canon. Dylan's influence throughout folk music was equally powerful, and he marks a pivotal turning point in its 20th century evolution, signifying when the genre moved away from traditional songs and toward personal songwriting. Even when his sales declined in the '80s and '90s, Dylan's presence was calculable.

[Drake Tungsten]

he pioneered several different schools of pop songwriting, from confessional singer/songwriter to winding, hallucinatory, stream-of-conscious narratives. As a vocalist, he broke down the notions that in order to perform, a singer had to have a conventionally good voice, thereby redefining the role of vocalist in popular music. As a musician, he sparked several genres of pop music, including electrified folk-rock and country-rock.

Can any of this really be called a good thing?

[SlowwHand]

All Music and Artist Direct are sister sites. The only difference is navigational. Both good.

[MRT144]

He'd be better with an SH-101 bassline

[Drake Tungsten]

This makes me like Dylan better...

In Rolling Stone last month, Bob Dylan said, "I'm in awe of McCartney. He's about the only one I'm in awe of."

http://www.avclub.com/content/node/63171/2

Smart man.

[Nugog]

Re: Why is Bob Dylan good?

Originally posted by Dis
I don't get it. What am I missing?

Not alot - great songwriter at times - but apart from that - does not do much for me.

But I could be wrong...........

Has been known to happen............