History Music / BobDylan

+ Francis James Child, Music/LittleRichard, Music/WoodyGuthrie, Music/RobertJohnson, Ma Rainey, Music/JohnLeeHooker, Music/ChuckBerry, Music/HankWilliams, Music/JohnnyCash, Music/ElvisPresley, The Clancy Brothers, Martin Carthy,

Dylan still records music, which [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible people still don't really "get"]], and is once again sacrosanct among music critics and record store employees. As ever, this is mostly on the strength of his lyrics—Dylan won the UsefulNotes/NobelPrizeInLiterature in 2016, becoming the first songwriter to receive this honor. Nonetheless, his nasal growl of a singing voice remains a point of contention among listeners. The stock Bob Dylan joke is that [[TheUnintelligible nobody can understand a word he says]], and he is usually depicted as talking exactly as he sings.

* {{Rockumentary}}: D A Pennebaker's ''[[Film/DontLookBack Dont Look Back]]'' [sic] from Dylan's 1965 tour of the UK is one of the [[TropeMakers earliest examples]]. Dylan followed it up with the [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs slightly less coherent]] ''Eat the Document'', filmed during the 1966 tour, which remains unreleased (though bootleg copies circulate). There's also Creator/MartinScorsese's documentaries ''No Direction Home'' (2005) and ''Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story'' (2019--which mixes in some {{Mockumentary}} elements).

After a long world tour backed by what would eventually become Music/TheBand, full of combative press conferences and booing crowds, Dylan dropped off the radar in 1966, one year prior to the [[TheSixties ''Summer of Love"]], in part to recover from injuries sustained during a minor motorcycle accident (debate goes on to this day as to whether Dylan faked, or at least greatly exaggerated these injuries, or even conjured the incident out of whole cloth as an excuse to disappear from the limelight for awhile). He did not perform at Woodstock (despite - or perhaps ''because of'' - the fact that it took place basically down the road from his house), and he did not protest the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar. Bob Dylan closed out the Sixties via duet with Music/JohnnyCash. He nonetheless remains synonymous with said decade's "turbulence": Music/JimiHendrix's cover of "All Along the Watchtower" plays over about 70% of all Sixties montages.

* LongTitle: "(Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The) Memphis Blues Again" and "Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)". Incidentally, both of these are off of ''Music/BlondeOnBlonde''.

* CoolOldGuy: Undeniably, considering that he's still creating high-quality work in his 80s, as the reviews of ''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' prove.

His most famous song from this "electric" period is "Like A Rolling Stone". Twice as long or loud as anything else on the radio at the time, with snarling lyrics about chrome horses and cat-loving diplomats, the song somehow rose to number two on the U.S. charts (number one was "Eve of Destruction," now widely seen as a knockoff of Dylan's style whose creator ended up as a OneHitWonder). It's worth noting here that he has ''never had a number one hit on the'' Billboard ''Hot 100'', the chart of record in the United States,[[note]]"Like a Rolling Stone" ''did'' hit the top, for one week, on ''Billboard'''s main rival, the ''Cashbox'' Top Pop Singles chart[[/note]] almost certainly making him the most popular and influential songwriter in the entire English language with that distinction.

* 2013 — ''The Bootleg Series Vol. 10 - Another Music/SelfPortrait''

* 2019 — ''The Bootleg Series Vol. 15 - Travelin' Thru 1967-1969'' (featuring Music/JohnnyCash)

* 2023 — ''The Bootleg Series Vol. 17 - Fragments: Time Out of Mind Sesdions (1996–1997)''

* 2021 - ''The Bootleg Series Vol. 16 - Springtime In New York 1980-1985''

* NewSoundAlbum: Several. ''Music/BringingItAllBackHome'' definitely qualifies, marking his transition to electric (which, as noted above, pissed off a substantial portion of his fan base). Prior to that, ''Music/AnotherSideOfBobDylan'' marked his transition from protest songs to impressionistic, expressive lyrics (which, as noted above, also pissed off a substantial portion of his fan base). Then there was the late 60's ''Music/JohnWesleyHarding'', which took a step back from the heavy pop instrumentation of the previous three albums and went for a much more sparse and acoustic country vibe - followed by ''Music/NashvilleSkyline'', which was pretty much full-on country with very straight-forward, unambiguous lyrics (which didn't as much piss off as mystify a substantial portion of his fan base: the albums were part of Dylan's plan to rid himself of said gigantic fan base, as he was getting quite annoyed with it). Significantly, the late 70's ''Music/SlowTrainComing'' marked Dylan's short-lived venture into gospel and Christian rock (which both pissed off ''and'' mystified a substantial portion of his fan base). 1997's ''Music/TimeOutOfMind'' saw Dylan shift towards a more blues folk style that has to some extent characterized all his output for the past 15 years.

* CoolOldGuy: Undeniably, considering that he's still creating high-quality work nearing his 80s, as the reviews of ''Rough and Rowdy Ways'' prove.

* CoverAlbum: A bunch. ''Music/GoodAsIBeenToYou'' and ''World Gone Wrong'' consist of solo acoustic performances of old folk standards. ''[[ExecutiveMeddling Dylan]]'' is an album of cover version out-takes. ''Music/ChristmasInTheHeart'' has him covering ChristmasSongs. His three most recent albums, ''Shadows In The Night'', ''Fallen Angels'' and ''Triplicate'', are covers of Tin Pan Alley standards (many of which are associated with Music/FrankSinatra). Also, ''Music/BobDylanAlbum'', ''Music/SelfPortrait'' and ''Down In The Groove'' have more covers than original material.

One of the most influential living songwriters in pop music, and an American cultural icon. Music critics refer to him by [[LastNameBasis last name alone]] (sometimes even just his first name will suffice), and references to his life and career seem to pop up everywhere. Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} is a great place to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Dylan learn the particulars]], so we'll stick to the tropetacular.

One of the most influential living songwriters in pop music, and an American cultural icon. Music critics refer to him by [[LastNameBasis last name alone]] (sometimes even just his first name will suffice), and references to his life and career seem to pop up everywhere. Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} is a great place to learn the particulars, so we'll stick to the tropetacular.

* AwesomeMcCoolName: Judas Priest from "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest" from ''Music/JohnWesleyHarding''. So awesome that [[Music/JudasPriest this one heavy metal band]] took the name for itself.

* RefrainFromAssuming: The song is ''not'' "Everybody Must Get Stoned," it's "Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35".

* DistinctDoubleAlbum: ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biograph_(album) Biograph]]'' was a 5-LP set in its original release, and each side seemed to have a rough theme: 1--SillyLoveSongs; 2--[[ProtestSong Protest Songs]]; 3--RockAndRoll; 4--[[{{Poetry}} Poetic Songs]]; 5--GenreRoulette; 6--Torch Songs; 7--AuthorFilibuster; 8--IntercourseWithYou; 9--[[IWantSong "I Want" Songs]]; 10--ChristianRock / NotChristianRock.[[note]] 5, 7 and 9 are debatable since they aren't very uniform, but the others seem straightforward enough.[[/note]]

* NotChristianRock: Although Dylan frequently incorporates religious imagery in his work.
** On the other hand, his trio of "born again"-period albums (''Music/SlowTrainComing'', ''Saved'', ''Shot of Love'') could [[strike:probably]] definitely be categorized as straight-up ChristianRock.

** A 1965 review of "Like a Rolling Stone" in ''Melody Maker'' by Bob Dawbarn was headlined "Thank Goodness We Won't Get This Six-Minute Bob Dylan Single in Britain." In reporting that CBS Records hadn't announced plans to release the song, Dawbarn was merciless in his criticism of it, bemoaning the "monotonous melody" and "Dylan's expressionless intoning", while also noting that "Music/MickJagger fans will also be distressed to learn that the song title refers to a rolling stone and not a [[Music/TheRollingStones Rolling Stone]]," and ultimately dismissing it as "sub-standard Dylan." Not only was the review quickly discredited, but the song did indeed get released in the UK and hit #4 on the charts.

* CoolHat: The feathered white fedora he dons in ''Film/TheLastWaltz'' certainly qualifies.

Robert Dylan[[note]]three sources on his Wikipedia article state that he has maintained his birth given name as his legal name; still, [[DoNotCallMePaul you can't call him "Robert"]][[/note]] (born Robert Allen Zimmerman; May 24, 1941) was born in Duluth, Minnesota to an electrical-supplies shopkeeper and a homemaker. Growing up in Northern Minnesota's small, tight-knit Jewish community (the Zimmermans moved from Duluth to Hibbing, an hour's drive away, in 1947), young Bobby was a somewhat shy boy who showed interest in literature, art, and music. He dropped out of the University of Minnesota at [[UsefulNotes/TwinCities Minneapolis]] after completing his freshman year in spring 1960, and, at the age of 19, moved to UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity the following January with a guitar, some flannel shirts, [[TheDrifter and not much else]]. Adapting his new surname in homage to Creator/DylanThomas, he performed folk songs in bohemian Greenwich Village coffee shops and bars with an affected accent, inspired by Music/WoodyGuthrie, and became a fixture of the local "folk scene"—which doubled as a leftist political circle deeply interested in the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement. Dylan wrote songs specifically for this group, the most famous being "Blowin' In The Wind" and "The Times They Are A-Changin'". Although these two {{protest song}}s are still his biggest claim to fame today—he's the guy who "brought politics" into music, somehow—[[BrieferThanTheyThink this "topical" phase of his career lasted little more than twelve months]].

* DoNotCallMePaul: You apparently have to get special permission to mention the name "Zimmerman" in his presence.[[note]]He did actually legally change his name from Robert Allen Zimmerman to Bob Dylan in August 1962.[[/note]] Some people (including, if ''Magazine/RollingStone'' is to be believed, UsefulNotes/BarackObama) do get permission.