History Music / BobDylan

* {{Jerkass}}: He comes across as a major one in ''Film/DontLookBack'', as Creator/RogerEbert notes in his [[http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/dont-look-back-1998 review]] of the film's 20th anniversary reissue:

Robert Dylan[[note]]three sources on his Wikipedia article state that he has maintained his birth given name as his legal name[[/note]] (born May 24, 1941) was born Robert Allen Zimmerman ([[DoNotCallMePaul no, you can't call him that]]) 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]].

Bob Dylan (born May 24, 1941) was born Robert Allen Zimmerman ([[DoNotCallMePaul no, you can't call him that]]) 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]].

* HeAlsoDid: Dabbled in acting, most notably a supporting part in 1973 film ''Film/PatGarrettAndBillyTheKid'', for which Dylan also composed the soundtrack. (This included BreakawayPopHit "Knockin' on Heaven's Door".)

* TruckDriversGearChange: The modulation before the last verse of "When I Paint My Masterpiece" on ''Greatest Hits Volume II'' is a rare example in his catalogue.

* MurderBallad: "The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll" from ''Music/TheTimesTheyAreAChangin''

* MusicOfNote: Dylan is one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, especially to singer-songwriters.

* NotableMusicVideos: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgC77nc22ec video for "Subterranean Homesick Blues"]] from ''[[Film/DontLookBack Dont Look Back]]'' is often considered to be the UrExample of non-diegetic videos (i.e. music videos that aren't just the [[PerformanceVideo artist playing the song]] or an audience as the artist plays).

* LeFilmArtistique: ''Renaldo And Clara''.
** And ''Masked And Anonymous''.
** ''Eat The Document''.

* FrankensteinsMonster: "My Own Version Of You" uses it as a metaphor for... fittingly, quite a few things.

* HaveAGayOldTime: "Standing In The Doorway"--"I'm strumming on my gay guitar." But since it was written and recorded in 1997 it's a case of Dylan purposely using the old meaning to convey anachronism.

Bob Dylan (born May 24, 1941) was born Robert Allen Zimmerman ([[DoNotCallMePaul no, you can't call him that]]) 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—this "topical" phase of his career lasted little more than twelve months.

* ''Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story'' yet another documentary by Martin Scorsese, produced by Creator/{{Netflix}}, to be released in 2019. This one will feature Scorsese himself interviewing Dylan.

[[/index]]

* 1974 — ''Before The Flood'' [[note]]A collaboration with Music/TheBand[[/note]]

* 1989 — ''Dylan and the Dead'' [[note]]A collaboration with Music/TheGratefulDead[[/note]]
* 1993 — ''The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration'' [[note]]A various artists tribute to Bob Dylan, with Dylan himself appearing on it[[/note]]

* {{Blackface}}: He never donned it directly, but rather wore ironic white-face make-up during the Rolling Thunder Revue. He has also been open about the influence of minstrelsy on his music, including naming his album ''Love and Theft'' after Eric Lott's academic book ''Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class.'' A minstrel named Oscar Vogel appears in ''Masked and Anonymous.''

* DoNotCallMePaul: You apparently have to get special permission to mention the name "Zimmerman" in his presence. Some people (including, if ''Magazine/RollingStone'' is to be believed, UsefulNotes/BarackObama) do get permission.

* 2020 — ''Rough and Rowdy Ways''

* WhoShotJFK: "Murder Most Foul" is about the JFK assassination and its place in American culture, with a few allusions to the conspiracy theories surrounding it, starting with the title, which is a ShoutOut to ''Murder Most Foul!: The Conspiracy That Murdered President Kennedy'', an obscure 1968 self-published tome by Stanley J. Marks (well, and ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' too).

-->[[UsefulNote/ZapruderFilm Zapruder's film]], I've seen that before\\

* WhoShotJFK: "Murder Most Foul" is all about the JFK assassination, though it only alludes to the conspiracy theories surrounding it.

* BlaseBoast: PlayedForLaughs ([[ShrugOfGod probably]]) by the concert introduction he used for years, starting in 2002. It's originally from an article about him in a Buffalo, New York newspaper. Dylan apparently either found it flattering or so hilarious he had to turn it into a RunningGag, with his stage manager Al Santos reciting these lines in a flat, rushed manner:
--> ''Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome: the poet laureate of rock 'n' roll. The voice of the promise of TheSixties counterculture. [[GenreTurningPoint The guy who forced]] {{folk|Music}} into bed with {{rock|AndRoll}}. Who [[TheRockstar donned make-up]] in TheSeventies and disappeared into [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs a haze of substance abuse]]. Who emerged to [[ChristianRock find Jesus]]. Who was written off as [[OldSoldier a has-been]] by the end of TheEighties, and who [[HesBack suddenly shifted gears]] releasing some of the strongest music of his career [[OldMaster beginning in the late]] [[TheNineties Nineties]]. Ladies and gentlemen - Creator/{{Columbia|Records}} [[AllAPartOfTheJob recording artist]] Bob Dylan!''

** "Stoned" was originally a slang term for being drunk on alcohol, only later was it reserved for marijuana intoxication.

* 1971 — ''Music/AConcertForBangladesh''[[note]]as one of the contributing artists, with his concert set as side five[[/note]]

* WorldOfCardboardSpeech: "Changing Of The Guards", beginning with a CallBack to his debut album 16 years earlier, and ending with
--> ''"Gentlemen!" he said, "I don't need your organization''
--> ''I've shined your shoes, I've moved your mountains and I've marked your cards''
--> ''But Eden is burning! Either get ready for elimination''
--> ''Or else your hearts must have the courage for the changing of the guards"''

* TheVillainSucksSong: "Jokerman" (''Infidels'') and "Handy Dandy" (''Under the Red Sky'') are both rather verbose portrayals of powerful, dishonorable men, but in the end the subjects seem more like a MagnificentBastard than anything else. There's lot of WildMassGuessing on who the subjects of the two songs are. Since "Handy Dandy" has a girlfriend named Nancy, some people think it's about UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan.

After a long world tour, 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.

Besides "going electric", the other major moment where he rebooted his career was the "born again phase", which began with his conversion from Judaism to (Evangelical Protestant) Christianity[[note]]Specifically the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_Vineyard_Churches Vineyard]] movement[[/note]] in 1979. Attendant to this were [[PanderingToTheBase a few nostalgic, audience-baiting tours]] and some angry, but lyrically intricate, ChristianRock albums. Dylan eventually returned to more secular themes, but has never quite abandoned the doomsaying [[TheEndIsNigh street preacher]] point of view. On the other hand, in his personal life, he's been seen celebrating the [[UsefulNotes/JewishHolidays High Holidays]] at various [[UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}} Chabad Lubavich]] Hasidic congregations; make of that what you will.

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: His band for the Rolling Thunder Revue in 1975-76 had this flavour. There was Music/DavidBowie's ex-guitarist (Mick Ronson), a guitarist who had previously written a couple songs for Music/TheMonkees (Steve Soles), a tall skinny guy from Texas (T-Bone Burnett), the guy who played bass on Music/DonMcLean's "Music/AmericanPie" (Rob Stoner), a boyish-looking guy who'd previously been in a band called Quacky Duck & His Barnyard Friends (David Mansfield), a Latin violinist who Dylan had hired after he saw her walking down the street (Scarlet Rivera), and Andrew Wyeth's nephew (Howie Wyeth) on drums, among others.