Verified Document

Changing Musical Style Of Bob Term Paper

He, therefore, continued experimenting with new musical style, and his 1964 album, Another Side of Bob Dylan hinted at the things to come. The album was categorized a "folk album" only because Dylan had not yet decided to go electric and continued to use an acoustic arrangement for his songs. As for the content of his songs on Another Side, they had already veered away from the political protest of folk. The album started with the light-hearted and personal "All I Really Want to do" and ended rather significantly with "It Ain't Me" -- Dylan pointedly saying adieu to his folk audience. The album's departure from folk traditions was a prelude to a more dramatic change in Dylan's musical style that was to be unveiled in the following year. Dylan goes Electric

The year 1965 was the start of perhaps the most concentrated, magical, and impressive two-year period of creative musical innovation in the history of rock music. Dylan, of course, was at the center of this musical revolution. It all started in March 1965 when Dylan released his first half-electric album (Bring it All back Home) that featured him accompanied by a full-fledged back-up band on side 1 of the LP. There was immediate reaction from the folkies who dubbed their former hero as a political sell-out and warned him not to turn into "a different Bob Dylan than the one we knew," (quote from Sing Out! By Wilentz). Dylan's reaction was typically defiant. At the Newport Folk Festival in July, 1965 he decided to go electric before a live audience. It was sheer audacity on his part, considering the fact that the audience had come to hear pure folk music. That Sunday night of July 25, 1965 when Dylan walked onstage in an orange shirt and black leather, carrying an electric guitar accompanied by his hastily gathered band and swung into a rocking electric version of "Maggie's Farm" has entered into the folklore of rock music. The folk purist audience was stunned and then started to heckle and shouted: "Play folk music!... Sell out!... This is a folk festival!" (Shelton, 302); backstage, Pete Seeger was so incensed that he threatened to cut off the electric wires; some of the audience, however, was exhilarated by the high-voltage rock.

Parts of this document are hidden

View Full Document
svg-one

It reached a climax at a concert at Manchester in 1966 when a hostile audience confronted Dylan and his band with slow handclap and a hostile member of the audience shouted, "Judas!" To which Dylan responded with "I don't believe you" and proceeded to give a sneering, high powered rendition of "Like a Rolling Stone." The next one-year saw Dylan reach the pinnacle of his art with the release of "Highway 61 Revisited" and "Blonde on Blonde" -- two of the greatest rock albums ever recorded.
Conclusion

Bob Dylan's transformation from a folk singer known and worshipped for his finger-pointing protest songs into a rock artist who created his own genre of music has been an epochal event in contemporary music history. It is hard to think of any single event in the history of popular music that exceeds the importance of the event.

Works Cited

Hentoff, Nat. "Liner Notes for 'The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" Bob Dylan.com. 1964. May 12, 2005. http://bobdylan.com/linernotes/freewheelin.html

Shelton, Robert. "No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan." Ballantine Books: New York, 1986

Wilentz, Sean. "Liner Notes -- Live 1964 at Philharmonic Hall." December 2003. May 12, 2005. http://bobdylan.com/linernotes/live1964.html

From the song it's All right Ma (I'm only Bleeding) from the album "Bringing it All Back home" (1965)

His last move Masked and Anonymous (2004) was pilloried by the critics and ran briefly in the theaters

Dylan's autobiography, Chronicles Vol. 1, purportedly the first part of a three-part series, was published in October 2004

It contained just two of Dylan's original songs including "Song to Woody."

The outburst at Newport was reminiscent of a similar event in music history: At the premiere of Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring," on May 29, 1913, at the Theatre des Champs-Elysses, the Paris audience booed and applauded Stravinsky's pioneering score at the same time drowning out the sound of the orchestra. (Shelton 303)

Bob Dylan

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

Hentoff, Nat. "Liner Notes for 'The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" Bob Dylan.com. 1964. May 12, 2005. http://bobdylan.com/linernotes/freewheelin.html

Shelton, Robert. "No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob Dylan." Ballantine Books: New York, 1986

Wilentz, Sean. "Liner Notes -- Live 1964 at Philharmonic Hall." December 2003. May 12, 2005. http://bobdylan.com/linernotes/live1964.html

From the song it's All right Ma (I'm only Bleeding) from the album "Bringing it All Back home" (1965)
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Musical Genres. The Research Includes
Words: 2139 Length: 6 Document Type: Term Paper

" (Blow, Kurtis) The entire movement revolved around a new way to dress, dance, talk and even walk. "The way they danced, dressed, walked, and talked was unique, as opposed to most of the disco artists and fans of the time, which were not as in touch with the urban streets of America." (Blow, Kurtis) Hip-hop represented the new generation of blacks suffering in urban poverty. The passion and truth generated

American Musical Genres: Rhythm and Blues Rhythm
Words: 865 Length: 3 Document Type: Research Paper

American Musical Genres: Rhythm and Blues Rhythm and Blues, or R&B, is an American musical genre largely attributed to the African-American community. Originating in the 1940s, the term was first used by record companies to describe recordings "marketed predominantly to urban African-Americans," at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz-based music with a heavy, insistent beat" was becoming increasingly popular (Palmer 5). Though the genre has evolved dramatically since its inception, certain

Musicals Show Boat the Musical
Words: 627 Length: 2 Document Type: Term Paper

While this was progressive for its age, the current opinion is generally that references such as the word "nigger" in the lyrics of the play make it unsuitable for current tastes. The show does however remain important in its pioneering of the new form of musical drama. Oklahoma Like Show Boat, Oklahoma! was a pioneer of the musical in its time. This 1943 production was the first musical play created by

Musical Film Reviews Seven Bride
Words: 596 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Review: Chicago (2002) The long-running and successful theatre piece Chicago was moved to the big screen in 2002 with a lavish and high-budget production that indulged in the work's color, flash and musical excess. This would widely be considered one of the most successful film adaptations of a stage musical to yet be released. Indeed, it would receive wide critical acclaim, winning the Best Picture Oscar that year and experiencing considerable

Genre: The Conventions of Connection by Leo
Words: 1218 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

Genre: The Conventions of Connection" by Leo Braudy is a bold and well-written article which acknowledges how too often in film theory and criticism, genre films are dismissed as fluff and all-together one-dimensional pieces of art. Braudy makes a strong case for genre films explaining how they actually represent intricate subversions or indictments of reality and he uses specific examples from westerns or musicals to support his case. Braudy acknowledges that

Genre Analysis Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Words: 887 Length: 3 Document Type: Film Review

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind The genre of a movie is the label that is supposed to be applied to that film. For example, a mystery movie is labeled in that genre because it has certain characteristics which fit in with what comes to mind with the word "mystery." Genre labels are also applied to comedies, dramas, musicals, horror films, and children's movies. Some movies however do not fit neatly

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now