Poll: Bob Dylan - Talentless Hack?

[Pr0]

I find it somewhat amusing in a world where the Kardashians have a TV show, that anyone could even consider Bob Dylan over rated.

Next people will want you to believe John Lennon was a talentless hack.

Oh how the passage of time mistreats those that are truly our betters. Its sad, really.

Now to compare, while I have all the respect in the world for Skrillex/Klaypex/Flux Pavilion and what not I will simply put forth one qualifying factor.

Even if every word Bob Dylan made no sense at all, he placed those words to music that he, himself, wrote, and played...physically, on an instrument.

I don't hate dubstep or any kind of music (except, perhaps, generic contemporary country music, which is effectively propaganda for the weak minded), but lets be fair, even if Bob Dylan was a talentless hack, the man could strum chords while singing...which isn't easy, if you've tried it and don't have a natural gift for it.

Bob Dylan was a bard. Johnny Cash was a bard...there are very few bards left in our culture, we should revere the few that we get, because the rest of what we're getting is regurgitated crap built off pre-licensed music bought from composers that have nothing to do with the end product (i.e. Everything that YMCMB is doing).

 

[Snake Plissken]

A lot of people say the same things about Kris Kristofferson, but it was never about how "good" they were. They were the best damn songwriters of their generations.

 

[MrGalactus]

eh?..whats the thing here?

its Bob Dylan..I mean what do you want me to say? I;m not a fan but people like him...personally I fele like a pretentious twat at the Idea of listening to him...

I have a real aversion to music elitism

y...you have an aversion to elitism, but you think people who listen to Bob Dylan are pretentious? Interesting.

OT: I like Bob Dylan quite a bit. People say they hate his voice, but I have no problem with it. That being said, I have little room to talk. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsoAfiqOmdA]

 

[Sh1nobu]

its Bob Dylan..I mean what do you want me to say? I;It's not really the music that's elitist, it's Dylan himself. He Doesn't think anyone's written good music/songs since the eighties. His songs are rather down to earth, at least they used to be.

To be honest, he's halfway right. I find hard pressed to find good music that has been mildly popular and was produced after 2000. There are of course certain exeptions, but I just can't enjoy the pop music of today.

Can't see why he'd whine about the 90's tho. We had Beastie Boys, Nirvana, Guns n' Roses, Pixies and Eric Clapton. And this is only a beginning of a list of people who made it to top-10 lists.

Captcha: happy retirement, I guess that's what the good music is doing.

Sorry if I sound like an elitist jerk, I'd only be glad if someone proved me wrong.

 

[Vault101]

]It's not really the music that's elitist, it's Dylan himself. He Doesn't think anyone's written good music/songs since the eighties. His songs are rather down to earth, at least they used to be

huh?..I can imagine his fans being like that...but dylan himself was like that? (wait..is he still alive?)

didn't he at some point at a concernt playing his new "rock and roll" sound (the song rolling stone I think) and people didnt like it...and he pretty mcuh said "F you I'm playing what I want" or somthing

How is listening to Bob Dylan elitist or pretentious exactly?
.

its not, I'm just funny like that

ever since I started developing my taste in music... more obscure stuff and from genres that are kind of loathed by some (rap and electronic) It sort of undid alot of the musical "truths" I just assumed were true when I was a kid

like the song "Piano man" by billy joal I used to really like...but now I can't stand it because I associate it with music elitism

still friggen love "only the good die young" though

 

[Vault101]

Sorry if I sound like an elitist jerk, I'd only be glad if someone proved me wrong.

he's not right...that depends entirely on your taste in music

hmmmmmm

you know I think I've heard someone say that before

in all seriousness you jsut have to know what your looking for and where to find it...(hint: its not in the charts)

plus lets not forget the time filter effect

 

[mooncalf]

On the one hand> Bob Dylan is a classic, which isn't a measure of skill or talent but a measure of impact and recognition. I love many of his songs and he has influenced a great many other fine artists to a large degree. Love me some Blind Willie McTell.
On the other hand> A few years ago (so quite late in his career) I got to see him live and was left feeling lukewarm and disappointed at a set that seemed thoroughly professional and yet strangely detatched and flat.

There are many music listeners out there who understandably do not like a rough/scratchy/unrefined voice. Music is what you like so I'd hardly disagree with them, yet calling someone a 'talentless hack' just sounds like someone spitting venom, it doesn't invite discussion, it's a dismissal.

 

[Vault101]

y...you have an aversion to elitism, but you think people who listen to Bob Dylan are pretentious? Interesting.

OT: I like Bob Dylan quite a bit. People say they hate his voice, but I have no problem with it. That being said, I have little room to talk. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsoAfiqOmdA]

I probably didnt explain that very well

its just me....copy and paste my explanation:

ever since I started developing my taste in music... more obscure stuff and from genres that are kind of loathed by some (rap and electronic) It sort of undid alot of the musical "truths" I just assumed were true when I was a kid

like the song "Piano man" by billy joal I used to really like...but now I can't stand it because I associate it with music elitism

still friggen love "only the good die young" though

 

[Icehearted]

Didn't vote, didn't see an option that suited my thoughts very well. It's actually funny this thread even came up because I was thinking about exactly this yesterday. Dylan makes some great music, and his singing suits some of it, but in more cases I feel he's a much better lyricist than singer. Jeff Healey and Jimi Hendrix made some covers distinctly their own, for example.

Good musician/singer, excellent songwriter.

 

[the doom cannon]

Dylan's strength lay in his ability to convey a message through song. Not just some story, but a real message about the world he lived in. I was not alive when he was doing his thing, so I cannot understand exactly what those messages were or what they were created for. However, I do understand that while he was unskilled in some major areas (musical ability, singing) he was still able to strongly convey his message to the masses and was/is loved for it. As a side note to the skrillex and other dubstep/dnb/whatever comments, it's just a different kind of music that requires different kinds of skills. Kinda like ppl who thought rock is noise and real music was played by an orchestra or band (big band, not the current definition).

 

[MrGalactus]

y...you have an aversion to elitism, but you think people who listen to Bob Dylan are pretentious? Interesting.

OT: I like Bob Dylan quite a bit. People say they hate his voice, but I have no problem with it. That being said, I have little room to talk. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsoAfiqOmdA]

I probably didnt explain that very well

its just me....copy and paste my explanation:

ever since I started developing my taste in music... more obscure stuff and from genres that are kind of loathed by some (rap and electronic) It sort of undid alot of the musical "truths" I just assumed were true when I was a kid

like the song "Piano man" by billy joal I used to really like...but now I can't stand it because I associate it with music elitism

still friggen love "only the good die young" though

Ah, ok, you mean stuff that you were brought up to assume were good just because they're supposed to be, you associate with the kind of people who happen to be musical elitists? I think I get it. There are people do think their tastes are "better" than other peoples just because what they listen to is widely considered classic or revolutionary or whatever.

 

[TheEndlessGrey]

I put him in the same column as The Rolling Stones, where it depends on the song. Overall I wouldn't call myself a fan, because I wouldn't want to spend a day listening my way through his catalog, but there are cases where his lyrics really capture the time in which they were written. The more folksy vibe to the music is not really my style, but I respect him as an artist.

 

[DustyDrB]

Absolutely not. He's a fantastic folk artist. His voice is part of his charm, like a lot of folk singers. I actually tend to prefer rougher, imperfect voices most of the time. There are exceptions, of course. But I find those qualities make the songs feel more human to me. Or something like that. It's hard to explain.

What irks me is when someone tries to sing Bob Dylan songs in the American Idol style.

Spoiler

I like soul music. Al Green [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsU6_eSG4k4], Marvin Gaye [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57Ykv1D0qEE], Bill Withers [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVy5yOs0NSA], and the like are great (and obvious exceptions to my vocal preferences). But melismas do not belong in a Bob Dylan song. It's enough to make me want to stab someone. You're doing it wrong!

Spoiler: Speaking of Dylan covers that make me want to stab someone...

But yeah, with like 300 of his songs on my iPod, I'd say I'm a fan of Dylan's. I even loved his last few albums.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

He's okay. I like his music when it's being performed by other people, so at the least he's rather influential. Plus he's definitely something of a modern poet with his lyrics. "Overrated" might be a bit steep. He's popular because he does what he does well - deep, well-written folk music. He's no Simon and Garfunkel, but without him there'd be no Jimmy Hendrix cover of All Along the Watchtower, so I'm inclined to like the guy, even if I'm not a fan of the genre.

 

[DustyDrB]

like the song "Piano man" by billy joal I used to really like...but now I can't stand it because I associate it with music elitism

That is weird. Billy Joel is sort of the male version of Celine Dion. It's not cool to listen to him. It's actually extremely uncool. Just pointing that out. I actually like "Piano Man"...and "Always a Woman".


[sub][sub][sub][sub]And some Rod Stewart songs...[/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub]

 

[Sh1nobu]

Spoiler

But melismas do not belong in a Bob Dylan song. It's enough to make me want to stab someone. You're doing it wrong!

Slow it down 2X, add rythmical pauses, make the voice raspyer, make the piano music much more simplistic and not completely take all the soul out of the fucking chorus with the horrible voice and overly-complicated instrumentals and you'd actually have a listenable cover.

Now that I look back on it, this would make it a Jazz cover, not an Idol cover. Huh.

Actually kind of like this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwo3keRf38E