Poll: Bob Dylan - Talentless Hack?

[LetalisK]

Holy shit, I'm seeing way more hate coming from Dylan fans than going at Dylan. I'm slightly unsettled now.

 

[Sinclair Solutions]

I even disagree with the "Bob's voice sucks" claim. I think he sounds great. Granted, nowadays not so much, but I just don't really care for his new albums in general (though I understand that a lot of people like them). Early folk music Bob had one of the most influential vocals of all time, intentionally sounding like a three hundred year old man singing three hundred year old folk tunes. When people covered these songs in "normal" voices, they became straight up pop hits, but I doubt they ever would have gotten as popular if originally performed that way. People copy that style a lot and for good reason. It makes it seem more relevant and spine tingly, like a well kept secret.

Then when he switch to electric, his voice went to a bitter rock snarl, again copied and reused like crazy. "Like a Rolling Stone" is one of the biggest hits of all time. Then there's soothing crooning country Bob that sound nothing like anything else he does, more proof that the way he sounds on a given day is 100% an artistic choice. "Lay Lady Lay" is eerily beautiful. Then when that was over, he went to a more balanced gruff voice (this one was my favorite) that amounted to "normal" on-key singing, just a little huskier and scratchier. The vocals on New Morning, Desire, and Blood on the Tracks are good by any standard in my opinion.

I must admit I'm not much of a fan of his new stuff, but the song "Things Have Changed" is really good, and I think his voice really works here. The song has a very western, cowboy vibe to it (that maybe because of the video posted here), but the tired, gravelly voice works perfectly with the western feel of the music.

Video Here: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/454086

 

[Wayneguard]

Spoiler: pictured: musicality

Let's see Bob Dylan do that with his stupid harmonica.

 

[Olas]

I'm not into his work, but that doesn't make him bad.

 

[Weaver]

I feel he's lyrically impressive; he just has bad tone in his singing voice

 

[anthony87]

.......Who?

Joking....surely you're joking.......

 

[ImperialSunlight]

I don't think he's a particularly talented singer, but some of the songs he wrote are quite good, particularly when covered by other artists. So whatever, a bit overrated, perhaps. But "a talentless hack"? That's a bit crazy, especially coming from people who likely don't have much musical talent themselves.

 

[Luca72]

Today we have a whole range of Dylan "periods" to go through, and I think his talent fluctuates really wildly. His Christian revival stuff seems off to me, and he hasn't done anything really phenomenal in years. But Bringing it All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde on Blonde are some of my favorite albums ever.

I honestly don't care how well someone can sing, as long as they're feeling it. Think about Glee - sure, those guys all have vocal talent, but who cares? It's just flashy karaoke. Bob Dylan actually seemed passionate about his subjects.

His early folk stuff is good, but it's not my cup of tea. He was like 19 or 20, and I get the feeling he's trying to emulate the world-weary folk singer sound of people like Woodie Guthrie. Still, some of it was good.

I can't think of any other songwriter who ever produced that many songs that I love (maybe Jimi Hendrix or Tom Waits, hard to say). Not bad for a skinny kid with goofy hair and a harmonica holder.

 

[DoomyMcDoom]

I always find that anyone calling a popular musician a talentless hack either doesn't like the style, and would call anyone else remotely similiar the same, or someone who likes to use technicalities to puff themselves up as an edgy critic in the eyes of others.

Music is art, art is the expression of the artist in raw form, or should be anyhow, if you don't like it, but someone else does, it just means that it resonates differently with different personalities... now the music "industry" is a bit different, that's al about selling mass produced product, but for the most part they are artists, and it is art, it's just the art of the sale rather than a release of one's soul into a form to be experienced by others...

Really, it's all perspective, and having lyrics that people can relate to just means your music will likely be more popular... That's what Dylan had, relatable lyrics, and decent enough musical skill to put them to music, or music to them.

 

[Dr Jones]

I'm surprised that guy with the Bob Dylan avatar isn't here yet.

Talking about me? I am in Morocco on vacation currently, running on pre-paid 3G net, so the little sites this device can actually read, still makes me wait 6 minutes for it to load. Nevertheless, I did see the title thread and thought "My, oh my, OP is gonna be in a heap of trouble! But nah, seems most people dig him here, so I am content . (Also, if you are thinking of some other Bob Dylan avatared fella, this is super-awkward).

Anyhow, OT:
Anyone claiming Bob Dylan is a great singer is wrong. Anyone claiming he is even a good singer might even be wrong. The appeal of Bob Dylan has never been his voice, he knows that, we know that, everyone knows it. If somehow you go into Dylan expecting to hear an angel voice, you are gonna be sorely dissapointed (for angel voices, go to Joan Baez, seriously, her voice is the polar opposite of Bob's, in terms of skill, which makes for some VERY interesting covers). I remember on Memebase once, my sibling showed me a rather funny "Scumbag Dylan" picture (Bob with "Scumbag Steve" cap on his head, with the text "Convinces people Folk can change the world. Goes Electric") The picture was very amusing, but the comments sections was just filled with the most ignorant people... Jeez.. All of them went "OMFG HE IS SO OVERRATED, HE HAS A HORRIBLE FUCKKEN VOICE, BEST SINGER OF LAL TIEM?! LAWL". Look, no one EVER said he had a good voice. I admit that technically his voice is the equivalent of beating a cat up against the wall (though the mid-seventies is some rad-fukken shit in terms of his voice (mostly due to his amf abuse)). The appeal of Bob Dylan is what he stands for, his songwriting, his style. You listen to Bob Dylan not to get a great voice, but a great line. Every line he utters is a poem, every song he writes a psalm.

People who dislike Bob Dylan can GO DIE IN A FUCKING FIRE *cough* *cough* erm.. I ment People who dislike Bob Dylan at the very least have to take their hats off for the guy. He has helped a lot of good causes, he has risen to fame like any other pop-star would, but he was so fucking modest about it too. Seriously, even now Bob is MASSIVELY uncomfortable with recieving any praise. Look at the recent Medal OBAMA gave him, Bob is wearing sunglasses and just frozen, he cant handle that shit (for further viweings of Bob Dylan being modest, watch him in the 1980-coming to Sweden video, where he in the Airport is confronted by a swedish interviewer who states he is "The voice of a generation" to which he replies "says who?" (might not be Swedish, I forget sometimes).

When I said Bob knew it wasn't about his voice, he flat-out said it himself. He said that you should not be afraid of using your voice to sing or recite, no matter how weird it may sound. Oh, that quote just inspired JIMI HENDRIX to take up singing.

All that, and Bob Dylan is still by far the best songwriter in the biz.

WITH ALL THAT SAID AND DONE, GO JOIN THE "BOB DYLAN FANCLUB" ON THE ESCAPIST, YO!

Edit: Poll is fallacious, there is no "Better than Bacon sex" option.

.......Who?

That rock you are living under must be huuuuge, yo...

Holy shit, I'm seeing way more hate coming from Dylan fans than going at Dylan. I'm slightly unsettled now.

We are Bob Dylan fans. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us if you trash Dylan.

His voice is utterly and totally shit, and that's why he's popular. His music is basically reading out a poem that he wrote which makes people focus on his lyrics. His lyrics are good and people focus on them when the listen. Good though his lyrics may be, there are plenty of artists just as good at songwriting and putting meaning into their songs WITHOUT having a crap voice. Bob Dylan sucks, and I think many of his big fans are somewhat pretentious.

WHY YOU LITTLE PIECE OF *** ****** OH I'M GONNA ENJOY ***** YOU ARE ***** ** ******* *cough* *cough* I mean: Bob was never, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER popular for his voice, heh (had to add "heh", as that assumption is so wrong). The only reason Bob could get as big as he did, was because of luck. He happened to just show up at the right time. See, Bob started in the 60'ies, really. A time where young people really didn't care what your voice was like, they cared about your message, what you were saying. Bob just happened to have a set of very good messages (nevermind the fact that he also was a folk-musician, a genre where voice really doesen't make a huge difference). The reason why we love Bob is because he cares about what he sings. I remember one of the comments for "The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll" was "Anyone can sing a Bob Dylan song, but no one can care as much about it as him". I don't dig using this term, but this would be an exception, Bob is just as "real" as you can get. He is modest, he admits he is a song and dance man, he just goes on the stage and does what he wants to do, and frankly, that's a large part of the appeal of him. As I said before, if you go into a Dylan song expecting an angel voice, or even wanting one, you are gonna be sorely disappointing. People who enjoy Dylan do not do it for the technical beauty of his voice.


And claiming that we are "somewhat pretentious" is pretty doucebaggy, man. Me likin' a fella who has a voice that is not angelic or auto-tuned to sound that way makes me pretentious? No, fuck that. That generalization is so massively fucking wrong that my head cannot compute it. I mean.. Are you just sitting and thinking "Bob Dylan fan = Pretentious twat", "Queen fan = Great gal!". In fact, you are almost claiming that liking a singer for something other than his voice is "pretentious"? Or liking his voice if it isn't technically beautiful? What? Do you also claim that Journey was pretentious as shit, for not innovating the graphics scene enough, by making it realistic? Do you think it is pretentious to like Pixar movies, because they arent realistic enough? Or maybe, liking "The Snowman" is pretentious, because it isn't a technical marvel? Because that is kinda the attitude you are bringing up. I may seem pissed, and I sort of am. This is an outright attack on any greater Dylan fan. Though I don't really care about being targeted (because hey, this is the internet, happens ALL THE TIME), I just find that generalization to be so mind boggling... Liking a musician, despite there being a better musician makes you pretentious? Fuck that logic.

 

[zehydra]

I think he can't sing for shit, but he did write a lot of influential music. People need to understand that there are significant differences between ability as a performer, and ability as a songwriter.

The word "musician" is just thrown around without clarification...

 

[Dr Jones]

Don't know about 'talentless' or 'hack' but he certainly became a corporate tool fairly early on.

Wait what? Can you elaborate? Because afaik he only wrote his own music, and did what he wanted to (Though he prolly did get into some commercialistic stuff with Albert Grossman, whom he never really liked).

 

[Sh1nobu]

snip

It's great to see that people are not all mindlessly hating on someone just because he has a raspy voice. I don't know why, but I think he sounds awesome. It's kind-of similar to Axl Rose. I'm like the only person on the planet who likes how he sings. I wish there were more popular singers with unique singing voices.

Oh, I see

My mistake ^^;

but yeah, like every true artist they are misunderstood

btw, the sex pistols were never punk, the lead singer did an advert for butter xD

I've always said "There's no punk music, because for every punk song, there's some guy claiming it's "not punk."" Rough translation, but gets the point across.

 

[Dr Jones]

I mostly keep defending him because he is the only well known famous aspergers sufferer who isn't a nerd, a truly terrifying loser on the internet who drinks his own bodily fluids mixed with sunny d, or a fictitious math obsessive who goes crazy around fire alarms, and quite frankly, we need more of that kind of positive publicity.

Do you have a source? I googled a bit and really want to know if it is true. I mean, it makes sense, Bob always did act a bit weird when in front of too many people (he never did handle praise well). Also, I think I might have believed it too, I mean, it rings a bell, but I must've forgotten. (ALl the links I Found whilst googling were speculations, and I cant really google that much on this here net )

snip

It's great to see that people are not all mindlessly hating on someone just because he has a raspy voice. I don't know why, but I think he sounds awesome. It's kind-of similar to Axl Rose. I'm like the only person on the planet who likes how he sings. I wish there were more popular singers with unique singing voices.

Speaking of Rose... His version of Heaven's Door is TERRIBLE. Made me hate the Dylan version too. I cant go through it without thinking "AIAIAI". (Though this is not a criticism to Guns n Roses, they are pretty graet).

 

[Doclector]

I mostly keep defending him because he is the only well known famous aspergers sufferer who isn't a nerd, a truly terrifying loser on the internet who drinks his own bodily fluids mixed with sunny d, or a fictitious math obsessive who goes crazy around fire alarms, and quite frankly, we need more of that kind of positive publicity.

Do you have a source? I googled a bit and really want to know if it is true. I mean, it makes sense, Bob always did act a bit weird when in front of too many people (he never did handle praise well). Also, I think I might have believed it too, I mean, it rings a bell, but I must've forgotten. (ALl the links I Found whilst googling were speculations, and I cant really google that much on this here net )

Huh. Well, I found out from an anti-discrimination poster at college. Still, like I said, good publicity. I'll take a lie over someone asking me whether I can cheat at blackjack again.

 

[Screamarie]

Well I'm probably pretty biased because I grew up on Bob Dylan (no, I'm not that old, but my parents are and they raised me listening to Bob Dylan, Elton John, The Beatles, Led Zepplin, Don Mclean, Fleetwood Mac, and many, many more).

So yeah, I love Bob Dylan. I think he's a very good lyricist and I actually really like his voice. To me it sounds authentic, like he was trying his damndest to get a message across, it didn't necessarily matter if he was a good singer or not, just as long as he got what he wanted to say out.

But like I said I'm biased, when I hear Bob Dylan and lots of other Golden Oldies I remember my childhood, so I'm almost certain that's coloring my opinion.

 

[Sh1nobu]

I mostly keep defending him because he is the only well known famous aspergers sufferer who isn't a nerd, a truly terrifying loser on the internet who drinks his own bodily fluids mixed with sunny d, or a fictitious math obsessive who goes crazy around fire alarms, and quite frankly, we need more of that kind of positive publicity.

Do you have a source? I googled a bit and really want to know if it is true. I mean, it makes sense, Bob always did act a bit weird when in front of too many people (he never did handle praise well). Also, I think I might have believed it too, I mean, it rings a bell, but I must've forgotten. (ALl the links I Found whilst googling were speculations, and I cant really google that much on this here net )

http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/article_2086.shtml

Also, why most of the stuff is speculation

"Asperger's Syndrome was not included in the World Health Organization's diagnostic manual until 1991, and not in the American Psychiatric Association's manual until 1994."

 

[Sethzard]

I think that he's good at writing lyrics and reasonably good musically, the problem is that he sings like a murdered cat.

 

[Lord Merik]

He is basically my favorite artist. His voice may be ruff but frankly that is what I like about it. His voice feels real like its some guy at a bar belting out all his hurts. And to top it all off his lyrics are deep and poetic. They may be a little dense and impenetrable but that too adds to the charm for me. Its like a puzzle with a few missing pieces and a lego brick. How you interpret it is up to you.