Quote:
Originally Posted by Moon Pix
Theres footage of him being interviewed by journalists and he totally chews them up and spits them out. He basically takes them on in a way I don't think anybody had before and calls into question the whole fame game and the ridiculousness of it nearly 30 years before Kurt Cobain did.
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I think I've seen that footage in Scorsesee's
No Direction Home. He seemed to be more uncomfortable than confrontational to me. I'd like to quote it to see if we're talking about the same thing, but it's been too long so I watched that. I think the guy who started this thread is interested in bands that fall into a subgenre of punk rather than those who might be considered kindred spirits with the great punks. Although in support of your point, he
did establish the possibilty for those who didn't have singing talent by traditional standards to create hit records and be accepted as quality musicians. Because of him, voices can have character...thus we get Bjork, Neil Young, Lou Reed etc... I think another point in support of Dylan being some kind of predecessor to punk is that Lou Reed seemed to take such direct inspiration from him, in terms of vivid, yet surreal imagery of the streets in his songs (although his songs were usually more urban-centric than Dylan's) and the idea that lyrics could be spoken, and it was ok to make stylistic choices that jibed with what was generally accepted (Kind of like Dylan's decision to go electric).
Anyway I'd don't think I'd equate Dylan's music with garage rock, since he populated his back-up bands with utter virtuosos of the blues (Al Kooper, Mike Bloomfield etc...) Though he was influenced by The British R&B and Blues based bands (many of whom were kind of garage in their own right.) Undoubtedly his arrangements (or lack thereof is more like it) are wildly unique. His guitar and voice forms the canvas and the band fills in the gaps, all the sound swirls together, always in weird keys, bluesy but unconventional and you can make a game out of trying to distinguish between all the instruments as they overlap and weave in and out of each other's path. Amazing stuff and I think I'll never get sick of it. Anyway, I guess overall I can definitely see your point with including Dylan here, and though I'm not totally sure I agree, I don't object to the recommendation because everybody who truly likes music should listen to Dylan.