Dylan is Mt. Everest among rolling hills. Detractors roam around the bottom of the mountain saying, "I don't get it, there's nothing special here." But look up, man, look up.
The top is so high it disappears into the clouds.
Dylan is Mt. Everest among rolling hills. Detractors roam around the bottom of the mountain saying, "I don't get it, there's nothing special here." But look up, man, look up.
The top is so high it disappears into the clouds.
Bob Dylan is proof that the American Indian & Buffalo did indeed mate.
fdsfdf wrote:
thats the truth.
If Dylan's not your bag man, thats cool man, but like you need to see the whole picture man. For me Dylan's far out, like totally out there, man. He speaks my kind of truth, which may not be your truth.
moral of the story: you shouldn't make sweeping generalizations on topics like music, which is obviously an area subjective taste.
I'm not sure if that's what you were doing with your post, but this certaintly applies to the self loathing white guy (a perspective I fully understand).
Great songwriter, crappy singer.
I agree. I went through a minor Dylan phase where I bought a few of his albums. Every time I made a compilation it always had to have one of his songs on it. Then one day I just got sick of listening to his stuff. He did write some pretty good songs and I still put stick in 'Blonde on Blonde' once in a while.
good stuff in the 1960s. as stand-alone poetry, it sucks. but what makes him the most overrated is that his fans say, as on an NPR show Thursday, that he "deserves the Nobel Prize in Literature" (this was the historian Douglas Brinkley!) or even the "Nobel Peace Prize."
Artists with better music than Bob Dylan (in no particular order) and specific songs for examples:
Breaking Benjamin ("So Cold," "The Diary of Jane," "Evil Angel")
Anberlin ("Haight St.," "Feel Good Drag")
O.A.R. ("Love and Memories," "Coalminer," "Hey Girl")
Barenaked Ladies ("Down to Earth," "Never is Enough," "Another Postcard")
NIN ("Discipline," "The Great Destroyer")
The Decemberists ("The Crane Wife, Pts. 1 & 2," "The Crane Wife, Pt. 3")
Red Hot Chili Peppers (Snow [Hey Oh])
David Bisbal ("Ave Maria")
Stevie Wonder ("Superstition")
Tom Petty ("Free Fallin'")
Dave Matthews ("American Baby," "You Might Die Trying")
Matchbox 20 ("Unwell")
Dispatch ("The General")
The Lonely Island ("I'm On A Boat," "We Like Sportz")
Sean Paul ("Temperature"--esp. during ice baths)
Cake ("I Bombed Korea," "No Phone")
Metro Station ("Shake It")
...and the list goes on. Feel free to disagree, but remember that this is just my opinion.
He didn't just write and sing a bunch of songs. Nobody will ever influence music the way Dylan has. Not even close.
No, most overrated would be Prince. Or Eminem. Or Lenny Kratitz
fdsfdf wrote:
thats the truth.
You are correct. His success is due to behind the scenes machinations tied in with political changes at the time led by a certain lobby that hides behind calling everyone else racist and intolerant. The most disappointing thing about Dylan is the fact that there are many song writers and lyricists who actually wrote many of the tunes Dylan is credited with. Same as the situation in Hollywood where some big name screenwriters are actually just fronts for groups of people - take Ronald Bass and Nora Ephron for instance - who of course claimed they had "assistants" in their offices, but they do the writing themselves. No, they don't. But that's the entertainment industry. The actual writers, the people writing Dylan's work and the works of others, do this in the hopes of an "in" to the industry, which some do get. Dylan was nothing more than a publicity creation with a team of people that kept the illusion going. He is one of the biggest frauds of all time. Most people keep quiet because they know which side their bagel is buttered on. Yeah, the usual sissy responses to truth will show up, but that's because the truth is hard to handle.
Wow. I heard a lot of that stuff when I worked at WB. It's true but if you talk about it you'll be blackballed.
traveler wrote:
No, most overrated would be Prince. Or Eminem. Or Lenny Kratitz
No, Dylan had far more publicity in his career than those pieces of crud although he was just as talentless. It's the "fellow travelers" with an agenda who keep his legend going.
dylan had a team of writers in the early days of his folk career? Dame un Break. He sucked in the 70s and 80s when he may very well have had those writers. and another person with the list of mediocre songs and bad bands?? Not exactly any 'All Along the Watchtower' or 'Like a Rolling Stone' on that list. Let's just recognize that the man is no genius, but by the standards of pop songs, he stands above most.
by the way, I agree that Prince and Eminem are vastly overrated, but while Prince generated untold numbers of hits for himself and others in the 1980s and 1990s, Eminem's lyrics are mind-numbingly stupid, as I saw in watching some of 8 Mile again the other day.
pics or it didn't happen.
Zimmerman is Overrated wrote:
fdsfdf wrote:thats the truth.
You are correct. His success is due to behind the scenes machinations tied in with political changes at the time led by a certain lobby that hides behind calling everyone else racist and intolerant. The most disappointing thing about Dylan is the fact that there are many song writers and lyricists who actually wrote many of the tunes Dylan is credited with. Same as the situation in Hollywood where some big name screenwriters are actually just fronts for groups of people - take Ronald Bass and Nora Ephron for instance - who of course claimed they had "assistants" in their offices, but they do the writing themselves. No, they don't. But that's the entertainment industry. The actual writers, the people writing Dylan's work and the works of others, do this in the hopes of an "in" to the industry, which some do get. Dylan was nothing more than a publicity creation with a team of people that kept the illusion going. He is one of the biggest frauds of all time. Most people keep quiet because they know which side their bagel is buttered on. Yeah, the usual sissy responses to truth will show up, but that's because the truth is hard to handle.
we could say the samething about Jimmy Buffet! Great song writer and story teller, but a very bad singer.
Bob Dylan wrote amazing lyrics, sang and presented them well.
However he was a horrible example as a person, always with a cig stuck up his nose, like the broken off shaft of a crutch, and look at him now. He's a wreck. There were always problems with Dylan and he was no one to emulate.
Joan Baez, however, has my upmost respect.
She continues to be an amazing singer, and a beautiful person as well.
here is a paritanlist of artists from my music library tjat are better than Bob Dylan.
A-Z
Air
Aphex Twin
Basement Jaxx
The Beatles
Brian Eno
Can
Chemical Brothers
The Clash
The Cure
Daft Punk
David Bowie
David Byrne
Depeche Mode
DJ Shadow
The Doors
Fela Kuti
Flaming Lips
Frankie Knuckles
Funkadelic
Genesis
Herbie Hancock
Iggy Pop/Iggy and the Stooges
James Brown
Jamiroquai
John Coltrane
Johnny Cash
Joy Division
King Crimson
Kraftwerk
Led Zeppelin
Lou Reed
Madonna
Massive Attack
Miles Davis
Moby
Morrissey
MSTRKRFT
My Bloody Valentine
New Order
NINE INCH NAILS
Parliament
Primal Scream
Prince
The Prodigy
Radiohead
Rage Against the Machine
The Rolling Stones
The Roots
Sigur Ros
Smashing Pumpkins
The Smiths
The Stone Roses
Talking Heads
Thievery Corporation
Tom Yorke
Unkle
The Velvet Underground
sorry about those typos
Funkadelic?
That's hysterical!
The issue is not who is better, but who is overrated. I think Dylan is rightly rated as a great songwriter, competent musician, and lousy singer.