Bob Dylan's folk music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Bob Dylan's folk music - Essay Example This "Bob Dylan's folk music" essay outlines life of talented musician Bob Dylan and his development as an artist. His influence in music cannot be overestimated, he was outstanding in various fields and he significantly developed and expanded the musical scene in the sixties and later years with his innovative daring and liberal ideas. He shattered the notion that for one to be a vocalist, they must have what was traditionally considered a good or refined voice, up to today there are many who have criticized him for his rough voice. Nevertheless, this has not gotten in the way of his success and in any case it has made people listen past the voice to the words which are the real deal, there can be no doubt as to the fact that he radically redefined the vocalist role in popular music. He also ignited several music genres such as electrified folk rock and he is popularly believed to have been the force behind the Beatles introspective songwriting (Varga). Dylan is viewed by many as th e bona fide poet of the rock and roll era and a preeminent songwriter in modern day; he transcends various music genres exploring rock and blues, pop and folk. He has consistently managed to reach out to his fans through profound and sophisticated lyrics with a poetic flare that gives credence to his title of a poet which he, however, does not acknowledge. When Dylan ventured into folk, he was responding to the fact that he believed rock and roll despite its adrenal and pulse rushing effect was not particularly mature or meaningful.; therefore he decided to look for a genre in which his infinite poetic and lyrical depth could be accommodated. His entry in folk and country music radically changed the genre by making it more liberal and democratic; essentially he can be described as having toned down rock and roll giving it maturity and through his topical song writing, psyched up folk music. Consequently it was no longer the music of the middle aged and old timers who were often middle class sophisticates trying to search for authenticity amid the conformity that characterized the American suburban scene in the 50’s. According to Andy Gill (The independent) Dylan rescued folk music from a bunch or bearded guys in cable knit sweaters dreaming about becoming sailors and soldiers and opened it to the young and energetic generation t hat had previously disassociated from the genre preferring rock and roll. One of his most daring and radical changes was the introduction of the electric guitar to folk music, on July 1965, in front of a crowd of 10,000 fans at the Newport folk festival, he surprised them by plugging in a Stratocaster and went electric and this marked the start of a new era(Al Kooper, Gary and Seiji). In the same year he broke through to the pop music audience with his hit single â€Å"like a rolling stone†, which not only catapulted him to the second position on the