3 Times Bob Dylan Sparked Controversy in His Own Career

Compared to his hard rock contemporaries, Bob Dylan has more or less scooted past controversy throughout his career. However, that doesn’t mean he didn’t have a controversial moment or two through the years, the most famous of which was pretty unfair to the “Like A Rolling Stone” hitmaker. Let’s take a look at a few of Bob Dylan’s most controversial moments!

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1. The Electric Dylan Controversy

Well, this is it. The one big Bob Dylan controversy. He had the audacity to play the electric guitar. Can you believe it?

In 1965, Bob Dylan decided to start recording and performing with an electric guitar and other electric instruments. He was so well-known for American folk music that his fans, contemporaries, and fellow Greenwich protest songwriters weren’t happy about the choice. When he famously performed at Newport Folk Festival with electric instruments, he was booed off stage.

Luckily, that didn’t stop him from doing what Bob Dylan does best: Whatever the heck he wanted. Fortunately, critics, music historians, and fans today look back at the controversy as undeserved. Especially considering how incredible his music was during that period. Dylan really was a pioneer of folk rock.

2. Sympathizing with Lee Harvey Oswald

This is an odd one, but Bob Dylan has always been a bit of an odd guy. While receiving an award years back for Dylan’s work as an activist, he took to the stage, slightly drunk, and boldly proclaimed that he saw a bit of himself in John F. Kennedy’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. Keep in mind that this debacle happened mere weeks after Kennedy was killed.

“When I spoke of Lee Oswald, I was speakin’ of the times, I was not speakin’ of his deed if it was his deed,” Dylan explained in a public statement after the incident. “The deed speaks for itself but I am sick, so sick at hearin’ ‘we all share the blame’ for every church bombing, gun battle, mine disaster, poverty explosion, an’ president killing that comes about.”

3. That Lenny Bruce Song

This Bob Dylan controversy, like the rest of them, is a bit weird. Dylan didn’t often pen tributes to real-world people, outside of that famous John Lennon song and a few others. However, he did write a very direct tribute to controversial comedian Lenny Bruce.

For those that aren’t familiar, Lenny Bruce was a comedian who died quite young at 40 in 1966. Bruce was known for his observational humor, which often bordered on offensive, sexual, and taboo topics. He was also, sadly, an avid drug user, which contributed to his death.

Dylan wrote a song for Bruce on his 1981 record Shot Of Love, and some fans were “disappointed” that he would pen a whole ode to someone who criticized organized religion, considering how religious Dylan was for a hot minute.

Photo by Stanley Bielecki/ASP/Getty Images

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