Ah, love. That fickle foe. And when mixed with the idea of celebrity? Watch out. By the mid-1960s perhaps no one knew this dynamic better than the Duluth, Minnesota-born songwriter, Bob Dylan. Known by many as the greatest songwriter of his generation—even “the voice” of his generation—Dylan took his brand of folk music to a different level in the middle of the decade.
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But why? And what were the results? Let’s dive in below. But if you’d like a clue, here’s one: beware of mob mentality!
1962
As a young man, Bob Dylan (born Robert Zimmerman) fell in love with folk music. That love took him across the country to New York City, where he became a staple of the Greenwich Village folk community. He released his debut LP, Bob Dylan, in 1962, which included mostly acoustic covers and a couple of originals.
Dylan released three albums over the next two years, all of which were beloved. He was thought of as the poet-voice of his generation thanks to songs like “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are a-Changin’.”
1965
But what was once so good, soon became perhaps too predictable for Dylan. He no longer wanted to be known as an acoustic folk artist, didn’t want to be pigeonholed into something so limiting. So, what did he do? He made a musical statement in 1965.
That year, Dylan released the record, Bringing It All Back Home, the first side that features electrified rock songs like “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” which is famous today for its proto-music video. The second half of the record includes more music the public was used to, acoustic tracks like “Mr. Tambourine Man.”
Newport Folk Festival
Also in 1965, Dylan went to the Newport Folk Festival. He was a favorite of the show, having previously performed in 1963 and 1964, singing folk songs he’d written like “Blowin’ in the Wind” with folk royalty, Joan Baez.
But at the 1965 festival, Dylan plugged in and performed electric rock music. The horror! The festival took place a mere five days (July 20 and July 25) after Dylan had formally released his newest single, “Like A Rolling Stone.” So, naturally, he played it at the fest. Earlier, he’d played a few acoustic songs in some smaller settings, but on a Saturday night at the festival, he made the impromptu choice to plug and play.
According to one person on hand, as documented in the 2001 Howard Sounes book, Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan, Dylan said, “Well, fuck them if they think they can keep electricity out of here, I’ll do it. On a whim, he said he wanted to play electric.”
According to documentary footage from the festival, Dylan was met with both boos and cheers as he began his now-classic hit, “Maggie’s Farm” and then as he went into “Like a Rolling Stone.”
Dylan and his band cut the set short and left the stage to boos and applause. When the night’s host, Peter Yarrow, took the mic, he pleaded with Dylan to come back. When Dylan came back to the stage he said, “What are you doing to me?” to Yarrow but then said he’d play a bit more.
Needing an E harmonica, Yarrow asked the crowd. Then a barrage of mouth harps hit the stage. Dylan performed “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue” for the rabid-hippie crowd—truly, it was all over. Dylan wouldn’t play the Fest again for 37 years. (He played in 2002, wearing a wig and a fake beard.)
Some say the boos Dylan heard that night were not from the crowd booing his music, but rather the poor sound quality on hand. Folk icon Pete Seeger didn’t like what he heard, and also blamed sound quality, saying in the 2005 Dylan doc, No Direction Home, “Get that distortion out of his voice … It’s terrible. If I had an axe, I’d chop the microphone cable right now.”
1966
Newport wasn’t the last of Dylan’s class with boos. One concert in particular, which is also documented in No Direction Home, shows Dylan with his band in Manchester, England.
During that show, during a quiet interlude, someone in the crowd shouts, “Judas!” at Dylan, indicating how he turned his back on his fans—i.e. the ones who loved his acoustic stuff. This brought laughs and applause. And then Dylan replies to the shout, saying, “I don’t believe you, you’re a liar,” and the band goes into “Like a Rolling Stone.”
2013
In 2013, the guitar Dylan played at the Newport Folks Festival sold for $965,000. You can’t boo that.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
