February 25, 1998
Radio City Music Hall
New York, New York
Videos by American Songwriter
Bob Dylan always seems to find himself at the center of odd situations. Why would his appearance at the 40th Annual Grammy Awards be any different? The strangest thing about the incident was that no one knew if it was by design. To many of the estimated 20 million viewers, it appeared to be a planned, albeit odd, dancer who appeared next to the celebrated folk singer for just over a half-minute.
The Performance
Grammy host Kelsey Grammer introduced the Best Male Rock Performance and Best Contemporary Folk Album Grammy winner. (Dylan’s Time Out of Mind would win the Album of the Year award later in the broadcast.)
Dylan and his band began the song “Love Sick,” surrounded by roughly 40 extras dressed in black. They all were subdued and just appeared to be watching the performance. The band was focused and tight. The re-emergence of Dylan was noticeable over the previous few years. He worked with producer Daniel Lanois, who helped the singer refocus his vision, and the Never Ending Tour was getting rave reviews. Dylan snarled the words while the band was performing the moody song. One of the extras was about to participate a little more than the rest.
I see, I see lovers in the meadow
I see, I see silhouettes in the window
I’ll watch them ’til they’re gone
And they leave me hangin’ on
To a shadow
Just as Dylan sang leave me hanging’ on, a shirtless man burst onto the stage from the rear. Dylan does the smallest of double takes as the man flails his arms mere inches away. Watching it now, it is apparent that the show’s director is not sure if this is supposed to be part of the show. Dylan and the band carry on. Dylan continues singing, seemingly avoiding looking at the dancer. After about 30 seconds of it, you can see at least two security members run on stage. By this time, the cameras are avoiding the dancer. You can feel the tension in the entire band release as he is removed from the stage. Dylan goes into the guitar solo, and bassist Tony Garnier, guitarist Larry Campbell, and steel guitarist Bucky Baxter smile at each other. The music reflects the lightness of the situation being handled. Everything is back to normal as they finish the song.
Soy Bomb
The unidentified dancer turned out to be a performance artist named Michael Portnoy. He had the words “SOY BOMB” on his chest as he flailed around the stage. He had been cast as one of the extras by Dylan’s people.
In an interview with Billboard, Portnoy said, “The casting director put us through a rigorous series of auditions where we were tested on our ability to sway arrhythmically to the beat. We were instructed, and this is a direct quote, “to give Bob a good vibe.” If you watch us in the background, you can see how liberally this was interpreted.”
But what about the words painted on his chest? Portnoy saw it as a two-word poem.
In 2018, Portnoy told the Hollywood Reporter, “Soy represents dense nutritional life. Bomb is obviously an explosive destructive force. So Soy Bomb is what I think art should be. Dense, transformational, explosive life.”
Relational Stalinism
Portnoy explains his comedy as a form of relational aesthetics that works against “the fashionable promise that an artwork might offer a democratic magic, transforming interrelation codes into something nicer.” This breed of absurdist dictatorial interaction with participants is a clarification of the artist’s imperious role as producer and performer. This is Relational Stalinism.
Later that Night
Sheryl Crow, John Fogerty, and Usher presented the Album of the Year award. Lanois and Dylan accepted the award, and Dylan thanked the record label and the musicians.
He added, “I just wanted to say that one time, when I was about 16 or 17 years old, I went to see Buddy Holly play at the Duluth National Guard Armory, and I was about three feet away from him, and he looked at me. I just have some kind of feeling that he was, uh, I don’t know how or why, but I know he was with us all the time we were making this record in some kind of way. In the words of the immortal Robert Johnson, ‘the stuff we got’ll bust your brains out,’ and we tried to get that across.”
The Reaction
Trisha Yearwood, who was in the audience, said, “I am just seeing it and thinking, ‘What is happening?’ I’ve met Bob Dylan, but I don’t think this is part of his thing. I don’t think this is his guy.”
Shawn Colvin said, “Nobody knew what soy bomb meant. Am I the bomb? Is that what this means?”
Paula Cole had a different take, “I kind of appreciated the soy bomb. I thought it was rebellious and fun. Nobody understood what the hell it meant. That was probably more authentic than all those trendy youngsters dancing.”
The Grammy Awards used the incident to their advantage the following year, billing the 41st annual show as “Wild and Unpredictable.” Saturday Night Live and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno spoofed the event.
Virgin Records founder Sir Richard Branson paid Portnoy to appear during his speech to record executives. Portnoy burst onstage, again shirtless.
He had the words “So Y Virgin?” on his chest.
Branson lifted his shirt to reveal, “Y Not?”
Portnoy said, “It was such a perfect format to do something inscrutable. To inject some confusion into the mainframe. It felt like I couldn’t get on that stage and not do something else. And at that point in my life, I was working as a comedian. It was almost like telling a joke with my body. … Soy Bomb was intended to be a simple poem, but my arms stole all the attention.”
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Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images
