Most people think of Bob Dylan as a folk musician but he
had a tremendous influence on the history of rock music. He was born in 1941
in Duluth, Minnesota. He grew up listening to country music before
discovering rock in the 1950s. That lead in turn to blues and folk music;
specifically the songs of Woody Guthrie ( Guthrie wrote "This Land is Your
Land"). The first major turning point in
his life came in 1961 when he went to visit Guthrie, who was dying of a
hereditary degenerative disease called Huntington's Chorea at a hospital in New
Jersey. Guthrie's songs were a combination of poetry and political activism
and Dylan idolized him. The next couple of years were spent bouncing around
coffeehouses in New York City's Greenwich Village. It was there that Dylan
began to craft songs that were unlike anything else anyone was writing. He
was "discovered" by Columbia Records' John Hammond and he released his first
album in 1962. The following year, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan came
out featuring several social protest songs including "Blowin' in the Wind,"
"Master of War,"
and "A Hard Rain's A -Gonna Fall." By 1964, Dylan had become one
of America's pre-eminent musicians. His music was often simple but the
lyrics could be profound (listen to "The Times They Are A Changin'").
In 1965 Dylan turned the folk scene upside down when he appeared at the
Newport Folk Festival backed by an electric band. To traditionalists, he had
betrayed his heritage but others saw him as a pioneer. His appearance at
Newport launched the genre known as folk-rock and among the groups he
inspired were Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds, and Crosby, Stills, and Nash.
In the late 1960s Dylan dabbled in country music (Nashville
Skyline) and a decade later, following a serious motorcycle accident, he
came out with Slow Train Coming. This album, with songs like "Gotta
Serve Somebody," revealed a strong Christian faith.
Although Dylan has never had a #1 single, several of his albums did reach #1
on the charts. These included Planet Waves (1974), Blood on the
Tracks (1975), and Desire (1976).
