At 10:27 AM 2/9/02, you wrote:
>Recently, my 18 year old son posed a simple question to me for which I
>really didn't have an answer, but it did set me to thinking. We were on a
>long car trip during the holidays, and I put on a Dylan tape - Greatest
>Hits I. My son has very good taste in pop music ("Neil Young is the MAN")
>and he appreciates Dylan. But he brought up an interesting point, at
>least to me.
>He asked me why Dylan became "like, so famous". My erudite
>response...Well, just listen to it. Doh!
>
>I guess to a young person Dylan looks like a very unlikely rock star - not
>particularly attractive, strange vocal style, little to no
>personality. Was it right time, right place, right person? Or is there
>more to it? During Dylan's early career I was just a pre-adolescent wee
>thing totally consumed by Beatlemania, so I really don't rememer what
>impact he made back then.
>
>I know that we have many thoughtful, sagacious, and eloquent list members,
>not to mention at least one Bob-o-phile, who must be able to come up with
>a better response. I'm sure there have been many scholarly papers written
>on this very subject, but I'm interested in your ideas.
>
>Sybil
Far from scholarly, but still an idea: There used to be a concept here in
the states called "social consciousness." Because there was no Brittney
Spears then, and the media wasn't completely controlled by right-wing
Christian fundamentalists and their corporate partners, a different mood
settled upon the land through exposure to the phony war machine and Mr.
Dylan sort of tapped into it. That mindset doesn't exist anymore, but he
still does, as do many people who enjoyed him then, and in the subsequent
years. I think the loss of that "social consciousness" is going to be hard
to explain.
Warmest regards,
Nick
