The best way to answer this question would be to play a bunch of songs
from the years immediately preceeding Dylan's emergence on the scene.
Bobby Vinton, Sandra Dee, etc. Even the folk in '61 and '62 ala Kingston
Trio, Limeliters, etc was pretty tame, traditional, and mostly boring.
The biggest reason, of course, was that he was such a monster
songwriter, particularly lyrically, and very prolific.
The third reason was that, with the civil rights movement, the antiwar
movement, and the use of mind-expanding substances, young people
were (and are, again) beginning to search for something more
meaningful than "It's My Party And I'll Cry If I Want To".
Bob's (seemingly) unpolished presentation only helped promote
his image as an authentic, non-manufactured artist. And his avoidance
of the press gave him an aura of mystery.
Mostly, he was a true original (or became one after shaking his
earlier Woody Gutherie/Ramblin' Jack persona).
On that particular subject, I just saw the movie "The Ballad of
Ramblin' Jack", directed by Jack's daughter. Recommended!
Dylan copped much of his early style from Jack, and lifted his talkin'
blues thing intact. Unlike Jack, Dylan had gobs of drive and
ambition, and aggressive management.
RR
Sybil Skelton 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!
