How Did Bob Dylan Influence The Music Industry

The 1960’s was an era of revolution and social change in the United States. Painters, dancers, actors, musicians and many more artists all wanted to portray societies immoral issues through their art. Musicians played a very prominent role in providing society with an outlet on the importance of this change. Within these musicians was a folk rock singer and songwriter by the name of Robert Allen Zimmerman, or as America knows him, Bob Dylan. He is known and honored around the world for his influence on popular music and culture, however, he is much more than that (Wood 313). The beginning of Bob Dylan’s career as a singer and songwriter was marked by his repetitive emphasis on social change throughout his protest songs which include “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall,” “Masters of War,” and “The Times They Are a-Changin’”; with each song, Dylan exposes many issues that affected, not one, but many lives as he aimed to spread social and political consciousness to society.

In the 1960’s music had a lot of influences on everyone not only adults but teens too. Starting from RnB music to blues to rock n roll to even folk music it all had an impact on the people that listened to it. Rnb music around this time was thought of as the heart of music it originated from different genres. It started to have more of a gospel sound in the 60’s with artists such as Sam Cooke, James Brown and Ray Charles. And as years passed a new style of music came about and it

Bob Dylan was born as Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota. While growing up, Bob was influenced by Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Little Richard. He was also in a few bands while growing up. While he was in college he began performing folk and country music at local cafes under the name Bob Dillon. In 1960, he dropped out of college and moved to New York. In New York, Bob met his idol Woody Guthrie and visited him regularly and became great friends with him. In 1961, he signed his first recording contract at Columbia Records and became one of the most original influential voices in the history of American popular music. Throughout his lifetime he 's been awarded with Grammy’s, Academy and Golden Globe awards. In 2012, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama. Bob Dylan wrote music based on social issues, war and civil

At only 22, he was crowned the voice of a generation. His audiences became mesmerized with his expressive lyrics and soulful harmonica. He changed the way the world looks at songwriting and protest, and inspired countless future musicians from the moment he stepped up on the stage in his railroad hat, denim jacket, and harmonica brace. However, it is clear that there is so much more behind Bob Dylan than just a rough voice and a collection of poetic songs. As one man said about Dylan’s early days in Greenwich Village, “There’s a quality of determination and of will that some people have that when they’re doing something, they’re really doing it and you

Born in Minnesota in 1941, Bob Dylan, then Robert Allen Zimmerman, befriended those less fortunate than him as a child. Through his childhood friends Dylan learned a

     Langston Hughes and Bob Dylan are two poets from different eras in modern American poetry. Although Bob Dylan is more characterized as a songwriter, I see much of his work as poetry. In this essay, I will discuss Hughes’ poem “Harlem [1]” and Dylan’s “Times They Are A-Changin”’ as commentaries on are culture, but from different backgrounds.

The third and final way that Frank Sinatra influenced popular music was through setting new trends within the music industry, which continue today. The industry acquired two trends which later became the mainstream: the first was the decision for a vocalist to start a solo career, and the second being the popularization of the American Popular Songbook.

The 1960’s was one of the most controversial decades in American history because of not only the Vietnam War, but there was an outbreak of protests involving civil and social conditions all across college campuses. These protests have been taken to the extent where people either have died or have been seriously injured. However, during the 1960’s, America saw a popular form of art known as protest music, which responded to the social turmoil of that era, from the civil rights movement to the war in Vietnam. A veritable pantheon of musicians, such as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs, Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan sang their songs to encourage union organizers to protest the inequities of their time, creating a diverse variety of popular

“The song has to be of a certain quality for me to sing…One aspect it would have to have is that it didn’t repeat itself” (Bob Dylan). Transforming into new people throughout his life, Bob Dylan reverted to the Bible and other religious findings in his songs. Dylan is able to reveal a fulfillment from spirituality as he perceives his music as a sacred landscape. Bob Dylan brings up a theme of religion, referencing the book of Isaiah in his 1967 song “All Along the Watchtower” as he writes a story about two people at the watchtower, where the significance of life is found. Dylan’s spiritual lyrics conceived his work as a an artist through imagination and religion that creates a hallowed dwelling for him to aqurie attainment.

To understand the sixties counterculture, we must understand the important role of Bob Dylan. His lyrics fueled the rebellious youth in America. Songs such as “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times are A-Changin” made him favorable to anti-war demonstrators and supporters of the Civil Rights movement. He was commonly hailed as the spokesman for his generation. Dylan used lyrics to allow the youth to find their own form of counter-culture. The youth generation began to see the effects racism, war, etc. effect the society in America. To combat this, the youth created their own form of counter-culture to promote a peaceful change within society. Some of their actions include forming anti-war protests that opposed America’s involvement in the Vietnam War, and supporting African Americans/women get the rights they deserve through the Civil Rights Movement. Bob Dylan’s music appealed to the young generation because he openly expresses his disapproval of the establishment in order to influenced his audience to move in a direction for change. Counterculture youth rejected cultural norms of the previous generation and their values and lifestyles opposed the mainstream culture present in the 1950’s. The folk music revival of the early 1960s, as well as the counter-culture movement played an important role in advocating change. Bob Dylan wrote songs that influenced the Civil Rights Movement, New Left Movement, and Anti-War Movement.

Bob Dylan is known to be one of the most influential artist during the American Folk Music. He change the way of music, especially for the American Folk Music Revival. Bob was born on May 24, 1941. His parents are Abram and Beatrice Zimmerman. His real name is Robert Zimmerman. He picked up the name Bob Dylan when he began singing in Greenwich Village. His songs are still played today, especially “Blowin in The Wind.” Bob was influenced by other artists before he became famous. His influences were Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and Elvis Presley. Also the legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie. Woody was hospitalized and Bob would visit him regulary. That same Bob dropped out of college.

“The thing about rock'n'roll is that for me anyway it wasn't enough ... There were great catch-phrases and driving pulse rhythms ... but the songs weren't serious or didn't reflect life in a realistic way. I knew that when I got into folk music, it was more of a serious type of thing. The songs are filled with more despair, more sadness, more triumph, more faith in the supernatural, much deeper feelings” (Bob Dylan, 1985)

The adoption of a band rather than performing alone or with a sole instrument as Peter Paul and Mary did was highly symbolic of a new chapter in Dylan’s career. His introduction of electronic instruments was a break from his folk roots that many found controversial, but that made his music more appealing to the general public. Contrastingly, the acoustic stylings of “Blowin’ in the Wind” were less exciting, yet still effective in gaining popularity. In truth, based on the lyrical content of “Blowin’ in the Wind,” it is hard to imagine such a song being played with the pep and excitement

No one can deny that technology is actively changing the music industry. Production, distribution and sales of music have been affected dramatically within the last 10 years along with artists, composers, and technicians. Most of the changes have been great for consumers, but vastly negative for professionals in the music industry, however a few artists have found ways to adapt to the changing atmosphere of digitally downloaded music and use it to their advantage. We’ve seen music change form from physical, tangible products like records and CD’s to electronic single tracks stored in an invisible cloud. Two major factors in this sudden revolution are online music stores (specifically iTunes) and file sharing websites that allow music to be downloaded illegally.

Duluth Minnesota, May 24th 1941 Robert Allen Zimmerman (Bob Dylan) was born. 69 Years and over 45 albums later Bob Dylan has completely altered the face of popular music since his debut as a fresh faced folk singer in 1962. His early career forged him into an informal chronicler and then he later developed into an apparently reluctant figurehead of social unrest [Gray, 2006] and became a voice for a generation. His songs have been covered by many artists in a wide span of genres and he has remained a prominent and highly influential figure in the history of popular music over the past five decades. [Gates, David, 1997]