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"THE TIMES THEY ARE A-BORING!" Bob Dylan on rock today

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Fatalah

Member
http://www.nme.com/news/111454.htm

"I know there are groups at the top of the charts that are hailed as the saviours of rock'n'roll and all that, but they are amateurs. They don't know where the music comes from," he wrote, adding, “I wouldn't even think about playing music if I was born in these times... I'd probably turn to something like mathematics. That would interest me. Architecture would interest me. Something like that."

================

I think we need more musicians like Dylan to re-focus the music industry---take it out of the hands of the guys with green on their minds.
 
I wonder who he is specifically referring to?

Cause it can be marketed as a "diss" and then there can be a "battle" that will make lots of "money"
 

kumanoki

Member
The original, untranslated response went like this:

"Hebba HYOOO denaminna NUH abba shuh muh YEW nuh. Ebba nee WUH suh mammi fuh-
*becomes disoriented* Wuh? Owwa neener DAY ni BOW jemma NOO nuh."

LITERAL TRANSLATION: My son's band sucks.

Bob Dylan- Late to the Party...and his son's music truly does SUCK. You'd think Jacob would've been raised better than that.
 

etiolate

Banned
"I know there are groups at the top of the charts that are hailed as the saviours of rock'n'roll and all that, but they are amateurs. They don't know where the music comes from," he wrote, adding, “I wouldn't even think about playing music if I was born in these times... I'd probably turn to something like mathematics. That would interest me. Architecture would interest me. Something like that."

I don't know who he is talking about, but that mathematics quote is just fucking stupid. The last thing we need is more math.
 

Lambtron

Unconfirmed Member
Math rules, haters. Leave us geeks out of it.

The shit always rises to the top. Less density equals more bouyancy, am I right, guys? Doesn't mean there aren't fantastic musicians making music today. It's a travesty they aren't all over the radio or whatever, but, what are you gonna do. At least I get to hear it.
 

Fatalah

Member
He's just saying that the way people approach music these days isn't the way it should be. He's not just some hobo making music, he's a smart guy that could have applied himself to mathematics if he wanted to.
Music isn't something you just do, you learn it and apply yourself like you would if you wanted to be an architect. Sadly these days, those who do are playing in basements and street corners.
 

sprsk

force push the doodoo rock
Lambtron said:
Math rules, haters. Leave us geeks out of it.

The shit always rises to the top. Less density equals more bouyancy, am I right, guys? Doesn't mean there aren't fantastic musicians making music today. It's a travesty they aren't all over the radio or whatever, but, what are you gonna do. At least I get to hear it.


it wasnt always this way :(
 

Lambtron

Unconfirmed Member
sp0rsk said:
it wasnt always this way :(
I think it was, and always will be. People don't want to think, they just want something that sounds good in their ears. If there's no depth, whatever, they can buy the next band of the moment's record in a month.
 

Diablos

Member
Maybe Bob Dylan should pay more attention to indie and less popular mainstream music. Listen to the Doves latest release and tell me there still aren't smart musicians out there, Mr. Dylan. :)
 

Fatalah

Member
He's forced to generalize like that. He doesn't have time to say..."Well, they mostly all suck...but The Strokes have that one good song...or Wilco..." He thinks he likes Wilco, he's talked about them because they pay their respects to Woody Guthrie, and guys like that.
 

gohepcat

Banned
He's one of the greatest songwriter ever. I love him, and consider him one of my favorite artists. (You haven’t lived until you have driven through the desert at night listening to Blond on Blond)

...but fuck him.

MUSIC IS ALWAYS GOOD! It always has been, it always will be. It just doesn’t affect you now like it did when you were 16

When you were younger and older people used to say "they don't make music like they used to" you used to think they were crazy. Why are you doing the same?
 

Alcibiades

Member
it's true

I've been listening a lot the past few weeks to judy collins, joan baez, peter paul and mary, and a little bit of denver and dylan...

man the music and voices are timeless...

There's other hippie music I've always been into, but folk-revival just recently and it's really super awesome...

Recently I guess I've listened a bit to GreenDay, I think their new album is really great, but there's a sense to me that it's a bit artificial, and I don't think it's going to have the longevity of the music masters from 50's/60's/70's, but who knows... I can listen to the old stuff over and over, but I can only listen to so many replays of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and "American Idiot" on the radio, I actually get a bit tired of it, but it's still the only "new" album in recent months (maybe years) that I've made it a point to listen to...
 

Flynn

Member
His knowledge of music stops at 1980 and is narrowly focused on one important, but far from all-emcompasing genre.

He's just irritated because his diaper is wet.
 

Triumph

Banned
Diablos said:
Maybe Bob Dylan should pay more attention to indie and less popular mainstream music. Listen to the Doves latest release and tell me there still aren't smart musicians out there, Mr. Dylan. :)
In relative musical IQ, Billy Corgan is a drooling mongloid when compared to Bob Dylan. You know that, right?
 

NLB2

Banned
Raoul Duke said:
In relative musical IQ, Billy Corgan is a drooling mongloid when compared to Bob Dylan. You know that, right?
First of all, how is Dylan so much better than Billy Corgant?
Second of all, Bob Dylan's music is such a regression from the the music of composers of his time. At the same time Dylan was writing his music, Berio was composing his Sinfonia, Stockhausen was creating an entire new genre of music, and Cage was redefineing the concept of time as aplied to music. Sorry to break it to you, but rock musicians really haven't done anything with music except simplify it.
 

Triumph

Banned
NLB2 said:
First of all, how is Dylan so much better than Billy Corgant?
Second of all, Bob Dylan's music is such a regression from the the music of composers of his time. At the same time Dylan was writing his music, Berio was composing his Sinfonia, Stockhausen was creating an entire new genre of music, and Cage was redefineing the concept of time as aplied to music. Sorry to break it to you, but rock musicians really haven't done anything with music except simplify it.
The fact that you have the lack of decency to ask this question shows that I am going to have to get even DRUNKER to properly consider a retort low enough.

I mean fucking come on. BILLY FUCKING CORGAN. Or are you just taking a piss to fuck with me?
 

Dead

well not really...yet
Anyone who can write albums such as Siamese Dream and Adore are afforded the ability to be compared to anyone. Hes certainly not a "musical mongoloid."


Fucking shameful to even have to provide a retort to such fucking retarded remarks .
 

NLB2

Banned
Raoul Duke said:
The fact that you have the lack of decency to ask this question shows that I am going to have to get even DRUNKER to properly consider a retort low enough.

I mean fucking come on. BILLY FUCKING CORGAN. Or are you just taking a piss to fuck with me?
So in other words you don't know what you're talking about :p.
 

nitewulf

Member
Diablos said:
Maybe Bob Dylan should pay more attention to indie and less popular mainstream music. Listen to the Doves latest release and tell me there still aren't smart musicians out there, Mr. Dylan. :)
yeah, an old man should pay attention to indie rock. good to see you're in touch with reality...
 

calder

Member
If he wants his broad generalization of modern rock music to have any credibility at all, yeah he should at least base his opinions of the genre on more than just the bands on the "top of the charts".

I personally have never found anything Dylan did to be the least bit interesting. Important in a historical sense sure, but never personally compelling at all.
 

demon

I don't mean to alarm you but you have dogs on your face
calder said:
If he wants his broad generalization of modern rock music to have any credibility at all, yeah he should at least base his opinions of the genre on more than just the bands on the "top of the charts".

I personally have never found anything Dylan did to be the least bit interesting. Important in a historical sense sure, but never personally compelling at all.
I feel the same way toward Bob Dylan. He may well have been an important social commentator during his time, but musically his work for the most part bores me to tears.
 

maharg

idspispopd
Alcibiades said:
I've been listening a lot the past few weeks to judy collins, joan baez, peter paul and mary, and a little bit of denver and dylan...

man the music and voices are timeless...

There's other hippie music I've always been into, but folk-revival just recently and it's really super awesome...

It's so fucking EASY to say this kind of thing now, after several decades worth of listeners have filtered the crap out of the earlier musical eras so you don't even have to think about what musicians from that period you want to listen to.

Good music stands the test of time. If you haven't lived in a period, you have no place to judge the relative merit of that period's music you've never heard because no one liked it enough to keep it alive, even if they liked dancing to it for the one week it was in the top 10 of the charts.
 

DCharlie

And even i am moderately surprised
it'll be interesting to see what the timeless tracks are from this era 20 years down the line. Whilst i totally agree with what THE EYE says, there has been a definite swing towards image over actual musical talent and whilst there is some awesome tracks, i get this horrible feeling that the masses will plump for Robbie Williams, Kylie, etc as the tracks of our age.

Then again, who cares? I know they are shite, let the peons wallow in their ignorance! ;)
 

Ill Saint

Member
Personally, the current spate of "The" bands, and the rest of the faux-ironic garage disco rock with wailing bloke PiL meets The Stooges wannabe bands are doing my head in. Most vapid, materialistic and derivative sound to hit the airwaves for many years. Nu-Metal was more entertaining... at least those muppets were amusing.

Just my 2c.
 

Ghost

Chili Con Carnage!
every generation of past it musicians claim the new breed are crap, they just cant deal with the fact people dont like them anymore.
 

Shouta

Member
Ghost hit it on the nose heh.

Honestly though, it's not that rock (and music in general) is worse now than it was back then (there is a dip in quality but it's not huge). It's just that music feels more pretentious and gimmicky. It feels like it's not about the music but the lifestyle and status. Even if the musicians now say they're doing it for the love of music, it doesn't feel genuine that affects their music. That's my opinion of course =P.
 

Triumph

Banned
Jesus H. Fucking Toadstool.

Bob Dylan wrote All Along the Watchtower. How many of you have listened to Blood on the Tracks? Blonde on Blonde? Even his last couple of albums, though obviously the work of a diminished artist, are lyrically and musically superior to anything Billy Corgan has ever done.

"Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage." Yeah. TOTALLY comparable.
 

Azih

Member
THE EYE said:
It's so fucking EASY to say this kind of thing now, after several decades worth of listeners have filtered the crap out of the earlier musical eras so you don't even have to think about what musicians from that period you want to listen to.

Good music stands the test of time. If you haven't lived in a period, you have no place to judge the relative merit of that period's music you've never heard because no one liked it enough to keep it alive, even if they liked dancing to it for the one week it was in the top 10 of the charts.
Nice.
 
Raoul Duke said:
Jesus H. Fucking Toadstool.

Bob Dylan wrote All Along the Watchtower. How many of you have listened to Blood on the Tracks? Blonde on Blonde? Even his last couple of albums, though obviously the work of a diminished artist, are lyrically and musically superior to anything Billy Corgan has ever done.

"Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage." Yeah. TOTALLY comparable.

Both artists have done amazing work and in very different ways. Everyone is going to have their preference but they're both awesome musicians, so i don't see the need for comparison. It's pretty lame to pick out one line from a pumpkins song and compare it to a few songs by Dylan, though.
 

human5892

Queen of Denmark
Raoul Duke said:
"Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage." Yeah. TOTALLY comparable.
"The times, they are a-changin'." :D

Not that I don't agree with you on Dylan vs. Corgan, but still.
 
I'd normally be rolling my eyes, but folks, it's fucking Bob Dylan. He's one of the few who really knows what's up; the haters obviously don't know who he is and what he's done.

Plus he's totally correct. Music today does indeed suck.
 

nitewulf

Member
Flynn said:
John Peel was an old man that did.
wasnt he a DJ? DJs have to keep upto date about the scene, by default.
but you cant really expect dylan and other singer-songwriters/artists from his era to keep track of indie bands. there are exceptions, but surely you see my point? this is a younger generations game now, to keep up with obscure bands.
can you imagine dylan listening to xiu xiu? come now.
he was talking about mainstream bands anyway, bands that are on the charts, and he is perfectly correct about that. modern radio rock is bland and cheesy, shallow. has been for almost 10 years now.
he didnt come out and say "music sucks now, period".
 

Flynn

Member
nitewulf said:
wasnt he a DJ? DJs have to keep upto date about the scene, by default.
but you cant really expect dylan and other singer-songwriters/artists from his era to keep track of indie bands. there are exceptions, but surely you see my point? this is a younger generations game now, to keep up with obscure bands.
can you imagine dylan listening to xiu xiu? come now.
he was talking about mainstream bands anyway, bands that are on the charts, and he is perfectly correct about that. modern radio rock is bland and cheesy, shallow. has been for almost 10 years now.
he didnt come out and say "music sucks now, period".

What is it about age that kills the curiosity and passion for music? There's no reason why this should be.
 

karasu

Member
NLB2 said:
First of all, how is Dylan so much better than Billy Corgant?
Second of all, Bob Dylan's music is such a regression from the the music of composers of his time. At the same time Dylan was writing his music, Berio was composing his Sinfonia, Stockhausen was creating an entire new genre of music, and Cage was redefineing the concept of time as aplied to music. Sorry to break it to you, but rock musicians really haven't done anything with music except simplify it.


Nope, Rock musicians write music that actually touches people, and it has been used to address social ills. Music that isn't bogged down by history and the race to technically outdo your peers.
 

nitewulf

Member
Flynn said:
What is it about age that kills the curiosity and passion for music? There's no reason why this should be.
i agree with you, they should never lose the passion. but by and large ppl do lose curiosity though. guess priorities change, i'll tell you when (if) i get there.
 

jumper

Member
First off, I don't know why we're comparing Billy Corgan to Bob Dylan, because it's comparing apples to oranges. Would Billy ever write a Blood on the Tracks? Would Dylan ever come up with a Siamese Dream or Mellon Collie? I don't think so. Dylan has a lot of political messages, and speaks of society in his lyrics, whereas Billy's lyrics are more about raw emotions, and speaks to the heart (in the case of siamese dream, youthful heart)

And it's also not fair to take one line from Bullet with Butterfly wings as represenation of Smashing Pumpkin's lyrics. I'm sorry, but I think Billy's written a lot of great lyrics, both in SP and Zwan. Take Mayonaise, Girl with the Cruel Face, Blissed and Gone, 33, etc.

If you're gonna put a well respected artist down like that, at least know what you're talking about. Perhaps know more than one song?
 

NLB2

Banned
karasu said:
Nope, Rock musicians write music that actually touches people, and it has been used to address social ills. Music that isn't bogged down by history and the race to technically outdo your peers.
Listen to some of Schuman's songs if you think claissical music doesn't try to touch people; listen to Wagner's Ring Cycle if you don't think classical music doesn't address social ills ;-).
Both of these guys are very much prerock, rock wasn't the first music to try to do these things.
Some contemporary compositions that do these things? John Corigliano's Symphony Nr. 1. Luciano Berio's Sinfonia and his Sequenza V, anything by Toru Takemitsu or Augusta Reed Thomas, Stockhausen's In Friendship, Philip Glass' film scores, and Charles Ive's arrangement of America to name a few.

Since the beggining of the Romantic period, with the slight exception of the neoclassical movement, music hasn't been about technically outdoing your peers. Compositional technique has been expanded upon not for its own sake but in an effort to increase compositional vocabulary - to be able to more easily and more precisely express one's own ideas.
 

Triumph

Banned
Jesus. The Billy Corgan thing was a jab at Diablos, who is a KNOWN Corgan fanatic. I could have easily have said Cobain, Durst, or whoever the fuck is in Linkin Shitty Park.

Point is: Bob Dylan, and his opinion, is still relevant today. I highly doubt that any of these interchangeable alterna-dweebs will be when they're 40+ years into their career.

Me 1, alterna-dweebs 0! O'doyle RULES!
 
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