15.08 Conclusion

Overview

The 1960s saw a revival of folk music. Following the model of an earlier generation of folk musicians such as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, many folk musicians in the 1960s used their music to promote left-wing social causes. The Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam War protests, and protests for women’s rights were all places where folk music could flourish. Bob Dylan shattered the folk music aesthetic in 1965 when he played an electric set at the Newport Folk Festival. After this performance, the lines between folk music and rock were blurred. Dylan’s influence paved the way for many different folk and folk rock artists during the 1960s, including the Byrds, the Mamas and the Papas, and Simon and Garfunkel.

Objectives

Identify two important figures in early American folk music, Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie
Recall why Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie were inspirational figures in the folk revival of the 1960s
Examine the music and career of Bob Dylan
Recall why Bob Dylan's electric performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival was so upsetting to folk music purists
Recall the many stylistic and generic reactions to Dylan "plugging in," namely, the rise of the genre of folk rock

Conclusion

Bob Dylan

Inspired by Woody Guthrie’s music and politics, Bob Dylan became one of the most important figures in the American folk revival movement and then in the shift from folk to folk rock music. Dylan’s electric performance at the 1965 Newport Festival is a seminal moment in rock history. Dylan’s influence went beyond just "plugging in," however. He also encouraged other musicians to eschew commercial, trivial messages in their music and instead pursue deeper and more meaningful expressions.

“Bob Dylan was the source of pop music's unpredictability in the Sixties. Never as big a record-seller as commonly imagined, his importance was first aesthetic and social, and then as an influence.”

-Jon Landau

“Then about 12 years ago it dawned on me that folk music - the music of Woody Guthrie and Phil Ochs, early Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Pete Seeger - could be as heavy as anything that comes through a Marshall stack. The combination of three chords and the right lyrical couplet can be as heavy as anything in the Metallica catalogue.”

-Tom Morello

[Bob] Dylan briefly attended the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis in the early 60s. During this time, he hung out frequently in an area known as Dinkytown. Dinkytown had a burgeoning folk scene at the time and this is where he first performed as a solo artist

Songfacts