On Bob Dylan’s 80th birthday – A Treasure Trove of Rolling Stone Stuff

Written by Jim S.

I didn’t have the slightest idea that today was Bob Dylan’s 80th until I read the news today oh boy. So I am woefully unprepared but Christian pulled together a nice list and tribute.

And then something interesting arrived. I am no longer a Rolling Stone subscriber. But I do receive their newsletter. RS has for years treated Dylan as the messiah he did not ever want to be. In service of that, over the years they published quite a few interviews, lists, reviews – you name it. If you read all this it should add appreciably to your useless and pointless knowledge.

And thoughtfully – not a word one could always apply to Rolling Stone – in today’s newsletter they emptied the archives. It’s all there, from an interview in 1969 to lists to his greatest songs, etc.

So here you go. I don’t see the need to add my own list as you already have too much on your plate. There will be an exam later.

Happy reading.

Bob Dylan at 80.

17 thoughts on “On Bob Dylan’s 80th birthday – A Treasure Trove of Rolling Stone Stuff”

  1. That’s a lot of content! Right off the top, I’m gonna say I fail the exam, so I’ll read all this in summer school & hope for a better mark in August.

    ps like your take on Rolling Stone, sure is a different beast than the early days.

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    1. Dylan loves to be cryptic but I get a kick out of it and I’m always in for the ride. I bet I read a good chunk of these but I’m totally in the mood. Jann Wenner was too slavishly in love with the guy but I think it just amused Dylan.

      As to Rolling Stone, boy it used to be really good on so many fronts. I read “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” in RS when it first came out. Truly reflective of what we called the counterculture. Now reflective of well, whatever.

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    1. Good question. You’re talking 50 years of stuff. I’ll read what I can. If it goes it’s gone I suppose. Doubtless there’s some enterprising marketing type envisioning packaging it all up for sale.

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    1. No, nor does he. He’s made it clear for years he just wants to be a songwriter and singer. But the ‘spokesman for a generation’ shit really got to him. It was stuff other people were loading on him that he never wanted.

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        2. Then again, I do know my Dylan shit. But I can’t both be the quizmaster and your lifeline. What’s your buddy Pete up to? First question – who is ‘Positively Fourth Street’ about?

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        5. The general belief is he was telling off all the folkies in the Village who thought he sold out. Going electric and all that. Go give it a spin with that in mind. No one did nasty spiteful put down stuff better than him.

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