When Princeton history professor Sean Wilentz was a student at Columbia in 1969, a new Bob Dylan record titled The Great White Wonder began popping up in record stores. Completely unsanctioned by Bob Dylan or his label, it mixed Basement Tapes material with informal recordings of Dylan during his early …
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In late 1961, barely a year after he’d arrived in New York City from the Midwest, Bob Dylan already contained multitudes. The proof arrives early in Through the Open Window, the 18th edition of Dylan’s ongoing Bootleg Series. That fall, Dylan, then only 20 years old, recorded his first album …
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“In the music business, people think that if you’re different, it’s a marketing problem,” says Don Was, who’s in the sixth decade of a one-of-a-kind career: producer for superstars, bass player, Blue Note Records president, and co-founder of the eclectic band Was (Not Was). “Instead of being a problem, it’s …
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Tales of alcohol- and drug-fueled-debauchery are as common in music as playing guitar, whether it be onstage antics (Jim Morrison, Ozzy), the trashing of a hotel room (Rolling Stones, Rick James, Sid Vicious, countless others), or a “lost weekend” in the case of John Lennon. Many of these real-life experiences …
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The emotional climax of Paul McCartney’s tour opener in Palm Springs: right at the start, when he sang “Help!” It was his full show, after a short warm-up dress rehearsal last week in a small Santa Barbara venue. But he set the stakes high with “Help!,” John Lennon’s personal cry …
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Forty years ago, Bob Dylan‘s impromptu comments at Live Aid inspired Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and John Mellencamp to stage the original Farm Aid in Champaign, Illinois. And on Saturday night, Bob Dylan returned to the Farm Aid stage to celebrate the event’s 40th anniversary at Huntington Bank Stadium in …
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When Greil Marcus published Mystery Train in 1975, it was hailed as the greatest book ever written about rock & roll. Fifty years after it came out, there’s a lot more competition — but no other book has come close. It’s a radically original portrait of America and its music, …
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Bob Dylan‘s early years on the New York and Minnesota folk scenes will be chronicled on the upcoming 18th volume of the Bootleg Series, Through The Open Window, 1956-1963. It arrives on October 31. The 8-disc deluxe box includes 139 tracks that begin when Dylan was just 15 years old …
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True or false: In the aftermath of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s death, the rock & roll world has gathered in grief, with leading figures, including Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and members of Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones, eulogizing him, dedicating songs to him, and even breaking down onstage upon …
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Six years ago, near the end of a show in Austria, Bob Dylan grew so enraged by fans taking photos and shooting video that he stopped the set, narrowly avoided a nasty fall, and delivered an extraordinarily rare rebuke to the audience. “Take pictures or don’t take pictures,” he snapped. …
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