70 reasons why Bob Dylan is the most important figure in pop-culture history

Happy birthday Mr. Dylan. Se ne leggono di tuti i colori in questi giorni. I migliori sono al solito gli inglesi. Che ieri hanno anche pubblicato un interessante scoop. La Bbc ha infatti trasmesso delle registrazioni di interviste di Robert Shelton, uno dei più accreditati biografi di Dylan, fino ad oggi inedite, in cui il Nostro nel 1966 gli diceva di essere un eroinomane e di aver anche forti desideri suicidi, come spararsi in testa o gettarsi da un balcone. Be', Blonde on Blonde è sempre stato il disco dell'eroina per me.

I kicked a heroin habit in New York City. I got very, very strung out. I had about a $25-a-day habit and I kicked it.

E poi:

Death to me is nothing. I could easily have gone over and done it. I will admit to having a suicide thing. I will try it, man. I will try my best but I came through this time. I'm not the kind of cat that's going to cut my ear... I would shoot myself in the brain or jump from the window.

La cosa più notevole per me è però quando dice di essere la persona che prende la musica meno seriamente di tutti. Non mi salverà l'anima, dice. Già, neanche il rock'n'roll può salvarci l'anima, è altro, e lui lo aveva già capito.

I take is less seriously than anybody. It's not going to help me into heaven one little bit. It's not going to save me from the fiery furnace... It's not going to make me happy - you can't be happy by doing something groovy.

Ciò detto, a me è piaciuto particolarmente questo articolo, dove per ognuno dei 70 anni di Dylan, viene specificato un motivo per cui Dylan è la più importante figura nella storia della cultura pop. Ecco le mie preferite. E happy freakin' birthday Bob thanx for the music. Settanta motivi per cui Dylan è la più importante figura della storia della cultura pop:

8. Because he rescued folk music from the grasp of bearded guys in cable-knit sweaters fantasising about being sailors or soldiers. Admittedly, there was already a topical songwriting element to folk music before Dylan came along, exemplified by Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, but until he democratised the form, folk was mostly the domain of slumming middle-class sophisticates in search of some more "authentic" escape from late-1950s suburban American conformity.

10. Because he wrote "It Ain't Me, Babe", the world's first anti-love song.

14. Because he made nasty lyrics acceptable. Until Dylan released "Like a Rolling Stone" and "Positively 4th Street", pop singles had generally toed the lovey-dovey romantic party-line. Suddenly, pop songwriting was afforded new vistas of theme and nuance, most notably reflected in John Lennon's letting of his inner cynic off the leash.

24. Because he introduced The Beatles to pot, without which there may have been no Rubber Soul, Revolver or Sgt Pepper.

26. Because he wrote "Visions of Johanna", the greatest song of all time. Former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion proclaimed it the greatest song lyric ever.

31. Because he made Blonde on Blonde, the greatest album ever recorded.

33. Because that classic mid-Sixties Dylan look – bird's-nest hair, dark shades, pipe-cleaner legs, Chelsea boots, razor-sharp cheekbones – is the coolest look ever. Just ask John Cooper-Clarke.

49. Because his 1966 world tour with The Hawks effectively invented rock music, as distinct from rock'n'roll: nothing that loud, and that powerful, had been heard on stage before.

60. Because, if you turn the cover of John Wesley Harding upside-down and look at the bark of the tree, you'll see The Beatles (vinyl only) (drugs optional).

...and because... he is the most fucking greatest songwriter, rock musician ever and the greatest fucking cool guy living on the planet still today