In Minnesota in 1941, Robert Zimmerman, later Bob Dylan, was born. In January 1961, Dylan dropped out of the University of Minnesota and moved to New York where he would make his breakthrough. Dylan became a part of the Greenwich folk scene, playing in coffee houses and small venues. He became the figurehead for the folk revival, paired with his acoustic guitar and famous harmonica and love for folk and blues, he brought back to life many classics.
Despite his desperation to escape the label, Dylan would become known as a ‘protest singer’. Much of this was down to his relationship with Suze Rotolo (renamed Sylvie Russo in the upcoming film). Rotolo, who is pictured with Dylan on the cover of ‘The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan’, became the muse for much of his music and responsible for Dylan’s switch to political writing. She inspired him to begin writing about society and from here classics such as ‘The Times They Are A-Changin'’ emerged. However, the pair's relationship would deteriorate upon Rotolo aborting their child. Later, through the power of folk music, Dylan began his love affair with ‘folk madonna’, Joan Baez. Dylan and Joan Baez were described as the ‘new folk prodigies’ and often shared the stage together, but it was with this that turned their love sour. While Dylan was the frontman of folk, Baez was there first. The roots of their relationship lay in the music and Dylan was insecure of Baez’s talent, unwilling to commit to her. The explosion of Dylan’s career left him distancing himself and all came crashing down when he secretly married actress Sara Lownds in 1965. Baez later described her relationship with Dylan as ‘demoralising’.
On the 25th July 1965, Dylan played Newport Festival, one of the most poignant concerts in history. Dylan showed his first signs of going electric with the release of ‘Bringing It All Back Home’ earlier in the year. However, when Dylan took to the stage in Newport bearing an electric guitar, he received passionate boos from the audience. Folk fans criticised Dylan for moving away from political song-writing. They saw Dylan, who previously bore the title of the ‘voice of a generation’, as ‘Judas’ and he received death threats. From then on, and due to his serious motorcycle accident in 1966, Dylan reinvented himself, and his music became more fluid. Dylan would later release the electric ‘Highway 61 Revisited’ and ‘Blonde on Blonde’ before switching to the more country ‘Nashville Skyline’.
Bob Dylan's key tracks:
‘Like A Rolling Stone’
‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’
‘Simple Twist of Fate’
‘Lay Lady Lay’
‘The Times They Are A-Changin’
'A Complete Unknown' is in cinemas on 17 January.