Electric Dylan controversy
By 1965, Bob Dylan was the leading songwriter of the American folk music revival.[a 1] The response to his albums The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and The Times They Are a-Changin' led the media to label him the "spokesman of a generation".[1]
In March 1965, Dylan released his fifth album, Bringing It All Back Home. Side one features him backed by a rock band, while side two features him accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. On July 20, 1965, he released his single "Like a Rolling Stone" featuring a more fully integrated folk rock sound. On July 25, 1965, he performed his first concert with electric instruments at the Newport Folk Festival, joined by pianist Barry Goldberg and of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, guitarist Mike Bloomfield, bassist Jerome Arnold and drummer Sam Lay, and with Al Kooper playing organ on "Like a Rolling Stone". Some sections of the audience booed the performance. Members of the folk movement criticized him for moving away from political songwriting and for performing with a rock band, including Irwin Silber[a 2] and Ewan MacColl.[2] Dylan continued his trend towards rock music on his next two albums, Highway 61 Revisited (1965) and Blonde on Blonde (1966).
On subsequent tours throughout 1965 and 1966, his electric sets (now backed by the Hawks) were often met with derisiveness from the audience. Crowds became particularly acrimonious during a British tour, including an oft-cited incident in Manchester, where a member of the crowd shouted "Judas!" at Dylan. Shows from this tour have been documented in several Dylan documentaries, including 2005's No Direction Home. Over time, Dylan continued to evolve musically, turning to country music on Nashville Skyline (1969), and drifting through numerous styles throughout the rest of his career. Retrospectively, his electric period has come to be recognized by critics and fans as producing some of his best-received music, and his controversial performance at Newport has been considered a pivotal moment in the development of folk rock.[3][4]
New York City concert, August 28, 1965[edit]
The next concert Dylan played after his Newport performance was on August 28, 1965, at Forest Hills Stadium, in Queens, New York.[29] Dylan appears to have believed that the booing at Newport was a consequence of some fans disliking his electric sound.[30] Photographer Daniel Kramer, who accompanied Dylan to the Forest Hills concert, wrote: "Dylan held a conference with the musicians who were going to accompany him in the second half of the concert. He told them that they should expect anything to happen—he probably was remembering what occurred at Newport. He told them that the audience might yell and boo and that they should not be bothered by it. Their job was to make the best music they were capable of, and let whatever happened happen."[31]
Musician Tony Glover, in his liner notes for the Bob Dylan Live 1966 album, quotes a contemporary account of the concert from Variety: "Bob Dylan split 15,000 of his fans down the middle at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium Sunday night... The most influential writer-performer on the pop music scene during the past decade, Dylan has apparently evolved too fast for some of his young followers, who are ready for radical changes in practically everything else... repeating the same scene that occurred during his performance at the Newport Folk Festival, Dylan delivered a round of folk-rock songs but had to pound his material against a hostile wall of anti-claquers, some of whom berated him for betraying the cause of folk music."[32]
Newport 1966[edit]
Despite the mixed reaction afforded to Dylan at the 1965 Newport festival, several electric bands appeared at the following year's event, including the Lovin' Spoonful, Howlin' Wolf, Chuck Berry and the Blues Project.[38] The groups were well received and received no pushback over their appearance.[39][40] In an article recounting the festival for The New York Times, the critic Robert Shelton suggested that the Lovin' Spoonful's warm reception "reflected the growing acceptance of folk-rock and other amalgamations of contemporary folk songs with electric instruments".[40]