TMZ Music: Bob Dylan the Prophet

1. Bob Dylan is right. Music is definitely not the same anymore. Any schmo can put out a record and call themselves an artist. (Hello! K. Fed, Paris, Jessica, Ashlee, Lindsay - i'm talking to you!) All the voices are digitized and enhanced. It's ridiculous. I long for the days when it was a true artist and his/her instruments.

Posted at 11:42AM on Aug 23rd 2006 by muybonita

2. Well I dont totally agree with "The Genious" there has been a few, very few bands that will live on like Floyd/Zeppelin/Stones/etc... over the past 20 years. The first couple that come to mind would be Nirvanna, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Guns & Roses. And then after that there are some on the outside of immortality looking in, Green Day, Blink 182, Smashing Pumpkins, Alice in Chains. We are difinately in a regression of decent music, but I blame that more on the fact that the youth of today are so influenced by what they see on tv that Brittney, Jessica, Paris, etc... are accepted as musicians when they are just tabloid fodder...

Posted at 11:45AM on Aug 23rd 2006 by Barry C

3. Although there are too many "pop" artists out there with digitally enhanced vocals; Bob Dylan is a poet not a musician. He can't carry a tune in a bucket! I am all for the revival of folk music but damn get someone else to sing for you. You wail like a pitiful drowning sheep. It's horrible! It's a shame since you are from MN and so am I. Another embarrassment to the Northern State.

Posted at 11:51AM on Aug 23rd 2006 by Lisa

4. While I'd rather listen to the jazz greats my husband insists we alternate between Aerosmith, Pink Floyd and Paul McCartney! I only partially agree with Dylan.
I think that Nora Jones first album was undeniably great. However, one does wonder who buys Jessica Simpson, Ashlee Simpson, Paris, Backstreet Boys, Justin and all the others?

Posted at 11:52AM on Aug 23rd 2006 by Momma

5. Bob Dylan is not powerful enough to bring back vinyl. I just wish he was. I really miss the days of meaningful cover art. Today you go blind reading the so-called liner notes on these little cd's. And i'm getting pretty fed up with paying $12 and bringing home 2 decent songs. Bring Back the 45!!!

Posted at 11:52AM on Aug 23rd 2006 by mitch

6. It could be that I'm young, but Bob sucks. I like his son better. Sorry yall!

Posted at 12:09PM on Aug 23rd 2006 by kathryn

7. Like Bob Dylan would know what sounds good. Has he heard his own voice over the last 20 years? Blahhhh.

Posted at 12:17PM on Aug 23rd 2006 by Tom

8. just another geezer complaining about something he doesn't understand. music is alive it evolves. stagnation would mean the death of it. i saw him at the newport folk festival in the sixties. the crowd was booing because he messed with the formula of folk music by electrifying it. but his career took off. ive seen the rolling stones, beatles, aerosmith, black sabbath, jimi hendrix, the doors etc. in concert. my parents thought each new act "made noise not music". i swore never to get into that rut. and i didn't. each musician brings some of the past with him, his influences. and, in a lot of cases they improve on it beause they started as teens bringing the best of the old and coupling it with new technology. i have favorite CDs from every decade. there will always be one hit wonders, the true test is when you hear songs being played from one decade to another, and i have. mr. dylan, pull out the rocking chair and afgan, you sound just like my dad.

Posted at 12:19PM on Aug 23rd 2006 by old enough to know

9. Dylan is a living legend. Im glad to see him on the cover, and doing an interview for that matter. Good music is hard to come by these days. Best music is found in the earlier stages of rock and folk music. I like Dylans poetic nature, but anytime I hear Jim Morrison wail "Come on baby light my fire" I get chills up and down my spine. Now thats good music.

Posted at 12:41PM on Aug 23rd 2006 by Tare Bear

10. Bob Dylan should be honored as the Poet Laureate of the United States just like Robert Frost and those other incredibly talented people who have had the honor in the past. As far as his singing goes, he has long been singing in the style of Woody Guthrie and could probably have used a singing lesson or two. Once my husband went on a Bob Dylan binge. We were a musical household with music on much more than tv. We listened to Bob Dylan every waking hour. I was ready to put a sledge hammer to the stereo after that two months. Too much of a good thing and all that. But I love Bobby and I always will! His poetry is a gift to all of us.

Posted at 12:41PM on Aug 23rd 2006 by Betty

11. There is some amazing and innovative music being produced today, even by Dylan's folk standards -- think Rufus Wainwright, Sufjan Stevens, or even Fiona Apple. But, that's not the music that makes it onto the Top 40 or gets MTV play. While Paris or Jessica, with trite lyrics and recycled melodies, may rule the airwaves, there are many fantastic albums released every year in every genre of music.

Posted at 12:44PM on Aug 23rd 2006 by Linda

12. Let me revise my comment. I don't think Dylan is talking about the substance of the music as much as about its production. And I think he's right. Music today , on the whole, is way overproduced -- too many synths and beats and background noises. A lot of the records sound much better when it's just the singer and a piano or some strings.

Posted at 12:49PM on Aug 23rd 2006 by Linda

13. 'old enough to know'

read the article.

the progression of influence has nothing to do with the progression of technology.

and that is where we americans have confused the two because we allow them to intertwine.

we believe that because we're moving forward in each individual field that by combining the two we are only getting better and better.

i don't believe that to be the case and under these circumstances i don't believe mr. dylan is saying that either.

what i do believe and what i do believe mr. dylan is saying in this article is that technology and musical euphoria were reached at a time when the physical product of music was vinyl.

the sound and depth of the music that you were able to obtain not only through the produce of vinyl but also the process in which it took to create that product has not (and by this point in our progression in the field of technology you could say WILL NOT) been able to be matched by the processes and products of technology.

the progression of technology in music has provided convinence, but the pinnacle of technology for the quailty of music was reached with vinyl.

Posted at 12:53PM on Aug 23rd 2006 by gregory

14. hey folks....let's stick to the subject - the SOUND

Posted at 1:02PM on Aug 23rd 2006 by larry sandmann

15. He's going a little far by saying there hasn't been a decent record in 20 years, but you have to wonder how far music's standards have fallen off and how far they will continue to fall off. This is the age of the "producer" who sits in a recording studio with digital instruments creating beats. Beats are what sells now, not real music, not real vocals. When Paris Hilton can have an album it tells you that music as a whole is in trouble. Before you had to work hard to get a record label to sign you, now if no one wants to sign you just create your own record label. If you know that you can put out an album even if no one will sign you how hard are you going to work on it? Not very, just put it out and wait for profits, if not you're rich anyway. It's not really about the music at that point, it's about exposure. There are so many record labels out there putting out music that really shouldn't be. It's like when a pro sports league adds teams and everybody says that waters down the talent, people make it to the big leagues that shouldn't. All these record labels pop up to sign artists nobody else wanted. I fear for the future of music. Maybe just maybe 2Pac and Elvis aren't dead, that would be a blessing.

Posted at 1:24PM on Aug 23rd 2006 by B Diddy