Poll: Bob Dylan - Talentless Hack?

[Sh1nobu]

I had to research 60's music for a school project a while ago and happened to stumble upon a lot of negativity on Bob Dylan. All the positive stuff seemed to be rabid fans defending their favorite artist. The negative stuff was all about how "he was a talentless hack" and "had a horrible singing voice". I find him one of the most influential artists of the 60's and can't see why anyone would dislike him that much.

So I'll ask the least idiotic fellows I have happened to stumble upon in the interwebs - you.

Some of his songs, if you havn't listened to him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk3mAX5xdxo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X6MIgFtxnw

 

[Total LOLige]

Even though I don't like Bob Dylan's music I have to admit that his skills are the dog's bollocks. How anyone could say his lyrics are shit is beyond me. Plus he's a folk singer the singing voices of folk singers have never been all that and that's the style of singing for the genre. You don't have to be a good singer to make good music.

 

[CrazyBlaze]

Maybe but in an other or a I think hes good but Im not a fan option. I mean I dont hate his music but I dont love it either.

 

[Colour Scientist]

He doesn't exactly sing like a siren but that's all part of the Bob Dylan appeal. He's a pretty amazing songwriter.

Obviously, he's not going to be everyone's cup of tea but someone calling him a 'talent-less hack', probably just wants to come across as edgy or whatever.

 

[w9496]

His lyrics and songwriting are pretty good, but I just don't like his voice. He can be very hard to understand as well.

 

[LetalisK]

I don't like him. His voice is grating and I find his song writing to be pretty "meh". Not the worst I've heard, but I don't see the appeal.

 

[Vault101]

eh?..whats the thing here?

its Bob Dylan..I mean what do you want me to say? I;m not a fan but people like him...personally I fele like a pretentious twat at the Idea of listening to him...

I have a real aversion to music elitism

 

[Alternative]

Personally i dont listen to him, but his lyrical and music writing skills are amazing.

He is by no means talentless.

Saying Bob Dylan is talentless is like saying the Beatles where terrible or that Jimi Hendrix couldn't play guitar.

 

[Womplord]

His voice is utterly and totally shit, and that's why he's popular. His music is basically reading out a poem that he wrote which makes people focus on his lyrics. His lyrics are good and people focus on them when the listen. Good though his lyrics may be, there are plenty of artists just as good at songwriting and putting meaning into their songs WITHOUT having a crap voice. Bob Dylan sucks, and I think many of his big fans are somewhat pretentious.

 

[Sh1nobu]

He doesn't exactly sing like a siren but that's all part of the Bob Dylan appeal.

Exactly! I like that he doesn't sound like Y guy from the American Idol finals. He sounds unique. I guess that's why some people can't like him - it's his robust vocal skills.

 

[piinyouri]

Never bothered to try listening to him for the longest time untill I chance heard Hucks Tune in the credits for Lucky You. Stopped what I was doing, listened to this wonderful, beautiful song, and waited patiently for the credits to say who it was.

Rolls up...."Hucks Tune performed and written by Bob Dylan"

That was the start of my Dylan trip and I'm thankful that I found a way into his music.


More on topic, I'm pretty sure a lot of people feel this way about Tom Waits.

 

[Greni]

Don't know about 'talentless' or 'hack' but he certainly became a corporate tool fairly early on.

 

[Woodsey]

I think his voice was great. He can't fucking sing now at all, nor has he been able to for years, but he used to sound great. His singing voice was pretty idiosyncratic though, so I guess you could argue he still couldn't actually sing, he just had a weird voice. But still, I think his old stuff is great.


I mean really, that's just ball-tinglingly good.

 

[Shivarage]

Very biased poll...

He could sing very well, the characteristics he put on his voice were always for a reason - most people just didn't understand

 

[xplosive59]

The fact that it wasn't his singing voice or skill on his instrument that made him popular/successful and was almost purely on songwriting talent shows how phenomenal an artist he is.

 

[White_Lama]

I love Bob Dylan, is all I'm going to say.

 

[Doclector]

Honestly, I find he's more miss than hit, though when it is hit, it's awesome.

I mostly keep defending him because he is the only well known famous aspergers sufferer who isn't a nerd, a truly terrifying loser on the internet who drinks his own bodily fluids mixed with sunny d, or a fictitious math obsessive who goes crazy around fire alarms, and quite frankly, we need more of that kind of positive publicity.

 

[Sh1nobu]

Very biased poll...

He could sing very well, the characteristics he put on his voice were always for a reason - most people just didn't understand

Any ideas on improving it?

 

[Vkmies]

I personally like his voice. I mean, I like everything he offers, but I really don't get people not liking his voice. Not everyone should have the same voice. Dylan is very distinctive and soothing.