The 5est of 5s from me. I read Bruce Springsteen describe that snare crack at the start of Like A Rolling Stone as ‘the moment music’s eyes opened’ once and it’s hard to disagree. There’s a lot of bilge, especially in the 80s, but what artist wouldn’t have that after nearly 60 years. It’s hugely outweighed by just how good the good stuff is, and there’s a lot of good stuff. Gone for Blonde On Blonde for best album, but Blood On The Tracks is very close behind, and I’ve always had a soft spot for Desire too. Also, Tangled Up In Blue is one of the best short stories ever written.
Easy 5, easiest 5 going. Got into him through the first 5 albums as a kid. My Dad still has an original pressing of Bring It All Back Home knocking round the house somewhere. Didn’t know about Highway 61 Revisited really until I 1st saw the Last Waltz in 2001.
Did know about the Free Trade Hall gig because my Dad used to bang on about the bootleg being mislabelled all the time although I never heard it until years later
Favourite track The Loansome Death Of Hattie Carol (this will change every 5 minutes but, always come back to this song)
Nailed on 5. Can’t put in to words how important an artist he is for me.
Favourite song is probably Desolation Row, but a lot of the early folk songs have memories of when I first met my wife and laying in bedrooms listening to that album. John Wesley Harding is an underrated classic as well.
He’s a five despite all the shite which is really saying something. Will be one of those historical figures that changed music forever despite generally being a magpie himself.
One of the few absolutely unarguable 5s. I’m no Dylan obsessive (I can take or leave almost everything he recorded after 1970 apart from Blood on the Tracks) but you can’t ignore the power, originality and brilliance of his 60s albums or their amazing influence. He was pretty much single handedly responsible for the culture at large accepting that rock and roll lyric writing could be a serious artistic pursuit.
Slightly surprised that I’m the first person to vote for Subterranean Homesick Blues - one of the 5 or 6 greatest rock singles of all time (although it was hard to chose between that and Like a Rolling Stone, which is another)
Also gets an extra point for the version of times they are a changing in the otherwise terrible Watchmen film for sounding like the most important thing ever