I grew up in Minnesota, and grew up in a home with older siblings who are the same age as Dylan.

Dylan himself mentioned listening to the radio late at night. Those weren't local stations he was referring to--in northern Minnesota, that meant listening to one of the 50-100,000 watt stations from far beyond Minnesota's borders--KC, Memphis or Little Rock stations. They weren't playing all that white bread suburban crap. Dylan said he was listening to it--I listened to it. So why it wasn't on Ron's and catspaw's radar, I don't know.

As I also mentioned, we listened to music that wasn't played on conservative mainstream radio (those Pat Boone and Connie Francis stations) in record shops.

I don't know that Dylan is or was "a genius" or even a great songwriter, to be honest. And I don't think anyone else can really say. Time and history will answer those sorts of questions. The reality is, Dylan's music appealed to a very small segment of the American music market: the children of the liberal and intellectual elites, who had formed a NY music scene in the Village in the 50s and 60s. The whole Dylan phenomenon was very much centered in a time and place. His appeal seems to have been pretty much only to his own generation, as the current generation has proven by it's inattention to Dylan's work. Not too many covers of Dylan songs are showing up on the current generation's albums or their radar. I just don't know how relevant his music will be in a historic sense. Right now, I'd have to say "not very, apparently". Which shouldn't surprise anyone really, as Dylan's music isn't danceable in the least. And much of it isn't really all that singable either.