Yes, Dylan's electric debut was "Bringing It All Back Home" in 1965, which was about half electric, half acoustic, and had probably the finest collection of lyrics he ever put on an album. That was followed by 2 fully electric albums..."Highway 61 Revisited" in 1965 and "Blonde on Blonde" in 1966. Those albums were a gigantic influence, in that they divided the folk community, basically ended the "folk scare", drove people to either hate Dylan (for not meeting their expectations) or love him (for expanding their horizons). The whole scene was influenced by those albums. The Beatles and the Stones and everybody else that mattered much was influenced by them. Hendrix was too.

I think the majority of hardcore Dylan fans I've ever met consider "Blonde on Blonde" to be his finest album. I think it's one of the finest, but I rate "Bringing It All Back Home" just a tad above it...I think...not that it really matters. ;-)

Opinions, after all, are as common as dust, aren't they? And about as valuable too.

The Kingston Trio were there at exactly the right time, and were totally inoffensive and unremarkable. Accordingly, they sold an incredible number of albums. Well, so did Harry Belafonte. Remember? I don't call that influential...I call it "generating big sales". There's a difference.

The Monkees generated big sales. The Spice Girls generated big sales too, didn't they? Does anyone care now?

Vincent Van Gogh couldn't sell much of anything when he was alive. Would you say he was "not influential" now? Dylan will be remembered for a long time, and so will certain of his songs...specially to musicians. Why? Because he changed the way people thought about life and about themselves. The people who sell a billion albums most easily are the ones who do not present any new ideas at all to the public, but just sound nice and predictable. I don't call that influential, but I do call it profitable.

As I recall, the Carpenters consistently outsold Dylan during their heyday. Well...that's good for a laugh, isn't it? Bland predictability sells. Superficial style without content sells. Sound and fury signifying nothing sells. (like "action" movies) Why do you think the entertainment media just repeat themselves most of the time? It demands little thought, and it promises a predictable reward.