I don't worship at the Dylan throne, but I've always been confounded by "traditional" folk claims that he has ripped the tradition off. Musical influences are musical influences. Dylan was influenced by *many* folk musicians in his formative years--Odetta, Woody, the Clancys, and others. He was also influenced by early rock and roll, which rarely gets discussed. Why is the ire so great for him supposedly "ripping off" the tradition or other folk musicians, and so little for his rock influences?

You don't hear similar complaints about the Band, for instance, and they were doing the very same thing Dylan was, but had different folk influences.

Seems to me, this particular sort of Dylan bashing is wholly unwarranted. Sheer begrudgery. And rooted in the British folk scene much more than the American folk scene, where Dylan's and the Band's folk influences, and the artful way they merged them with rock and roll, are much more widely appreciated.