'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 08 Aug 05 - 08:07 PM

Well, I've heard of (and even heard) some of those songs, but none of them changed my world!

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: John O'L
Date: 08 Aug 05 - 07:47 PM

Eric -

The song itself changed the nature of popular music. It changed what was played on radio all over the western world. It changed what listeners wanted from radio. One could argue that newstalk radio was a direct result of that song.
But these are just opinions and would need a lot of supportive evidence. That was not what I found incredible.

The incredible statements were that "songs don't change anything" (yours) and "war, religion, science, technology, economics etc., etc. probably had a greater 'World Changing' effect than a silly song..." (guest's).

The Scots would argue that the bagpipes have swung more than one battle their way, and I wonder why William of Orange went to the trouble to outlaw the harp in Ireland if songs are so inconsequential. (Was it W. of O.? Not sure.)
Consider also the influence Pete Seger had on the war in Vietnam.

I think you are underestimating the power of songs to move public opinion. You might say that not much has improved, and you may be rigfht, but consider how the world might be if he had not sung that song.

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: bobad
Date: 08 Aug 05 - 07:13 PM

Here's the link you requested.

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: Peace
Date: 08 Aug 05 - 07:12 PM

It was the first single to break the three minute mark for airplay. Prior to 'LaRS', DJs and their 'corporate' sponsors woould only play three-minute songs to keep the advertizers happy. Dylan's song changed that. How does it feel? Pretty damned good, Bob.

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: GUEST,Dave'sWife
Date: 08 Aug 05 - 05:36 PM

Can someone please post a link to the place where this came from? Thanks

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: MissouriMud
Date: 08 Aug 05 - 01:23 PM

Like a Rolling Stone certainly had a significant musical influence on me in several respects - it seemed to symbolize the move of "folk music" into "pop music" - up to then even with the Byrds doing Mr Tambourine Man - my folky group of friends had considerd Dylan a folk singer, but after that we werent sure what his music was   - it was cool but it wasnt stuff we could replicate on our accoustic 6 strings any more.   It really emphasized the progression in popular music away from traditional folk tunes presented in realtively simple formats (Kingston Trio, Brothers Four, early Joan Baez etc) to a much greater almost exclusive dominance of singer songwriter material and more complex modern productions.   This had started earlier, including, Dylan's first album, but the electrification just acellerated it. The Animlals electrified House of the Rising Sun earlier I think but we never considered them a folk act - but the combination of the Dylans electrification, the singer songwriting aspect and the very untraditional tune and lyrics and the fact that it was Dylan, who was really a folk god at that time - just came together to affect my view of music. Basically for my purposes around 1965 traditional folk music was dead (in my mind) and it took me about 35 years to get back to it. I was aware of people like Doc Watson (I did see him in 1967) and John Hartford, but Dylan really moved me - and I think many of my contemporaries- away from that type of music for a long time.   I cant say the content of the song really did much for me but stylistically it was very significant.

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: number 6
Date: 08 Aug 05 - 11:17 AM

"The World you SEE is the World of your perceptions...nothing more, nothing less...and that is ALL you will EVER see. Your perception of reality."

You got it with that line LH!

And Bob did change the world with that song.

sIx

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: Little Hawk
Date: 08 Aug 05 - 11:09 AM

I could not agree more with the poll's choice of "Like a Rolling Stone". It certainly changed me. I felt the same way Patti Smith did about it. It changed everything. The first time I heard the song, I just sat there in amazement, and then I played it over 3 more times before listening to the rest of the album (Highway 61 Revisited). It turned me overnight into a total Dylan fanatic. It said everything that an angry, frustrated young person wanted to hear. It was totally incredible. It was unlike anything that had been done before. It was cathartic, highly intelligent, and emotionally stripped bare. I soon found out that you could say that about a whole lot of the rest of Dylan's catalog too. His songs are gallant, they are courageous, they are enlightening, they are extraordinary. They make you think...or else maybe they don't. ;-) In the case of people who find that Dylan's songs don't seem to make them think...well, they obviously have a great need to listen to something else instead. Fine with me.

Of the other songs, I can certainly agree that "Satisfaction" changed a lot too. A great, great song. "Heartbreak Hotel"? Yeah, for sure. Elvis changed a lot in society. The Beatles? No question. They ALL changed the World...because they changed people's perceptions. The World you SEE is the World of your perceptions...nothing more, nothing less...and that is ALL you will EVER see. Your perception of reality.

No other song changed people's perceptions quite as radically as Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone".

Thank you, Bob!

"I'll remember you
When I've forgotten all the rest,
You to me were true,
You to me were the best.
When there is no more,
You cut to the core
Quicker than anyone I knew.
When I'm all alone
In the great unknown,
I'll remember you."

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 08 Aug 05 - 10:24 AM

OK John O'Lennaine, what exactly did it change ?

eric

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: bobad
Date: 08 Aug 05 - 09:18 AM

It gave a lot of us awakening adolescents six minutes of grinding time on the dance floor which I guess changed our lives if only for that period of time.

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: number 6
Date: 08 Aug 05 - 08:51 AM

It did change the world ... with the arrival of that song in the pop charts there there was, for a brief period in history, rock music with intelligent content and structure.

sIx

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: fat B****rd
Date: 08 Aug 05 - 06:40 AM

It changed me from "Is THAT Bob Dylan? " to "Gimme more Bob Dylan. Still love it and I don't worry about wether it changed anything or anybody.

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 08 Aug 05 - 06:22 AM

Didn't change mine much...

The Labi Siffre song 'So Strong' did though....

So did David Grays' 'This year's love'..... but for totally other reasons!

LTS

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: John O'L
Date: 08 Aug 05 - 06:09 AM

Not not curcumcised, not circumcised.

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: John O'L
Date: 08 Aug 05 - 06:08 AM

"Uncut" means not curcumcised doesn't it?

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 08 Aug 05 - 05:52 AM

what kind of people called themselves Uncut?
uncut with talcum powder? half cut with LSD? nicked with safety razor?

they are a bad influence on our nation's children, the sort of people who watch the 2nd showing of Neighbours when they've already seen the first.

ethnic diversity ....its our only hope.

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: John O'L
Date: 08 Aug 05 - 05:43 AM

It was a very different song from any that had ever been on the hit parade before. It changed everything.

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Aug 05 - 05:38 AM

It was just a song. It didn't change anything.

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: GUEST,Knowsfuckallaboutanything
Date: 08 Aug 05 - 05:29 AM

When my Dad explained to me what Chuck Berry's "My Ding-A-Ling" was all about, it certainly changed my world.

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: John O'L
Date: 08 Aug 05 - 04:40 AM

...and neither of you (eric & guest) think that a song could have any effect on war, religion, science, technology economics etc.?

I find that incredible. Even if the length of singles was the only thing changed by it, don't you think that alone had a cummulative ongoing effect? I mean didn't that ultimately produce Springsteen?

(Or is that a bit of a long bow to draw?)

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Aug 05 - 04:30 AM

I think that war, religion, science, technology, economics etc., etc. probably had a greater 'World Changing' effect than a silly song by some bozo who has never seemed to have the ability to actually sing!

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 08 Aug 05 - 03:43 AM

Like A Rolling Stone is a great song but songs don't change anything,
apart from how long singles were that is.

eric

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 07 Aug 05 - 11:27 PM

It wasn't a media-owned thing, so likely didn't count for this survey. Quite influential, though, as you say.

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: michaelr
Date: 07 Aug 05 - 11:24 PM

What, LSD didn't make the list?

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: number 6
Date: 07 Aug 05 - 11:01 PM

Great to see the Prisoner as a top rating TV series!!

'Like a Rolling Stone' isn't my favourite Bob Dylan song, I do believe it deserves the accolades.

Re: Clockwork Orange I saw it way back then when it premiered, was impressed.I'm a big Kubrick fan But seeing again about a month ago I was deeply disturbed, actually quite shook up ... I attribute this to how much the movie has evolved into reality and an 'age thing'.

sIx

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: John O'L
Date: 07 Aug 05 - 10:20 PM

Wait a minute, aren't you all being a little harsh? 'Like a Rolling Stone' certainly changed me, and while I may not have had a significant influence on the way the world works, had it not been for the song I might have.

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 07 Aug 05 - 07:53 PM

Changed the world from what? Into what?

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 07 Aug 05 - 07:50 PM

A downright silly poll.

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Aug 05 - 07:02 PM

Why no Sam Larner?

Subject: RE: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: greg stephens
Date: 07 Aug 05 - 06:37 PM

I'm very surprised Clive Dunn's "Grandad" didnt get a look-in, but fashion's a fickle thing.

Subject: 'Like a Rolling Stone' Changed the World
From: bobad
Date: 07 Aug 05 - 05:41 PM

LONDON (Reuters) - Bob Dylan's song "Like a Rolling Stone" topped a poll Friday to find the 100 songs, movies, TV shows and books that "changed the world" in the opinion of musicians, actors and industry experts.

Dylan's 1965 single beat Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" into second place in the survey for "Uncut" magazine.

Paul McCartney, Noel Gallagher, Robert Downey Jr, Rolling Stone Keith Richards and Lou Reed were among those who gave their views for the poll.

"I absolutely remember where I was when I first heard it. It got me through adolescence," rocker Patti Smith said of the winning song.

Ex-Beatle McCartney picked "Heartbreak Hotel" as his number one choice.

"It's the way (Presley) sings it as if he is singing from the depths of hell," McCartney said. "His phrasing, use of echo, it's all so beautiful. Musically, it's perfect."

The Beatles' song "She Loves You" ranked at number three, followed by the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction."

Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" emerged as the most influential film at number five, followed by "The Godfather" and "The Godfather II" films in sixth place.

"The Prisoner" was the top-ranking TV series at number 10, while Jack Kerouac's novel "On the Road" was the highest-ranking book, in 19th place.

Actor Edward Norton and ex-Beach Boy Brian Wilson also took part in the poll, marking the magazine's 100th issue