# Assholes Who Don't Like Dylan's Voice **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 31, 2001, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assholes-who-dont-like-dylans-voice/52493 "2001-01-31T02:08:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2001, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assholes-who-dont-like-dylans-voice/52493/61 "2001-01-31T16:03:37Z")
Alright . . . Who ARE you and what have you done with our humorous, cuddly teddy-bear Ukulele Ike, he of the mature and well-thought-out arguments and opinions? Could this be—gasp!—Bizarro Ike, come here to disrupt the Board by posting asinine, ill-tempered and intellectually insulting tirades under our beloved Ike’s name? Yeah, that’s gotta be it. P.S. Love Bob Dylan’s songs. Hate his voice. I also happen not to care for Coleman Hawkins, Frank Sinatra or Beethoven. Getcher panties out of that bunch about it, boy-o. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2001, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assholes-who-dont-like-dylans-voice/52493/62 "2001-01-31T16:12:06Z")
[hijack] I want to see someone make a movie in which Matt Dillon plays a character named James R. Ness (Eliot’s brother). [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2001, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assholes-who-dont-like-dylans-voice/52493/63 "2001-01-31T16:19:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike \* > \*\*I do maintain that acquired tastes are more rewarding than listening to top-40 singles and eating white sugar straight from the bowl. \*\* I **completely** agree with you there, Ike. I still don’t like Bob Dylan. If I decide to try once again to like him, though, it won’t be because I worry I won’t be a real grown up unless I do. I know that Bob Dylan is a great folk singer, very highly respected and appreciated by smashing folks such as yourself. He’s just not my dram of Lagavulin. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2001, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assholes-who-dont-like-dylans-voice/52493/64 "2001-01-31T16:25:12Z")
I have always found it significant that **I am tone deaf** and I can’t stand to listen to the sound of Bob Dylan’s voice. I’m not sure what it signifies, but it might be something. Now kindly pass me some of that Chateau Lafitte-Rothschild, thank you very much. Do I have to use a glass, or can I chug-a-lug it right from the bottle? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2001, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assholes-who-dont-like-dylans-voice/52493/65 "2001-01-31T16:27:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*asinine, ill-tempered and intellectually insulting tirades \*\* Hmph. This from the woman who releases banshee wails each time it becomes obvious that 90% of our little on-line community doesn’t watch pre-1970 movies? C’mon. You’re as bad an Elitist as any of us. Worse. C’mon. You know you are. C’mon. C’mon. Tickle, tickle, tickle, tickle… ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2001, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assholes-who-dont-like-dylans-voice/52493/66 "2001-01-31T16:55:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by delphica \* > \*\*I have always found it significant that **I am tone deaf** and I can’t stand to listen to the sound of Bob Dylan’s voice. I’m not sure what it signifies, but it might be something. > \*\* Now, **that’s** quality entertainment! FTR, I think the entire music and entertainment industry would serve us better if y’all stopped arguing about the relative talents of old posers like Dylan/Springsteen/Petty etc and started discussing musicians with some _relevance_ to today. Hell, I’m in my mid-thirties but I can still find and dig: Jill Sobule Michelle Shocked Eddie From Ohio Mary Prankster Emmit Swimming Cowboy Mouth and a multitude of other struggling, worthy musicians. So get off your anal-rententive, stuck in the 70s asses and look around! - Jonathan “listening to ‘Dustbowl Ballads’ from Woody Guthrie right now” Chance ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2001, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assholes-who-dont-like-dylans-voice/52493/67 "2001-01-31T16:59:12Z")
Of course I’m an elitist—a bigger elitist than YOU are, I’ll bet. But I do try not to froth at the mouth and call people assholes if they suggest that, say, Rudolph Valentino, couldn’t act. . . . And stop tickling. That’s for after work tonight. Room 405 at the Algonquin, right? You have the “Will Geer Bad-Girl Stick?” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mermaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@The\_Mermaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mermaid)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2001, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assholes-who-dont-like-dylans-voice/52493/68 "2001-01-31T16:59:12Z")
I love Bob Dylan, Would have named my son Dylan but that would have made him Dylan Thomas---- and that’s just cruel. Bob’s voice is undescribable and at times undecipherable but is always unforgettable. I think as a songwriter he is a genius. Just listen to his original Mr. Tamborine Man. “and we’ll dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free Silhouetted by the trees,circled by the circus sand with all memory and fate, driven deep beneath the waves let us forget about today until tommorow” I love Bob Dylan 'nuff said ---
**Author:** ![Kricket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f14d63/32.png) [@Kricket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kricket)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2001, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assholes-who-dont-like-dylans-voice/52493/69 "2001-01-31T17:08:25Z")
Tom Petty did not start out as a Dylan wannabe. When Petty first started it was southerfried rock. Nothing like what he turned into over the years. Go back and listen to some of his earlier stuff. It is so far away from what he is doing now. And “The Boss” sucks ass. Hey, let’s get in front of a mic and scream out some tunes in a hoarse voice. That’s okay, women only like me for my tight jeans. Damn it you guys I was so trying to stay civil here. I can respect that people like different music. Hell, there is only a handful of music that my husband and I can agree on. Let alone trying to agree with half the world. In the words of the Beatles, “Let it Be”. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2001, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assholes-who-dont-like-dylans-voice/52493/70 "2001-01-31T17:58:55Z")
I agree with Ike, here. It’s not the fact that you might not like Bob Dylan’s voice that is a problem. It’s the claim that his voice is bad, or that he lacks talent, as a singer. The first is a matter of taste, and you are welcome to your wonderbread. I like rye. I once had a few bottles of Chateau Lafitte-Rothschild, (a seventy six, for those with enough savvy to be jealous, and yes, it was just what they say.) I had a few friends over, and poured two glasses of dark red wine for each of them. One the premiere vintage of the second half of the century, the other, Gallo Mellow Red, of the current month. (The screw top, not the bag, there are limits, after all.) My friends preferred the Gallo, thank you very much. Not a problem, really. They like sweeter tastes. But the fact that the Rothschild lost five to nothing in the test does not make it bad. It was good. Really good. But it was not sweet. Dylan is not sweet, nor is he mellifluous. He does not croon. But he has a great voice. His voice is not pretty, but it is great. It puts forth his passion, and does so with an emotional precision seldom heard in popular music. He rocks, he raves, he cries, and he scornfully declaims himself. You might not like Bob Dylan, and you might not like Chateau Lafitte-Rothschild. But that does not make Dylan a hack singer, and it does not make the wine swill. It does say your palette is unsophisticated. Sophistication is not better, but it is different. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2001, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assholes-who-dont-like-dylans-voice/52493/71 "2001-01-31T18:10:02Z")
“Roughness, toughness and grit” are fine in a singer’s voice. Whining and sneering are something else. Dylan is just an acquired taste. Sort of like self-mutilation. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2001, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assholes-who-dont-like-dylans-voice/52493/72 "2001-01-31T18:13:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Triskadecamus \* > \*\* > You might not like Bob Dylan, and you might not like Chateau Lafitte-Rothschild. But that does not make Dylan a hack singer, and it does not make the wine swill. It does say your palette is unsophisticated. Sophistication is not better, but it is different. > \*\* Liking or disliking Dylan’s ‘voice’ does not speak of a lack or a possession of sophistication. Some of us would rather listen to Nina Simone and Billie Holiday than some nasal, atonal whining multi-millionaire. And just because some people don’t care for Nina’s voice doesn’t mean I have to insult them and tell them they have no taste. The value isn’t in the pretentiousness of the bottle, the value is in the taste and the body. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2001, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assholes-who-dont-like-dylans-voice/52493/73 "2001-01-31T18:20:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dylan \* > _ **John Corrado** _…_sigh_…must be put on notice that another poster has captured my imagination… Sigh. I’ll just sit over here in the corner, tangled up in blue… ---
**Author:** ![Spritle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Spritle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spritle)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2001, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assholes-who-dont-like-dylans-voice/52493/74 "2001-01-31T18:39:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hastur \* > \*\*Some of us would rather listen to Nina Simone and Billie Holiday than some nasal, atonal whining multi-millionaire. > > \*\* Who mentioned Dennis Rodman? ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2001, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assholes-who-dont-like-dylans-voice/52493/75 "2001-01-31T18:39:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hastur \* > Liking or disliking Dylan’s ‘voice’ does not speak of a lack or a possession of sophistication. Some of us would rather listen to Nina Simone and Billie Holiday than some nasal, atonal whining multi-millionaire. It is not the like for Holiday, nor even the dislike for Dylan that speaks to a lack of sophistication. It is the need to despise that which you do not appreciate. I prefer Simone to Holiday by a great margin, however I don’t find it necessary to belittle Holiday as a justification for my taste. Whining and atonal are inaccurate, and millionaire inapplicable to the question. You don’t like Dylan. Your loss. But it does not make his talent less. It does show your lack of sophistication that you cannot see that. Tris ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2001, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assholes-who-dont-like-dylans-voice/52493/76 "2001-01-31T18:44:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Triskadecamus \* > \*\* > It is not the like for Holiday, nor even the dislike for Dylan that speaks to a lack of sophistication. It is the need to despise that which you do not appreciate. I prefer Simone to Holiday by a great margin, however I don’t find it necessary to belittle Holiday as a justification for my taste. Whining and atonal are inaccurate, and millionaire inapplicable to the question. You don’t like Dylan. Your loss. But it does not make his talent less. It does show your lack of sophistication that you cannot see that. > > Tris \*\* As arrogant as ever I see. Taste is subjective. So is the concept that Dylan ‘sings.’ It does not speak of a lack of sophistication. It speaks of a different taste. I can share a taste without forcing it on others. You and Ike have to make others believe the same things otherwise there is something wrong with them. Whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2001, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assholes-who-dont-like-dylans-voice/52493/77 "2001-01-31T18:57:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hastur \* > > As arrogant as ever I see. > > Taste is subjective. So is the concept that Dylan ‘sings.’ > > It does not speak of a lack of sophistication. It speaks of a different taste. > > I can share a taste without forcing it on others. You and Ike have to make others believe the same things otherwise there is something wrong with them. Whatever. Ok, let me see if I am following your argument. I say that denigrating the inherent quality of one artistic endeavor is unsophisticated, although simply disliking it is a matter of taste. You say that what Dylan does isn’t even singing. That makes me arrogant. And you, of course, are the sophisticated champion of individuality, right? :wally Tris ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2001, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assholes-who-dont-like-dylans-voice/52493/78 "2001-01-31T19:26:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Triskadecamus \* > \*\* > Ok, let me see if I am following your argument. > > I say that denigrating the inherent quality of one artistic endeavor is unsophisticated, although simply disliking it is a matter of taste. > > You say that what Dylan does isn’t even singing. > > That makes me arrogant. > > And you, of course, are the sophisticated champion of individuality, right? > > :wally > > Tris > \*\* Still reading into a post whatever you want to it supports your narrow and somewhat clueless view I see. One can have an opinion that differs from yours, including that Bob Dylan is an abyssmal singer, and it can just be an opinion, you incredible dickhead. I never claimed to be a sophisticated champion of individuality… but I’ll take the accolade anyway. At least I can have a point of view about something as subjective as art and not expect everyone to agree with me. So, be a conformist and demand everyone else conform. Your requirement that everyone recognize Dylan is no different than your annoying habit of everyone having to recognize your deity. Fuck you, Tris. ---
**Author:** ![Nacho4Sara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Nacho4Sara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nacho4Sara)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2001, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assholes-who-dont-like-dylans-voice/52493/79 "2001-01-31T19:30:42Z")
> [@](#): > > Once, when I was 17 years old, I scrawled the entire lyrics of that song on a desktop, after class. The desk, of course, belonged to girl I was madly in love with at the time. She and I never got together, and she never knew that it was I who wrote to her. > > I had forgotten all about that until just now. > > For the record, nowadays my favorite Dylan song is “Sara”. We’re getting married Sunday, baby. Before the honeymoon, do you mind tatooing “So easy to look at, so hard to define” on your ass? (Obviously, I love that song. Not as much as “Tangled Up In Blue” or “4th Time Around,” but I still love it.) I would like to insert here that both Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen are two of my favorite singers. “Born to Run” is my most favorite rock song ever. Every time “Dancing in the Dark” plays at work, I do a boogie-woogie for the customers. And “Thunder Road” - an epic. Truly an epic. Springsteen is a poet, though not on the same level as Dylan. And I also love Billie Holliday and Nina Simone. “I Want A Little Sugar in my Bowl” is my theme song. “These Foolish Things” will play at my wedding (to Alessen. Sunday. Ya’ll are invited.) I can absolutely understand why Ike is all pissed here. I love to read. It’s in my blood. And I want to cry when people say that Shakespeare, Dickens, Faulkner, or Joyce are poor writers. Yes, they are hard to read. Yes, they are complicated and difficult, but in the end, reading “The Rape of Lucrece” or “Great Expectations” is as rewarding an experiance as I can possibly imagine. It’s art; it’s beauty, it will be loved and cherished long after we die, and Britney et.al. are playing a fool’s game in trying to compete. Yes, it all boils down to personal opinion. It’s not being arrogant to say that it’s your loss to not love Bob Dylan. Every time I hear “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands,” I am left breathless. It makes me sad that other people cannot get past his unique voice. And it’s terribly childish say that he sucks because _you_ don’t like him. ---
**Author:** ![Silo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@Silo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silo)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2001, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assholes-who-dont-like-dylans-voice/52493/80 "2001-01-31T19:45:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Triskadecamus \* > You don’t like Dylan. Your loss. But it does not make his talent less. It does show your lack of sophistication that you cannot see that. > > Tris \*\* I don’t care for his vocals (I think they sound aweful), I have a certain respect for him though. So anyway, my palette is unsophisticated? When did appriciation for Dylan’s voice merit a sophisticated individual? _Please explain._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assholes-who-dont-like-dylans-voice/52493.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assholes-who-dont-like-dylans-voice/52493.md?page=5)