Chapter 21: Folk Revival and Folk Rock
In 1965, Bob Dylan made a series of daring artistic choices. The first public signs of Dylan’s evolving sound had come earlier that year with the release of “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” Though it only reached number 39 on the charts, it was sonically jarring for longtime fans: electric guitar, drums, and a driving rock rhythm replaced the sparse acoustic arrangements of earlier recordings. The song was accompanied by an influential promotional film clip—often considered one of the first modern music videos—in which Dylan stood in an alleyway dropping cue cards with selected lyrics. Beat poet Allen Ginsberg can be seen in the background, symbolizing the link between the folk and Beat generations and underscoring Dylan’s role as a literary and cultural bridge. The single’s fusion of rapid-fire lyrics and rock instrumentation was an early prototype for the style that would soon be dubbed folk rock.
That March, he released Bringing It All Back Home, an album that deliberately split itself between two musical identities. The first side features Dylan backed by a full electric band. These tracks—featuring electric guitar, bass, and drums—infused his biting wordplay with the urgency and volume of rock and roll. The second side, by contrast, retained the sparse instrumentation of voice, harmonica, and acoustic guitar that had defined his earlier protest songs, anchoring the album in the folk tradition that first brought him acclaim.
The album’s lead single, “Like a Rolling Stone,” was a watershed moment in American music. Clocking in at over six minutes—nearly three times the standard length of a radio single—it defied industry expectations and became the longest 45 RPM single released at that time. Despite its unconventional structure, the song climbed to number two on the Billboard Hot 100, signaling a sea change in what pop audiences were willing to accept. With Al Kooper’s improvisational organ lines and Mike Bloomfield’s jagged blues guitar, the track captured the raw energy of a band pushing the boundaries of rock. Dylan’s vocal delivery was urgent, sneering, and poetic, teetering between melody and speech, as he unloaded a scathing monologue on a woman who had fallen from privilege to isolation. Like many of Dylan’s compositions, the song posed a series of rhetorical questions, confronting the listener with biting irony.
The real explosion came that summer. On July 25, 1965, Bob Dylan took the stage at the Newport Folk Festival and delivered one of the most important performances in American popular music history. Backed by members of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band—one of the premier electric blues groups of the time—Dylan walked out with a Fender Stratocaster slung over his shoulder and launched into a short, electrified set that included “Maggie’s Farm,” the newly released “Like a Rolling Stone,” and “Phantom Engineer” (a work-in-progress that would soon evolve into “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry”).
The response was chaotic. Accounts vary: some claim the audience booed him for betraying the folk tradition, while others argue against this account. Paul Butterfield Blues Band Organist Al Kooper, who played bass with Dylan that day, insisted the boos weren’t about the music but rather the poor sound quality. Still others claim that the crowd shouted “More!” rather than jeers. A famous—and likely apocryphal—story tells of Pete Seeger attempting to sever the power cables with an axe in protest, though again he claims he was doing this due to the poor sound quality from the speakers. Whether or not these accounts are true, the symbolism stuck: Dylan had “gone electric,” and the folk world was in crisis.
Dylan was said to have "electrified one half of his audience, and electrocuted the other". To many folk purists, Dylan’s shift represented a betrayal. He was accused of selling out, abandoning politically conscious acoustic folk for the commercial trappings of rock music. But others saw it as artistic evolution. Rock fans embraced Dylan’s biting lyrics and gritty delivery, which offered a depth and seriousness rarely found in mainstream rock at the time. Regardless of opinion, one thing was clear: Dylan had crossed a threshold that could not be undone.
Despite the controversies, Dylan had not fully abandoned his folk roots. He continued to write songs about social issues, but his lyrics now carried layered meanings and multiple interpretations. Even his so-called “love songs” were often caustic and unromantic, offering wry, sometimes cynical observations on human behavior and relationships.
In 1966, Dylan released Blonde on Blonde, the first rock double album—preceding The Beatles’ White Album by more than two years. It cemented his folk-rock hybrid sound. One standout track, “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35,” rose to number two on the charts. The song, with its refrain “Everybody must get stoned,” seemed like a cheeky response to his critics. On one level, it mocked the judgmental folk establishment who condemned him for “selling out.” On another, it played with the dual meanings of the phrase: to be persecuted (as in biblical stoning) or to escape criticism through drug use. Either way, Dylan seemed unmoved by backlash and fully committed to his new musical direction. Ultimately, Dylan’s move into electric territory not only expanded the boundaries of his own songwriting but also ushered in an entirely new genre: Folk rock