What Dylan Was Actually Talking About, Plus More Choice Bits From The RS Cover Story
Bob Dylan doesn’t say much to the press these days, but when he does it sure can raise a ruckus. On Tuesday we released excerpts from his upcoming Rolling Stone cover story where he complained about the sound quality of recorded music these days. “There’s no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like — static,” he said. “Even these songs probably sounded 10 times better in the studio when we recorded ’em. CDs are small. There’s no stature to it.”
Within hours, the quotes were picked up by media outlets across the world, many of them comparing Dylan to a crochety old man yelling at kids to get off his lawn. But what was Dylan actually talking about? Check out this Talking Points Memo post for a nice quick description of what happens in modern recording studios that Bob doesn’t like.
Now that that’s taken care of, here’s another amusing bit from the interview:
“You know, everybody makes a big deal about the Sixties. The Sixties, it’s like the Civil War days. But, I mean, you’re talking to a person who owns the Sixties. Did I ever want to acquire the Sixties? No. But I own the Sixties — who’s going to argue with me? I’ll give ’em to you if you want ’em. You can have ’em.”
Plus: if you feel like geeking out further, check out Google’s pretty cool collection of Dylan-related video clips, including choice outtakes from “Don’t Look Back.”