Dylan versus Elvis - Who's the Daddy

[Idris2002]

Much as I love Dylan at his best, I've got to go with Len there.

Runs in the family - me Ma was a BD fan, while me Da liked Leonard.

Mind you, me Da also liked Nana Mouskouri and ABBA, so there you go.

 

[changingman]

Elvis was a beneficiary of the innate racism in U.S. society (whereas Jimi H, by contrast, was a victim of it). White people (i.e. the people with disposable cash) wouldn't dream of buying what were then called "race" records (later the euphemism "rhythm and blues" replaced that term), so Elvis rerecorded songs by the likes of Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup and Junior Parker, thus making them saleable to the mass white market. (Jimi, on the other hand, played "white" rock music so had to come over here in order to sell records to white folks.) So Elvis, IMHO, was an irrelevant sideshow.

Dylan, on the other hand, remains a complete mystery to me. My guess is he appeals to people 1. with intellectual pretensions but not much intellect, and 2. who are tone-deaf.

My vote would go to Junior "Mystery Train" Parker if that were allowed, or his Memphis partner-in-crime Bobby "Blue" Bland. Neither Elvis nor Dylan come close.

 

[stavros]

I think the 60s girls were far more interested in 4 lads from Liverpool in the sex-appeal stakes than his royal Bobness.

I picked them both. Dylan was more revolutionary I guess in that Elvis, without belittling him, simply built on the foundations of the likes of Chuck Berry and Little Richard. Dylan didn't have any predecessors in how far he went. However Elvis' back catalogue holds water against just about anyone in the history of pop. I call a draw.

 

[maya]

...Elvis, for sod's sake!!!
...Dylan is a overrated, unmusical fraud!
*calmly awaits flaming*

 

[Dubversion]

Elvis was a beneficiary of the innate racism in U.S. society (whereas Jimi H, by contrast, was a victim of it). White people (i.e. the people with disposable cash) wouldn't dream of buying what were then called "race" records (later the euphemism "rhythm and blues" replaced that term), so Elvis rerecorded songs by the likes of Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup and Junior Parker, thus making them saleable to the mass white market. (Jimi, on the other hand, played "white" rock music so had to come over here in order to sell records to white folks.) So Elvis, IMHO, was an irrelevant sideshow.

while the initial claims of your post hold water, the conclusions you draw are those of an imbecile

just thought you should know.

 

[William of Walworth]

Not massively keen on either ...

(Not really in that crude sense. But I'm drunk right now so have a rubbish excuse )

 

[MightyAphrodite]

...Elvis, for sod's sake!!!

i had to go with Elvis too....i like dylan....but c'mon...its Elvis

There's 2 types of people in the world, those who've been to Graceland, and those who haven't.

 

[longdog]

Where's the Julian Cope option?

 

[ouchmonkey]

Elvis was a beneficiary of the innate racism in U.S. society (whereas Jimi H, by contrast, was a victim of it). White people (i.e. the people with disposable cash) wouldn't dream of buying what were then called "race" records (later the euphemism "rhythm and blues" replaced that term), so Elvis rerecorded songs by the likes of Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup and Junior Parker, thus making them saleable to the mass white market. (Jimi, on the other hand, played "white" rock music so had to come over here in order to sell records to white folks.) So Elvis, IMHO, was an irrelevant sideshow.

this is, frankly, just bollocks dressed as insightful comment and I suspect you either know this or need to read more than one book on the subject.

 

[changingman]

while the initial claims of your post hold water, the conclusions you draw are those of an imbecile

just thought you should know.

OK. I know now. Thanks.
Sorry for being so rude to Dylan fans. I was feeling a bit crabby yesterday. Like Divisive Cotton, when it comes to His Bobness I just don't get it. Different people like different things.. but then that's diversity innit?

Then again being asked to compare Elvis with Dylan is like being asked: which do you prefer, a Ford Cortina or a Digestive biscuit? There are no grounds on which to compare them..

 

[Iam]

Then again being asked to compare Elvis with Dylan is like being asked: which do you prefer, a Ford Cortina or a Digestive biscuit? There are no grounds on which to compare them..

Well, there's the music, for a start...

 

[changingman]

this is, frankly, just bollocks dressed as insightful comment and I suspect you either know this or need to read more than one book on the subject.

I wouldn't mind hearing why you think it's bollocks, if only to save me having to read more books on the subject.

 

[changingman]

Well, there's the music, for a start...

Not if you don't consider Dylan musical..

 

[Iam]

Said the man who thinks Weller's a genius.

Yes.

 

[changingman]

Said the man who thinks Weller's a genius.

No I never!

 

[Dubversion]

OK. I know now. Thanks.
Sorry for being so rude to Dylan fans. I was feeling a bit crabby yesterday. Like Divisive Cotton, when it comes to His Bobness I just don't get it. Different people like different things.. but then that's diversity innit?

Then again being asked to compare Elvis with Dylan is like being asked: which do you prefer, a Ford Cortina or a Digestive biscuit? There are no grounds on which to compare them..

so why the long, half-baked, ill-informed spiel on the matter then?

 

[changingman]

so why the long, half-baked, ill-informed spiel on the matter then?

Beats doing more work...Anyway it's always good to challenge widely-held assumptions. Such as that Van Morrison is a good singer..

 

[Dubversion]

Anyway it's always good to challenge widely-held assumptions.

quite the provocateur, aren't you? certainly made me reevaluate a few of my tired bourgeois preconceptions.

Such as that Van Morrison is a good singer..

you're a disgrace, mate.

 

[Louis MacNeice]

Who's the Daddy? Elvis TCB.

Louis Mac

 

[HarrisonSlade]

Dylan.

Elvis was just a good voice and a pretty face: Dylan was a revolution.

No he wasn't, he was a repetititive, over rated folk rock singer who sounded like he had a rottweiller up his arse. Elvis took the world by storm, and, not only revolutionised sexuality on TV, but created a moment where millions of people would all watch TV at the same time to watch one man. And he never did adverts for Starbucks.

 

[changingman]

No he wasn't, he was a repetititive, over rated folk rock singer who sounded like he had a rottweiller up his arse..

I like the cut of your jib. Wish I'd come up with that one..

 

[changingman]

quite the provocateur, aren't you? certainly made me reevaluate a few of my tired bourgeois preconceptions.

Nothing wrong with being bourgeois (see endless Stop the War thread in P&P)