For many, Robert Zimmerman (Better known by his pseudonym Bob Dylan) is one of the first names that comes to mind when you think of classic folk music. He attracted a cult-like following that was unparalleled in their passion with release after release creating a discography consisting of albums such as Freewheelin’ to Blonde on Blonde and my personal favorite, Bringing it all Back Home. At the beginning of his career,  it seemed as though Dylan could do no wrong to the majority of his fan base. Once he reached 1965, the feelings of his devoted fanbase would be brought into question. Regardless though, when looking back on his career today, it is clear that Dylan has cemented himself within the revolutionary culture of the decade for his socially conscious and politically charged folk sound. 

 

The Newport Folk Festival ’64 vs. ’65

After he released his first album Bob Dylan in 1962, he quickly leaped into folk stardom as a performer at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival in Newport, Rhode Island. Thanks to his success with songs such as “The Times they are a-

Changin'”, He was a hit at Newport and would come back as a headliner just a year later in 1965. (He did perform at Newport for the first time in 1963 but that was not as much of note). 1965 is when Dylan started to evolve as a musician, but there is a lot of debate as to what actually happened in Newport on July 25, 1965, and what caused such raucous disdain. When he went out on stage that day, these committed fans seemingly turned on him, but what could possibly have made such committed followers turn? It could have been one simple thing: an outlet.

 

The most common “story” of that day, and the most iconic is the story that Dylan “Plugging in” was the sole cause of the onslaught of angsty middle-class folk “purists” as a display of their dismay over the new rock and roll sound of their hero.

 

Many people may not realize this, but the folk festival in Newport is THE festival for the genre, still drawing in fanatics year after year. Back in those days, folk was in its prime and Dylan was a visionary, masterfully blending social and political issues into lyrics that would resonate with the strifes of the middle-class youth in America. He would be the proverbial second wave after the originators such as Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. Dylan was familiar with the world of his primary audience as a stable middle-class youth from Hibbing, Minnesota who dropped out of college when he found his voice and an opportunity once he finally got to go out and see some of the world. He was a textbook example of the folk movement in every way in regards to his upbringing. 

 

Coming back to the festivals themselves, Dylan would perform a traditional acoustic set in 1964 at Newport with much praise from the audience. This was one of the moments that solidified him as a mainstay of folk music for the decade. He famously performed “Mr. Tambourine Man” all alone on stage.

 

 

By 1965, he was a powerhouse and one of the main draws at the festival among ranks including Pete Seeger and Peter, Paul and Mary. Dylan would be slated to play on the final day of the festival on July 25. When setup began, there were many confused eyes from the audience as staff began to set up amplifiers and other “unusual” equipment. Then Dylan walked out on stage with his iconic Fender Stratocaster and black leather jacket and opened with an electric version of the hit “Maggie’s Farm” to deafening boos from the audience.

 

 

Full performance at Newport with behind the scenes

 

Why Were Fans so Mad?

This is where things get fuzzy. Why was the crowd booing and why did

Bob Dylan think they were booing? Well, the most common answer to this question is that the committed fans were not prepared to hear their hero come out on stage and do a largely electric set. In their world, it could have been seen that acoustic folk was their own way of expressing resentment with the world and their desire for nonconformity in opposition to the norms and strifes towards their situation at the time. Electric guitar and rock and roll was still nonconformist by nature with its forced rebelliousness but was the mainstream music of “the man” nonetheless. As a result, there would be an overwhelming reaction coming from the audience about the sound. Their attitudes would also totally change when he switched to an acoustic guitar halfway through the set. Is it likely that this could be the ideas or urban legend from the story being told again and again? Sure, of course. It is hard to say what the audience was thinking at the time.

 

 

Another explanation was that the sound quality coming out to the audience was so poor that they were just complaining about this. There is also the explanation that his set was very short considering he was a headliner for the festival. The audience likely hoped that one of the draws of the festival would get more stage time, but that was not the case. Both of these are logical explanations for their reactions but in the end, Dylan believed that the loud booing was over his surprising decision to abandon his acoustic sound for the more popular electric sound. Dylan had released the single Like a Rolling Stone only five days before his performance at Newport. This meant that many of even his most passionate fans had likely not heard the song yet and had no warning about his leap from folk to rock

 

Their surprise is understandable if you take a step back and look at the music he was releasing up to that point. One of his biggest hits pre-plugging in was “Girl From the North Country” off of Freewheelin’ which was a pure acoustic ballad showing his love for a woman from back home in the north country (likely Minnesota where he was from).

 

 

 Soon after plugging in, he was releasing songs like “Subterranean Homesick Blues” off of Bringing it all Back Home which was a fast tempo, politically charged piece which would also garner much acclaim. This progression in his sound shows how Dylan plugging in was more of an evolutionary step, not as much abandoning his roots for greener pastures.

 

 

Career After Newport

 

Regardless, Dylan went on to have quite the fruitful career (regardless of what the angsty middle-class kids thought at the time) releasing dozens of albums and singles even up to today (Almost 60 years later). He also garnered countless awards and accolades including being the first songwriter to win Nobel Laureate as well as some assorted Grammys and many more…

 

 

In the end, I have to commend the nerve to go out on one of the most critical folk stages out there and plug in at that time. Even if that was not the reason for all of the booing, it still took a lot of backbone. He was visibly unphased by the event as well making this far from the end of Dylan’s career. Bob Dylan has placed himself as arguably the folk musician with the most longevity in the music industry with one of the most iconic performances of the 1960s as just a point on a timeline in an amazing career. In the end, Dylan did end up alienating his original hard-core folk fanbase, but those kids booing at Newport in 1965, probably tell people they were the only ones cheering when remembering it today after they finally got to see a bit more of the world…