The Exhaustively Detailed Music Analysis Blog

  The artist in rock and roll history who has the most literary significance, and perhaps the artist who is the most responsible for moving forward the boundaries of artistic expression in English-speaking culture in the rock and roll era, is Bob Dylan. He grew up in Minnesota and came to New York City in the early years of a cultural revolution and began integrating himself into a folk music tradition that was increasingly indebted to rock music as it pushed itself to the popular consciousness. His songwriting is potent and features an insistence on running back and forth between the interpersonal and the political. In that expressive space, he opened up a way for Americans to consider how their personal lives and their yearnings fit into a bigger picture in our changing landscape.   One other major feature in assessment of the canonicity of Bob Dylan as a primary figure in rock music history and rock influence is his enigmatic image. That is where he shows his greatest r...

  Many lists of rock and roll’s most famous or greatest artists list The Beatles at the top, and the majority of those who don’t have Elvis Presley there put The Beatles in the number one spot. There seems to be major, wide agreement that they are either the most influential or the second most influential artist of rock and roll. I think that many critics and listeners would also argue that they are the most famous band out of the entire recording era (1890s-present).   There are five categories that I’ve been using in compiling this list and thinking about order: popularity, talent, influence, critical acclaim, and career longevity. And The Beatles are thought of as being close to the top ranking in all of these except career longevity. They were only active as a performing and recording unit for a bit longer than a decade, but even after their 1970 split one could argue that they remained in the public consciousness in a huge way—and throughout many countries—up to the p...