Bob Dylan music compared to Bob Marely
Robert Zimmerman is - always was - an extremely complicated kind of guy, quite often complicated for the very sake of being complicated, sometimes complicated for a real good reason. he's got an 'unbearable' voice, his melodies are for the most part rudimentary, many of them are jibbered from traditional folk songs and most of the others fall into the standard blues/country pattern, and he often gets much too repetitive and even 'boring' in the pseudo-objective sense of the word. Dylan's primary strength lies in his lyrics. Sure, he was one of rock's greatest poets, and certainly the main force behind the 'lyrical revolution' that took place somewhere in the mid-Sixties, when people finally started listening to songs like 'Mr Tambourine Man' and getting away from the permanent 'girls-and-cars' thematics. And he's indeed a great poet. He started off as a funny, rambunctious, smarter-than-thou folk singer, then plunged into full-bodied psychedelia and afterwards just kept flooding every possible basement with one layer of unexpected, unpredictable imagery after another.
Bob Marley's music is definite proof that if your belief in something, even in something really silly, is profound and obstinate, you have all the chances to emerge with something otherworldly. Bob Marley created reggae by crossing more traditional Jamaican ska rhythms with R'n'B, gospel and blues. And in doing so, he has certainly provided one of the main standing points for the New Wave movement - let us not forget the deep impact Marley and Co. had on bands like the Clash, and more importantly, that the Police took the reggae sound and created a whole new type of pop music based on its minimalistic chuggin' rhythms and 'economic' approach to instrumental power. Marley doesn't just spout out gibberish or something; his songs are deeply felt and suffered through, giving voice to the poor people of Jamaica, heck, to the Third World in general, sometimes complaining about their problems, sometimes giving us lectures in spirituality, sometimes just calling for unification. It's no wonder that in his Jamaican homeland Bob had acquired a certain Messianistic status, nor is it any wonder that while he was still alive, he shared the unofficial title of Nicest Guy in music; the "vibe of friendliness" just oozes out of almost every note he sings (and plays). When he's gentle and loving, he's the most gentle and loving person on Earth ('No Woman No Cry', 'Waiting In Vain'); when he's pessimistic, he's the most desperate being on the planet ('Concrete Jungle'); but he can also be stern and detached, as on Exodus, or playful and unpretentious, as on Rastaman Vibration.
The evolution of music
The music in the 60's was inspired by all the demonstrations. Nearly all of the music that was made at the time was in protest against war, peace etc. Some of the most famous were Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens, John Lennon, and Stevie Wonder. "Blowing in the wind" by Bob Dylan was in protest against, war, peace and freedom. The music today doesn't have much identity. All the songs are pretty much about the same, love or longing. It can get quite singsong in the long run. Furthermore in the 60's the artist made most of the songs themselves, while today more and more get other people to write their songs. The lyrics are much more personal today. You write a song about your girl- or boyfriend. The 60's they wrote about common problems that concerned the whole society, like war, peace and freedom. The music today compared with the 60's is completely different. The technology has changed the music considerably. Today we have much more of the technical facilities, like electrical pianos, violins, guitars. This makes the music much more fake, I think. They twist their voice into robot voices and make it disturbing to listen at. In the 60's they had to make the music of basic instruments. Like acoustic guitars, drums etc. And this makes it much more