DYLAN GOES ELECTRIC!: Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties

One of the music world’s pre-eminent critics takes a fresh and much-needed look at the day Dylan “went electric” at the Newport Folk Festival.

On the evening of July 25, 1965, Bob Dylan took the stage at the Newport Folk Festival. Backed by an electric band, he roared into a blistering version of “Maggies Farm,” followed by his new rock single, “Like a Rolling Stone.” The audience of committed folk purists and political activists who had hailed him as their acoustic prophet reacted with a mix of shock, boos, and scattered cheers. It was the shot heard round the world—Dylans declaration of musical independence, the end of the folk revival, and the birth of rock as the voice of a generation—and one of the defining moments in twentieth-century music.

In Dylan Goes Electric! Elijah Wald explores the cultural, political, and historical roots and impact of this seminal event. He delves deep into the folk revival and its intersections with the civil rights movement, the rise of rock, and the tensions between traditional and groundbreaking music to provide important insights into Dylans artistic evolution, his special affinity to blues, his complex relationship to the folk establishment and his sometime mentor Pete Seeger, and the ways he reshaped popular music forever.

Reviews

“Wald is a superb analyst of the events he describes. And his analyses fly in the face of conventional wisdom.” — Janet Maslin, New York Times

“Wald’s personal knowledge seems encyclopedic … An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism.” — Kirkus Reviews

“This is one of the very best accounts I’ve read of musicians fighting for their honor.” — Todd Gitlin, author of The Sixties and Occupy Nation

“Elijah Wald’s book reflects the many directions in which America’s music scene evolved in those extraordinary years, 1963-1970-I can’t recommend it enough.” — George Wein, Founder of the Newport Folk Festival

“Concise and entertaining … a great story, masterfully told, of how the times were, indeed, a-changin'-and why.” — Ed Ward, rock and roll historian for NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross and author of Michael Bloomfield: The Rise and Fall of an American Guitar Hero

“Easily the definitive account of Newport ‘65.” — CounterPunch Magazine

“There is no shortage of books about Bob Dylan … but Elijah Wald’s heavily researched book manages to offer new information and unique insight into the social context of this controversial moment in music history.” — Buzzfeed“

“A great work of scholarship, brimming with insight—among the best music books I have ever read.”—The Guardian

“Wald conjures up a vivid cultural battleground” Sunday Times

“Provides a deeply researched and entertaining chronicle of the culture clash that Dylan sparked from the Newport stage.” — David Remnick, The New Yorker 

ISBN

9780062366696

Format

Paperback

Publisher

Dey St., (14 June 2016)

Number of Pages

368

Weight

353.81 grams

Language

English

Dimensions

210 x 146 x 23 mm

Categories:

Traditional and folk music Popular music Reviews and criticism History of music