1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:05,080 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:09,480 Speaker 2: Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:12,840 Speaker 2: show that belts out the greatest hits of history every 4 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:17,720 Speaker 2: day of the week. I'm Gay Bluesier, and today we're 5 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:20,720 Speaker 2: talking about a pivotal moment in rock and roll history, 6 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:25,520 Speaker 2: the controversial day when folk legend Bob Dylan went electric. 7 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:37,760 Speaker 2: The day was July twenty fifth, nineteen sixty five. Singer 8 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:42,159 Speaker 2: songwriter Bob Dylan created controversy by using an electric guitar 9 00:00:42,479 --> 00:00:47,120 Speaker 2: at the Newport Folk Festival. He had appeared twice before 10 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:49,920 Speaker 2: at the annual event, but this was his first time 11 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:53,159 Speaker 2: playing an amplified rock and roll set, complete with an 12 00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 2: electric backup band. Itching to branch out from what was 13 00:00:57,080 --> 00:00:59,960 Speaker 2: expected of him, Dylan had decided to ditch as usual 14 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,960 Speaker 2: acoustic set just one night before the show. He clearly 15 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:06,280 Speaker 2: didn't think the switch would be a big deal, but 16 00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:10,520 Speaker 2: the crowd of nearly one hundred thousand folk music lovers disagreed. 17 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:14,840 Speaker 2: Until that night. The twenty four year old musician was 18 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 2: the poster boy for the American folk music revival of 19 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:22,640 Speaker 2: the early nineteen sixties. His topical songwriting captured the mood 20 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:26,000 Speaker 2: of the ongoing civil rights movement, and his no frills, 21 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:30,399 Speaker 2: mostly vocal music carried an air of authenticity which many 22 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:35,080 Speaker 2: felt was lacking in mainstream rock and roll. Folk purists 23 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:39,360 Speaker 2: viewed rock music as nothing but hollow commercial spectacle, and 24 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:42,200 Speaker 2: because they didn't want their own beloved genre to be 25 00:01:42,319 --> 00:01:46,480 Speaker 2: tainted by rock's crass influence, they generally believed that real 26 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:52,400 Speaker 2: folk music was played exclusively on acoustic instruments. The problem, then, 27 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:55,680 Speaker 2: at least from the purists perspective, was that Bob Dylan 28 00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 2: wasn't such a hardliner himself. He had started off in 29 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:02,360 Speaker 2: rock bands as a child and didn't play folk music 30 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:05,400 Speaker 2: until he became a student at the University of Minnesota. 31 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:09,320 Speaker 2: His early hits including Blowin' in the Wind, The Times, 32 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:11,839 Speaker 2: They Are a Change In and Don't Think Twice It's 33 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 2: All Right were all firmly planted in the folk genre. 34 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:18,760 Speaker 2: But in nineteen sixty five, six months before the Folk 35 00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 2: Festival in Rhode Island, Dylan released Bringing It All Back Home. 36 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 2: It was his first studio album to feature electric instrumentation, 37 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:32,440 Speaker 2: marking a major stylistic shift from his earlier sound. This 38 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:35,960 Speaker 2: apparent flirtation with rock and roll rubbed some of his 39 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 2: longtime fans the wrong way, But since half of that 40 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:43,000 Speaker 2: album still consisted of acoustic songs, most people gave Dylan 41 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:46,520 Speaker 2: a pass for the time being. The artist gave them 42 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:49,280 Speaker 2: a new cause for worry in late July when he 43 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:53,600 Speaker 2: released his most rollicking single yet, the fully Electrified Like 44 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:58,160 Speaker 2: a Rolling Stone. However, the track was dropped just five 45 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:01,880 Speaker 2: days before his scheduled appearing in Newport, so the full 46 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:05,800 Speaker 2: reality of Dylan's new musical direction still came as a 47 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:09,960 Speaker 2: shock to many at the festival. The same was true 48 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:12,959 Speaker 2: for the events organizers as well, who were caught off 49 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:16,480 Speaker 2: guard when Dylan's crew started setting up amplifiers and other 50 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:20,919 Speaker 2: electric equipment during sound check. Later that evening, Dylan took 51 00:03:20,919 --> 00:03:24,080 Speaker 2: the stage as scheduled, but instead of playing alone, he 52 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:27,480 Speaker 2: was accompanied by a backup band, which included Al Cooper 53 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:30,239 Speaker 2: on the electric organ, as well as several members of 54 00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:34,480 Speaker 2: the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, all of whom were also amplified. 55 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:39,920 Speaker 2: Dylan himself had sidelined his trusty acoustic guitar in favor 56 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 2: of a Fender stratocaster with a three tone sunburst finish. 57 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 2: He used it to play an electrified version of his 58 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:51,840 Speaker 2: popular protest song Maggie's Farm, and almost immediately a chorus 59 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:55,760 Speaker 2: of disapproval began to ring out from the crowd. The 60 00:03:55,800 --> 00:04:00,360 Speaker 2: shouts and booze continued through Dylan's next song, Too New 61 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:04,640 Speaker 2: Radio Hit Like a Rolling Stone. According to some reports, 62 00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:08,280 Speaker 2: the crowd's reaction was so ugly that veteran folk musician 63 00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:12,120 Speaker 2: Pete Seeger considered cutting the electric cables with an axe 64 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:15,320 Speaker 2: just to appease them. And while that certainly would have 65 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:18,200 Speaker 2: been an extreme reaction, listen to this clip from the 66 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:36,080 Speaker 2: performance and see if he would blame him. There's no 67 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:39,520 Speaker 2: denying that the crowd wasn't on Bob Dylan's side that night, 68 00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:43,560 Speaker 2: but the true reason for their backlash is still hotly debated. 69 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:48,279 Speaker 2: Some witnesses, including Dylan himself, attribute at least part of 70 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:52,160 Speaker 2: the audience's reaction to the poor sound quality of the performance. 71 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:56,000 Speaker 2: A common complaint was that the vocals were largely drowned 72 00:04:56,000 --> 00:05:00,200 Speaker 2: out by the instruments. Others believe the uproar was due 73 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:03,560 Speaker 2: to poor planning on Dylan's part. They argue that he 74 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:05,920 Speaker 2: should have played a longer set, as he had at 75 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:09,200 Speaker 2: previous festivals. That way, he could have started out with 76 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:12,440 Speaker 2: a few acoustic songs and then switched over to electric, 77 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 2: providing a less jarring transition for the crowd. There's likely 78 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:21,000 Speaker 2: truth to both of those theories, but most historians agreed 79 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:23,520 Speaker 2: that what prompted the bulk of the booing was a 80 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:27,240 Speaker 2: feeling of betrayal. Many in the audience had viewed Dylan 81 00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:30,440 Speaker 2: as the banner carrier for the whole folk music revival, 82 00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:33,440 Speaker 2: but now it seemed like he was casting his lot 83 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:37,239 Speaker 2: with the rock and rollers. After playing a third song, 84 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:41,640 Speaker 2: Phantom Engineer, Dylan and his electric band left the stage 85 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:45,360 Speaker 2: to a mix of cheers and booze. A few minutes later, 86 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:48,960 Speaker 2: after a failed attempt to calm the crowd, Dylan reappeared 87 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:52,440 Speaker 2: on his own with an acoustic guitar borrowed from another artist. 88 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:56,800 Speaker 2: He used it to perform two more songs, Mister Tambourine 89 00:05:56,839 --> 00:06:00,680 Speaker 2: Man and It's all Over Now, Baby Blue. Take a 90 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:03,960 Speaker 2: listen and note the difference in the crowd's reaction. 91 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:19,960 Speaker 1: And It's all over Now, Baby Blue. 92 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:25,200 Speaker 2: Dylan's foray into electric blues and rock and roll cost 93 00:06:25,279 --> 00:06:28,200 Speaker 2: him some fans in the die hard folk community, but 94 00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:31,640 Speaker 2: from a creative standpoint, and yes, from a commercial one, 95 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:35,080 Speaker 2: it proved to be the right career move. Breaking away 96 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:38,120 Speaker 2: from the folk genre allowed Dylan to experiment with a 97 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:43,000 Speaker 2: harder driving sound and more abstract lyrical songwriting. It also 98 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:46,240 Speaker 2: exposed him to a much wider audience, which also had 99 00:06:46,279 --> 00:06:49,200 Speaker 2: the effect of driving more people to folk music through 100 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:52,760 Speaker 2: his back catalog. Of course, none of that's to say 101 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:56,800 Speaker 2: that everyone at Newport was against rock and roll. Plenty 102 00:06:56,880 --> 00:06:59,960 Speaker 2: of folk fans liked Dylan's new sound and didn't consider 103 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:02,840 Speaker 2: heresy for him to pick up an electric guitar now 104 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:06,680 Speaker 2: and then. They knew that, as the musician had often 105 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:09,600 Speaker 2: told them the times, they were a change in and 106 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:13,280 Speaker 2: contrary to popular thinking, that isn't always a bad thing. 107 00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:19,920 Speaker 2: I'm Gabe blues Gay and hopefully you now know a 108 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:24,200 Speaker 2: little more about history today than you did yesterday. If 109 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:26,000 Speaker 2: you'd like to keep up with the show, you can 110 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:31,239 Speaker 2: follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show, 111 00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:34,400 Speaker 2: and if you have any comments or suggestions, feel free 112 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:36,840 Speaker 2: to send them my way by writing to this day 113 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:41,920 Speaker 2: at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Kasby Bias for producing 114 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:44,600 Speaker 2: the show, and thanks to you for listening. I'll see 115 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:58,840 Speaker 2: you back here again tomorrow for another day in History Class.