History of Rock Music
Translated by Ornella C. Grannis)

As I was doing a research on the history popular music, I came up the history of Bob Dylan and his music and thought this would be interesting to look into. I found it both very interesting and controversial and thought it would make a good source for analysing using a Christian perspective on issues surrounding Christian rock music in the Church today, by it roots and branches. This is one of the few that I will be sharing in the next sessions. Join me in reviewing each as we unwrap and learn together. 

Very few musician have influenced the music and the culture of their times as Bob Dylan has.

Bob Dylan was the genial creation of Robert Zimmerman, a Jewish young man who grew up in the Midwest, the rural heart of the United States (Duluth, Minnesota), far away from the metropolises of the East and West. Bob Dylan (as he renamed himself in honor of the poet Dylan Thomas) moved to New York at the end of 1960 to pay a personal visit to the dying Woody Guthrie, and also to be part of the Greenwich Village circle.

The key to the interpretation of Dylan's work is religion. From the beginning, from the very first "talking blues", Dylan's music has always had a religious essence. Dylan was a bursting visionary who addressed the times in apocalyptic terms, who commented as a universal judge would, who threw mournful condemnations against the forces of evil ("the masters of war) and who raised gentle tributes to his guardian angels ("sad-eyed lady of the lowlands"). The ethical and political perspectives of his times were natural offsprings of the heroic Neo-Christianity of which he was the prophet, the inflexible repository of the truth, and the enforcer of the commandments. Dylan's litanies, whether sung in underground cafes or at impressive rallies, replaced Holy Mass. His message became the new liturgy for a secular society that longed for religious relevance.

According to Piero Scaruffi on the history of Popular Music and the phenomena of Bob Dylan, said of Dylan "... competes against the prophets of ancient Palestine and the vagrants of the Old West. Like them, he was mythological; his music was mythological, the music of a man enlightened by God to guide his people onto the righteous path". 

Bob Dylan was a lot more than a singer of protest songs. While that's how he started, he soon revealed a lyrical and musical talent that were far more developed than in any other folk-singer of his or any previous generation.

Bob Dylan was the single most influential musician of the 1960s. He started the fire. He turned music into a form of mass communication. He galvanized a generation through folk songs that became anthems. Then he embraced rock music and re-defined it as a genre of metaphysical, free-form compositions. Then he turned his back to rock music and delved into country-rock. The entire world of rock music followed his every step.

As I read and review this very "iconic" recall of the impact and contribution of this pioneer of Rock Music made in his time; and how it found its way into the socio-polictical era of our generation, long after in various forms. In particular Christian Rock, etc., I am left with more questions that answers.

Some of them being:

 1) Does the descriptions of Bob Dylan mimic that of a spiritual leader and if so how? 

 2) Can we separate Bob Dylan's peity and socio-political hymns with all its ideologies and make Christian hymns/ music acceptable for Worship to God, as we are doing today?

3) With the credit made in honor of Dylan, was God glorified by or with his talents, even though he admits using the bible to galvanize his songs?

4) Should Christians then incorporate these same tracks; ignoring the sentiments placed on the "so called orignator" of these beats, but baptizing them as "christian rock" because of our faith?

What do you think?