Electric Dylan controversy

By 1965, Bob Dylan was the leading songwriter of the American folk music revival.^{[a 1]} The response to his albums The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and The Times They Are a-Changin' led the media to label him the "spokesman of a generation".^[1]

In March 1965, Dylan released his fifth album, Bringing It All Back Home. Side one features him backed by a rock band, while side two features him accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. On July 20, 1965, he released his single "Like a Rolling Stone" featuring a more fully integrated folk rock sound. On July 25, 1965, he performed his first concert with electric instruments at the Newport Folk Festival, joined by pianist Barry Goldberg and of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, guitarist Mike Bloomfield, bassist Jerome Arnold and drummer Sam Lay, and with Al Kooper playing organ on "Like a Rolling Stone". Some sections of the audience booed the performance. Members of the folk movement criticized him for moving away from political songwriting and for performing with a rock band, including Irwin Silber^{[a 2]} and Ewan MacColl.^[2] Dylan continued his trend towards rock music on his next two albums, Highway 61 Revisited (1965) and Blonde on Blonde (1966).

On subsequent tours throughout 1965 and 1966, his electric sets (now backed by the Hawks) were often met with derisiveness from the audience. Crowds became particularly acrimonious during a British tour, including an oft-cited incident in Manchester, where a member of the crowd shouted "Judas!" at Dylan. Shows from this tour have been documented in several Dylan documentaries, including 2005's No Direction Home. Over time, Dylan continued to evolve musically, turning to country music on Nashville Skyline (1969), and drifting through numerous styles throughout the rest of his career. Retrospectively, his electric period has come to be recognized by critics and fans as producing some of his best-received music, and his controversial performance at Newport has been considered a pivotal moment in the development of folk rock.^[3][4]

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