What Dylan Was Actually Talking About, Plus More Choice Bits From The RS Cover Story

Bob Dylan doesn't say much to the press these days, but when he does it sure can raise a ruckus. On Tuesday we released excerpts from his upcoming Rolling Stone cover story where he complained about the sound quality of recorded music these days. "There's no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like — static," he said. "Even these songs probably sounded 10 times better in the studio when we recorded 'em. CDs are small. There's no stature to it."

Within hours, the quotes were picked up by media outlets across the world, many of them comparing Dylan to a crochety old man yelling at kids to get off his lawn. But what was Dylan actually talking about? Check out this Talking Points Memo post for a nice quick description of what happens in modern recording studios that Bob doesn't like.

Now that that's taken care of, here's another amusing bit from the interview:

"You know, everybody makes a big deal about the Sixties. The Sixties, it's like the Civil War days. But, I mean, you're talking to a person who owns the Sixties. Did I ever want to acquire the Sixties? No. But I own the Sixties — who's going to argue with me? I'll give 'em to you if you want 'em. You can have 'em."

Plus: if you feel like geeking out further, check out Google's pretty cool collection of Dylan-related video clips, including choice outtakes from "Don't Look Back."

• 
  MUSIC Exclusive Live Chat With Linkin Park and Incubus
• 
  MOVIES & TV Peter Travers: 'The Avengers' Has it All
• 
  POLITICS Matt Taibbi: Jon Corzine Is the Original Zimmerman
• 
  VIDEOS Exclusive Premiere: Tenacious D's 'Tinnitus'

Song Stories

“Baby Got Back”

Sir Mix-a-Lot | 1992

While watching a Budweiser commercial during the Super Bowl, Sir Mix-a-Lot thought the skinny female models in the ad didn’t represent reality. So he wrote this ode to ample bottoms, featuring its famous to-the-point lyric: “I like big butts and I cannot lie.” MTV banished the video, featuring shaking booties and sexually suggestive fruit, to 9 p.m. or later. “I thought my career was over,” he told Rolling Stone. “Then I called Rick Rubin, and I told him the video was banned, and he was like, 'Great!' We sold another 2 million records.”

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter