Bob Dylan Said The Beatles Weren’t Rock ‘n’ Roll: ‘English People Can’t Play Rock ‘n’ Roll’
Bob Dylan considered himself a fan of The Beatles, even early in their career. He found their innovation impressive and knew they would be a success. When discussing their music, though, Dylan admitted that he did not view them as a rock ‘n’ roll band. He believed that British people typically were not making rock music.
Bob Dylan was an early fan of The Beatles
When Dylan first heard The Beatles, he found them incredibly impressive, noting that their ability to work together as a band shone through in their songs.
“They were doing things nobody was doing,” he told Rolling Stone in 1972. “Their chords were outrageous, just outrageous, and their harmonies made it all valid. You could only do that with other musicians.”
He said that he always knew they had staying power, even when others doubted it.
“But I just kept it to myself that I really dug them,” he said. “Everybody else thought they were for the teenyboppers, that they were gonna pass right away. But it was obvious to me that they had staying power. I knew they were pointing the direction of where music had to go. I was not about to put up with other musicians, but in my head The Beatles were it. In Colorado, I started thinking it was so far out that I couldn’t deal with it — eight in the Top Ten.”
Bob Dylan said The Beatles weren’t a rock band
In a 1966 interview, Dylan spoke about growing up listening to rock music, explaining that this was why the genre was so pervasive in the United States. He noted that the British Invasion shook things up, though.
“Now it’s different again, because of the English thing,” he said, per the book Dylan on Dylan: Interviews and Encounters. “And what the English thing did was, they just proved that you could make money playing the same old kind of music that you used to play … And that’s the truth. That’s not a lie. And it’s not a come on or anything. But the English people can’t play rock ‘n’ roll music.”
He added that while he liked The Beatles, he did not consider them a rock band.
“Oh, the Beatles are great, but they don’t play rock ‘n’ roll,” he said, later adding, “Rock ‘n’ roll is just four beats … an extension of twelve-bar blues. And rock ‘n’ roll is a white, seventeen-year-old-kid music. That’s all it is. Rock ‘n’ roll is a fake kind of attempt at sex.”
Were they a rock band?
While Dylan didn’t clarify what genre he believed The Beatles fell into, was he right in saying that they weren’t a rock band? Some define the band as a pop group instead of rock. While they were one of the most popular groups of their time, they were not just a pop band. The band blended different styles of music, and the end result can be considered both pop and rock.
Their work as a band influenced rock music for decades to come. Artists like Tom Petty, Gene Simmons, Joe Perry, and Nancy Wilson have all said that seeing the band on The Ed Sullivan Show changed their lives. Even if Dylan didn’t view them as rock artists, they changed the genre forever.
