Bob Dylan Didn’t Want to Admit He Was a Fan of The Beatles
In the early 1960s, Bob Dylan and The Beatles rose to fame, becoming key figures in the music industry. The Beatles frequently spoke about Dylan’s influence and how often they listened to his music. Dylan met and liked all four members of the band, but he didn’t speak nearly as much about being a fan of them. Dylan explained there were several reasons he didn’t want to admit that he listened to The Beatles.
The Beatles and Bob Dylan rose to fame at roughly the same time
In 1963, Dylan released The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. This was his second studio album but the first to feature primarily original songs. Much of the album consisted of political songs, cementing his reputation as a folk singer. The album peaked at No. 22 in the United States but hit No. 1 in the United Kingdom. Dylan acknowledged that the album kicked off his success.
“Although I didn’t know it at the time, the second album was destined to become a great success because it was to include ‘Blowin’ in the Wind,'” he said, per the book Down the Highway: The Life of Bob Dylan by Howard Sounes.
The Beatles took notice of Dylan’s album right around the time they were finding even greater levels of fame. The release of songs including “Love Me Do,” “She Loves You,” and “From Me to You” sparked Beatlemania in the United Kingdom. By 1964, they would be the biggest band in the world.
Bob Dylan didn’t want to admit he was a fan of The Beatles
The Beatles often spoke of their admiration for Dylan, and the American musician found them equally impressive.
“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.”
Still, Dylan didn’t want to admit he was a fan of the group.
“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.”
Did Dylan need to wax poetic about his love for The Beatles, though? While The Beatles were heavily influenced by Dylan, as evidenced by songs like “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” and “Norwegian Wood.” Dylan’s lyricism and experimentation was a step ahead of The Beatles and, while he admired the band, he didn’t learn much from them. While it would have been nice of him to speak publicly about his friends, he didn’t need to credit them for their influence.
This attitude eventually wore on John Lennon
Perhaps Dylan should have been more vocal about his appreciation of the band. They often discussed the ways he influenced them, and he spoke about it too. Lennon grumbled that Dylan didn’t admit that The Beatles had influenced him.
“Dylan liked to say how much the Beatles learned from him,” Beatles road manager Neil Aspinall said per the book John Lennon: The Life by Phillip Norman. “John used to mutter, ‘He learned a bit from us, too.'”
Toward the end of 1970s, Lennon’s opinion of Dylan had soured. He criticized some of Dylan’s work and described him as a company man.
