10 Classic Rock Bands That Got Better After Selling Out
1. Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan has the distinction of having one of the most drastic shifts in tone of any other rock artist. When he started out, Dylan was known as the folk poet in the vein of Woody Guthrie, with subtle acoustic songs that had some of the most biting lyrics the world had ever heard. Once he picked up an electric guitar, everything started to change.
From his very first public performance with a rock band, Dylan was infamously heckled from the stage and was even labelled as "Judas" based on his betrayal of his folk roots. While the original fans of his work may have thought Dylan was hopping on trends, he was actually hitting on a new type of music no one had ever heard before.
Sure, the guitars may have been a bit more crunchy than his trademark acoustic, but the words behind these tunes were some of the most scathing critiques on the modern world. Incorporating his initial wordplay into rock helped inspire legions of artists to put more thought and attention into their lyrics, which helped launch the entire '60s Revolution. Even when Dylan was being accused of selling out, he was more ahead of the curve than any of us could have imagined.