10 Musical Switchups That Fans Absolutely Hated
6. Dylan Goes Electric
Towards the mid '60s, Bob Dylan was quickly garnering the mantle of music legend. Along with being a proud leader of the folk revival, his work on songs like Blowin in the Wind made him sound like the logical follow up to someone like Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. All those accolades...and he picked then to switch up his sound.
Donning an electric guitar for the first time in 1965, Dylan was lambasted as a folk heretic, with his OG fans claiming that the new wave of rock and roll had no place in their style of music. Dylan was determined to go down with the ship though, doubling down on the rock flair on songs like Highway 61 Revisited and going so far as to become friendly with acts like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
What those folkies were missing at the time though was some of the most transcendent rock music ever made. While Dylan's vocals are still an acquired taste for many, his wit when coming up with lyrics certainly hadn't gone anywhere, with songs like Ballad of a Thin Man and Desolation Row hitting as hard as his early protest songs could ever hope to do. This wasn't the sell out that everyone thought it was...it was just the same message in a different uniform.