Dylan at 80
A Reminder to Stand Up and Stand Out
Bob Dylan turns 80 today.
Wow.
Robert Zimmerman left his tiny northern hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota, in the fall of 1959, and after a few stops along the way, he arrived in New York City in 1961. That would be the beginning of a legendary 60-year career in music.
His early work, steeped in the folk music traditions, was mostly just Bob and his guitar. Songs like “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are A-Changing” became anthems of the early 60s. Later that decade he would go electric and deliver classics like “Like a Rolling Stone” and “All Along The Watchtower”. Through the 70s he would take his fans on eclectic journeys in different directions, giving us songs like “Hurricane” (my personal favorite Dylan song) and “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”. He played at Live Aid in 1985 and later joined Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, George Harrison, and Geoff Lynne as a founder of The Traveling Wilburys supergroup. His work through the 90s and 00s would run the gambit from acoustic folk to gospel, from rockabilly to western swing, to a bizarre Christmas album in 2009.
All along the way, Bob Dylan has always been uniquely Bob Dylan.
To those who love Dylan, he’s a masterful singer.
To those who dislike him, his nasal whine is painful to hear.
But nobody can deny that Bob Dylan is the absolute best Bob Dylan, ever.
Bob Dylan isn’t a musician, he is a category of music unto himself.
When a singer comes along with an acoustic guitar or a harmonica and a powerful lyrical message, they are heralded as “the next Bob Dylan”. Over the years, that title has been handed out to everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Elvis Costello, and yet there is never really a “next” Bob Dylan. There is just Bob Dylan, and everyone else.
Bob Dylan reinforces two vital lessons for your organization.
Stand for something! From day one, Bob Dylan had a message to send. He had something to say, and he wasn’t afraid to say it. From the coffee shops of Greenwich Village to the stage of Live Aid, Bob Dylan brought his message with him. The only way to cut through is to actually stand for something.
Stand out from everything! There is nobody quite like Bob Dylan. When the world would zig, Dylan would zag. When you thought you had him figured out, he would change. Bob Dylan was never afraid to be unlike any other artist out there, no matter what price he had to pay.
Both standing for something and standing out from everything take commitment. It is scary and risky. You are likely to alienate some people along the way, just like Bob Dylan did at various times in his career. Not every move Dylan made was successful on its own, but he always found his way back to a successful place even when he went off track for a spell.
Ultimately, organizations and brands that choose to both stand up and stand out give themselves a huge edge over the competition.
On the occasion of Dylan’s 80th, Steven Hyden at Uproxx created a list of every Bob Dylan studio album, ranked. Even a huge fan like Steven admits not every album was great. He notes that some seemed strange or weak at the time of their release, but stand up as classics today in hindsight.