Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan transformed American popular music by fusing folk tradition with electric instrumentation and surrealist poetry, creating a template for the singer-songwriter as cultural commentator. Emerging from Minnesota's folk scene in 1961, he became the reluctant voice of 1960s protest with "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" before scandalising purists at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival with an electric set. Albums like Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde married blues cadences to Beat Generation imagery, while his nasal timbre and conversational phrasing prioritised authenticity over technical polish. His persistent reinvention spanned country rock, Christian evangelism, and late-career retrospection on Time Out of Mind. Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016, Dylan's influence extends beyond music into literature and political discourse. His refusal to perform as a fixed identity, constantly reinterpreting his catalogue, established the artist as permanent work-in-progress rather than finished product.