ON ROCK ’N’ ROLL

Dylan ostensibly began his career as a folk musician, and his full-force leap into the world of rock ’n’ roll is still discussed today. Though he said he listened to Glenn Miller before Elvis Presley, rock ’n’ roll hit him like a bomb. Not only was it explosive music, it “busted down the barriers that race and religion, ideologies put up.”

“Rock ’n’ roll was a dangerous weapon, chrome plated, it exploded like the speed of light, it reflected the times, especially the presence of the atomic bomb which had preceded it by several years. Back then people feared the end of time. The big showdown between capitalism and communism was on the horizon. … We lived under a death cloud; the air was radioactive.

“There was no tomorrow, any day it could all be over, life was cheap. That was the feeling at the time and I’m not exaggerating.”

For all that fear, though, Dylan said, “Rock ’n’ roll made you oblivious to the fear.”