July 25th 1965 – Bob Dylan Goes Electric at the Newport Folk Festival
Although it seems hard to believe now but the night Bob Dylan played an electric music set at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 the folk music scene blew up in a mountain of controversy and may have altered Bob Dylan’s musical career forever.
Dylan’s performance is caught on numerous documentaries and the boos can be heard all through his set which began with his song “Maggie’s Farm” which is why I used that in my cartoon. The reason Dylan did this has been debated but Dylan obviously knew what he was doing and rehearsed the night before after coming up with the idea for doing it. And before this happen Dylan had been strictly acoustic folk singer and a darling of the folk music scene and Newport Folk Festival had even helped further Dylan’s career but all that changed in an instant with just a few amplifiers.
In my cartoon I just wanted to have fun and blow the whole thing way out of proportion and make it completely absurd which I love doing. I had fun drawing the crowd; with each person responding differently to the music. I also exaggerated the guitar playing and amp’s by making the amps enormous an giving Dylan a Eddie Van Halen style guitar. I hope it gives you a laugh.
To find out more about this actual event check out these links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Dylan_controversy
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/dylan-goes-electric-at-the-newport-folk-festival
http://www.elektra60.com/news/5b3787-the-night-dylan-went-electric-newport-folk-festival-1965/
Awesome in its awesomeness. I love everything about it: Dylan, the guitar, the guitar cord, the text, the textures, the look of shock on the fans’ faces, the few fans who are diggin’ it. This is just great.
This is a real treat for me…I’m a big fan of both Bob Dylan and Frank Hansen…
=o)
Frank Hansen…YES
Bob Dylan….NOT SO MUCH (the real one not the cartoon version)
Thank you guys. I’m really glad you like this one.
I love the power this scene exhibits. I can almost feel the decibels careening past my head and ears. Good work as always, Frank!
I’ve been a rather large Dylan fan since I got a cassette tape of Highway 61 Revisited with my first tape player when I was seven. Love the cartoon!
You certainly do get the feeling of power from the drawing.
It’s funny that the generation that embraced change found Dylan going electric to be such a shock.
Spoken in Bob Dylanese: “Bozzle dylnnnnn izzzz rzzzzz gooooh zzzzzinguhhhh ahgzzzz!”
(*”Bob Dylan is a real good singer, I guess.”)
An instant classic! Dylan is superb. The crowd reaction is genius (that spit take especially)! Love the effects on the speakers as well. Nice.
This definitely gave me a good laugh! I love Bob Dylan, but have to admit to being one of the snobs that prefers his music from the acoustic days. I love how everyone is reacting (seemingly) negatively – except the headbanger in the lower right! LOL
Thanks again for all the comments. Really glad all of you like it. You inspire me to do more.
Woah!!! This is a powerful and awesome picture! I can really feel the vibe coming out from it!
Wow, this one is brilliant. Really come on, how do you get so much energy and emotion from something that is not alive, because you Mr. Hansen know how to bring art alive. You’re so frikin talented it makes me want to cry. Great job, keep on bringin it!!! xo
Always the best content from these prodigious wrteirs.
I agree with some of the other comments. A very powerful comic. This is a big improvement on the real Bob. I just don’t see the big attraction to his music. He’s so whiney & just not that good a singer. (in my opinion)
I love your art style and your uses of lines and shadow! WIll keep coming back =)
Jenn
thanks for share!