Shock Treatment: New Biopic Explores Bob Dylan’s Early Career and his Choice to ‘go Electric’
DIRECTED BY JAMES MANGOLD/2024
What obligation do artists have to their fans?
Should they continue to produce the kind of work their admirers demand? What if this ignores any new interests that artists develop? Must they stop going where their art leads them if their supporters might not follow?
This is one of the themes of James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown, a biopic examining the early career of legendary singer/songwriter Bob Dylan. Released Dec. 25, the movie has earned more than $23 million in its first five days.
The film stars Timothée Chalamet as Dylan, Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo, Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, Scoot McNairy as Woody Guthrie and Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash. It chronicles Dylan’s introduction to New York City’s folk music community and his meteoric rise to stardom in just a few years.
A Complete Unknown focuses on Dylan’s pivot from traditional folk music to pop music between the early and mid-1960s. Many of his fans felt betrayed when he opted to incorporate electric instruments into his concerts and albums. The movie is based on Elijah Wald’s 2015 book, “Dylan Goes Electric!”
Given the extent to which contemporary performers experiment with new musical styles today (Beyoncé released a country album in March titled “Cowboy Carter,” and it quickly rose to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Chart), it’s hard to imagine why Dylan’s choice to abandon solely acoustic instruments became so controversial. But folk musicians and their fans had a commitment to use this music to promote social justice, not just pursue commercial success. Rock ’n’ roll had certainly become counterculture by the early 1960s, but it hadn’t yet been identified as strongly as folk music had with the youth protest movement of this era.
(A few documentaries that also examine this period of Dylan’s career are worth viewing. Martin Scorsese’s exceptional No Direction Home, released in 2005 as part of the PBS series “American Masters,” can be purchased on Apple TV or streamed on PBS with a Passport subscription. And D.A. Pennebaker’s Bob Dylan: Dont Look Back chronicles Dylan’s 1965 tour of Britain; it can be streamed on Max.com.)
A Complete Unknown does an excellent job at documenting Dylan’s gifts for writing powerful songs that became social justice anthems. He had been playing music since he was about 10 years old in his native Minnesota. And at the age of 19, he arrived in New York City in 1961 with a head full of songs and a desire to make an impact.
Woody Guthrie, one of Dylan’s idols, is a patient at Greystone Psychiatric Hospital in Morris Plains, New Jersey. Dylan travels to the hospital to visit him, and he becomes friends with the folk icon.
Dylan quickly feels at home in New York City’s Greenwich Village neighborhood with its vibrant art and music setting. He becomes involved with artist Sylvie Russo (this character is based on Suze Rotolo, Dylan’s girlfriend from 1961 to 1964; she’s pictured with him on the cover of his 1963 album, “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan”).
He performs his music at various venues, and he draws the attention of other folk artists and music industry leaders. He’s signed by an album label but mainly records songs of other folk musicians on his first album. Titled “Bob Dylan,” it doesn’t do well in sales.
Seeger invites Dylan to perform at the Newport Folk Festival in 1963, which contributes to his growing reputation. He also performs that year at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. He’s become the new face of folk music and the protest movement.
And this is where he courts pushback. Dylan wants to expand his musical influence with new styles, but many of his longtime fans are indignant about his choice. He uses electric instruments for the first time on his fifth (“Bringing It All Back Home”) and sixth (“Highway 61 Revisited”) albums, both released in 1965.
For the third consecutive year, Dylan returns to the Newport Folks Festival. Organizers of the event are concerned that he’ll anger audience members by using electric instruments during his set.
While Dylan incorporated electric instruments into his Newport performance, this wasn’t the first time he had done so publicly. He toured Britain in the spring of 1965 and performed some of his electric-based music (the movie doesn’t portray this tour). Many fans expressed their disapproval, with some calling him a “traitor” and “Judas.”
Of course, we know that Dylan survived this rebellion from his early fans and became one of the most influential individuals in music history. He’s the only songwriter to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. In 2016, the Nobel committee said that he would receive this prestigious award “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.”
A Complete Unknown is well done with superb acting. It examines this period of Dylan’s life and the complicated relationships he carries out.
Russo is a critical part of Dylan’s beginnings in Greenwich Village. But the affair he has with Baez drives a wedge between them.
The film accurately shows how Dylan enjoyed the trappings of celebrity more so than the consequences of fame. He’s annoyed that many of his fans won’t accept the new direction that he’s taken with his music.
On this point, I side with Dylan. He made the right choice to “go electric.”
Artists must appreciate the devotion of their fans and how this has benefited them. But ultimately, they need to follow their art wherever it leads them.
If they don’t, they’re not remaining true to themselves or their craft. They’d also be depriving members of the public of perhaps the best art they’ve ever produced.
Songs such as “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall” and “The Times They Are a-Changin’” remain staples in the protest movement, and for good reason. They effectively address issues of freedom, human dignity and the evil of armed conflict. Some musicians spent their entire careers seeking social justice through folk music.
But if there’s one work that has become Dylan’s signature song, it’s “Like a Rolling Stone” (the phrase “a complete unknown” is part of the lyrics). This is from his “Highway 61 Revisited” album, a collection of tunes that’s nothing short of genius. The interplay between Dylan on guitar and piano, Michael Bloomfield on guitar and Al Kooper on organ is utter delight.
Dylan obviously wanted to continue to produce songs that contained a powerful message. But by 1965, he also wanted to improve the quality of his music — and using electric instruments allowed him to do that. Dylan’s risky move paid off, and new generations of fans are forever grateful.