The one Bob Dylan track Mick Jagger branded 'nonsense' despite inspiring rock band
The Rolling Stones soared to fame back in 1965 after being inspired by the rock musician Bob Dylan - but lead singer Mick Jagger didn't love all of his songs.
You’d be hard-pressed to find many beloved pop and rock artists that soared to stardom in the 1960s who weren’t in some way influenced by the work of music legend Bob Dylan. The Minnesota native cleared the way for lyrical freedom for all artists in his wake with his innovative music.
It’s fair to say The Rolling Stones frontman was clearly influenced by the Highway 61 hitmaker at the height of his fame, as were the likes of The Beatles and Donovan. Elvis Costello and Bruce Springsteen also shared their love of Dylan’s work, but it is Mick Jagger who said “everyone looked up” to Dylan as a master of contemporary music. He told Rolling Stone Magazine founder Jann Wenner: “The lyricist who was really good at the time was Bob Dylan.
“Everyone looked up to him as being a kind of guru of lyrics. It’s hard to think of the absolute garbage that pop music really was at the time.
“And even if you lifted your game by a marginal amount, it really was a lot different from most everything else that had gone before in the 10 years previously.”
Although he was full of praise for Dylan as an artist whose impact on the music industry was clear, he was less complimentary about the songs on reflection.
He named the hit track Like a Rolling Stone “nonsense” and suggested some songs from Dylan’s discography were simply “not as good as we thought.”
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He explained: “A lot of it was perhaps not as good as we thought, but at the time, it was fantastic. Gates of Eden and all these Mexican-type songs, even the nonsense ones: Everybody Must Get Stoned and Like a Rolling Stone, Positively 4th Street.”
Despite his harsh criticism, The Rolling Stones and Dylan went on to collaborate on stage in a surprising set with a performance of Like A Rolling Stone.
Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes recalled the startling moment Dylan allegedly “flipped off” The Rolling Stones after an on-stage appearance.
He revealed: “We’re behind Keith’s amps and The Stones had Like a Rolling Stone as their single in Europe for that tour, the Voodoo Lounge cycle, so they’re going to have Bob sit in.
“Bob comes walking right beside me and Rich, and he’s wearing the exact same outfit [as Mick Jagger]. He walks out on stage and The Rolling Stones are The Rolling Stones, they’re the greatest rock band of all time.
“They’re playing a Bob Dylan song, Bob is sitting in. The ‘Stones don’t jam, they don’t deviate. They come up to Bob’s turn, so the band bigs it up, and Bob goes to the microphone and doesn’t sing anything.”
It caused quite a stir for The Rolling Stones’ consistency on stage, with Dylan already known for changing the tone and style of his songs. Despite this clash, Dylan was full of praise for the band in the years to come, and was clear in calling them the "greatest" band of all time.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, he said: "The Rolling Stones are truly the greatest rock and roll band in the world and always will be. The last too. Everything that came after them, metal, rap, punk, new wave, pop-rock, you name it... you can trace it all back to The Rolling Stones. They were the first and the last, and no one's ever done it better."
