On the evening of July 25 1965 Bob Dylan took the stage at the Newport Folk Festival. Backed
by an electric band he roared into a blistering version of ?Maggie's Farm ? followed by his
new rock single ?Like a Rolling Stone.? The audience of committed folk purists and political
activists who had hailed him as their acoustic prophet reacted with a mix of shock boos and
scattered cheers. It was the shot heard round the world?Dylan's declaration of musical
independence the end of the folk revival and the birth of rock as the voice of a
generation?and one of the defining moments in twentieth-century music. In Dylan Goes Electric!
Elijah Wald explores the cultural political and historical roots and impact of this seminal
event. He delves deep into the folk revival and its intersections with the civil rights
movement the rise of rock and the tensions between traditional and groundbreaking music to
provide important insights into Dylan's artistic evolution his special affinity to blues his
complex relationship to the folk establishment and his sometime mentor Pete Seeger and the
ways he reshaped popular music forever.
