Bob Dylan has gone from Tangled Up In Blue to tangled up in women’s lingerie. As part of a move to bring Dylan’s music to new audiences, the enigmatic singer-songwriter, one of the last cultural figures from the 1960s to continue to live outside the boundaries of mainstream pop culture, has made his first appearance as a celebrity pitchman — for Victoria’s Secret (Bobby, say it ain’t so). And, yes, the world is in a state of collapse.
In a Wall Street Journal story, writer Brian Steinberg details how the mustachioed, 62-year-old Dylan filmed a TV ad for the lingerie chain’s “Angels” line, while models cavort to a remixed version of his 1997 song Love Sick (and, really, don’t we all feel a little bit sick about this?).
Fans are, as you might well imagine, heartsick at the latest developments in Dylan’s career, expressing everything from dismay to incredulity, to outright and near apoplectic anger.
Update: Well, at least Dylan is consistent. VanRamblings offers this video in support of its contention that Dylan has sold out. The first part of the video is from a December 5, 1965 interview session with reporters, and the second portion of the video offers a clip from the Victoria’s Secret ad.
Meanwhile, The Los Angeles Times begins a weekly series of articles about songwriters. This week they profile Mr. Sell-Out, er, I mean, Mr. Dylan.
i think you’re being a bit too hard on bob. bob can do no wrong in my eyes. he has given me and most people countless hours of pleasure over the years. so if he can persuade some sucker into paying $100 for a $5 piece of underwear, so be it.
There are a million ways Bob could have whored himself and his music since 1962, yet he’s resisted. He’s got a twisted sense of humour, and maybe this is what this is all about: getting people all p’d about him being a sell-out. Didn’t he sell out when he went electric in 1965 anyway?
At least the girl is really hot.
K
I think you are hopelessly wrong. Rock is about SEX and Bob is proving his ongoing virility, his move is witty, how can he sell out when he has spent his whole career saying he is beholden to no one for his views? To sell out is to pin him to certain values that he allegedly is sworn to uphold–from newport on he has trashed peoples’ needs to have him do anything of the kind. It ain’t him you’re looking for. You want him to be a lover for your life and nothing more.
Simon, I’m looking forward to reading your book on John Lennon.
Kino, Dylan didn’t so much “sell-out” when he went electric in ’65, as invent a whole new genre of music — to wit, folk-rock.
Daryl, Dylan’s actions — particularly in respect of the Victoria Secret ad — are much too cynical for my tastes. Either one lives by principle, or not. Dylan obviously doesn’t.
There’s a longer, somewhat more thoughtful response under the Courtney Love item to the concerns raised in the comments under the Dylan item.
Good of you all to write, though (you’ll have to determine whether I’m being sarcastic, or not).
Good for Bobbie. I hope he got to spend some time with the models too. Life could be muuch worse than being asked to sing about undies at his age.
God this blog is getting good!
Good for Bob I say. Poor bugger has been stuck being an icon to a generation that has almost entirely sold out, why shouldn’t he grab a bit of the lolly.
Problem with boomers is the problem which was at the heart of (help me out here Raymond) Return of the Secaucus Seven director. There are these proto yuppies enjoying the fruits of their business, Running Dog Enterprises, but wanting to maintain their much vaulted integrity.
OK, even here on Galiano, the 60’s are done. Bob got that memo and is hanging with lingerie models like any self respecting rock icon. I’m over it.
the names “Dylan” and “Courtney Love” should not be used in the sentence. there is no comparison.