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The Dylanologists: Adventures in the Land of Bob
A joyous and poignant exploration of the meaning of fandom, the healing power of art, and the importance of embracing what moves you, “ The Dylanologists is juicy…artfully told…and an often moving chronicle of the ecstasies and depravities of obsession” ( New York Daily News ).
Bob Dylan is the most influential songwriter of our time, and, after a half century, he continues to be a touchstone, a fascination, and an enigma. From the very beginning, he attracted an intensely fanatical cult following, and in The Dylanologists , Pulitzer Prize – winning journalist David Kinney ventures deep into this eccentric subculture to answer a What can Dylan’s grip on his most enthusiastic listeners tell us about his towering place in American culture?
Kinney introduces us to a vibrant diggers searching for unheard tapes and lost manuscripts, researchers obsessing over the facts of Dylan’s life and career, writers working to decode the unyieldingly mysterious songs, fans who meticulously record and dissect every concert. It’s an affectionate mania, but as far as Dylan is concerned, a mania nonetheless. Over the years, the intensely private and fiercely combative musician has been frightened, annoyed, and perplexed by fans who try to peel back his layers. He has made one thing—perhaps the only thing—crystal He does not wish to be known.
Told with tremendous insight, intelligence, and warmth, “entertaining and well-written… The Dylanologists is as much a book about obsession—about the ways our fascinations manifest themselves, about how we cope with what we love but don’t quite understand—as it is a book about a musician and his nutty fans” ( The Wall Street Journal ).
Bob Dylan is the most influential songwriter of our time, and, after a half century, he continues to be a touchstone, a fascination, and an enigma. From the very beginning, he attracted an intensely fanatical cult following, and in The Dylanologists , Pulitzer Prize – winning journalist David Kinney ventures deep into this eccentric subculture to answer a What can Dylan’s grip on his most enthusiastic listeners tell us about his towering place in American culture?
Kinney introduces us to a vibrant diggers searching for unheard tapes and lost manuscripts, researchers obsessing over the facts of Dylan’s life and career, writers working to decode the unyieldingly mysterious songs, fans who meticulously record and dissect every concert. It’s an affectionate mania, but as far as Dylan is concerned, a mania nonetheless. Over the years, the intensely private and fiercely combative musician has been frightened, annoyed, and perplexed by fans who try to peel back his layers. He has made one thing—perhaps the only thing—crystal He does not wish to be known.
Told with tremendous insight, intelligence, and warmth, “entertaining and well-written… The Dylanologists is as much a book about obsession—about the ways our fascinations manifest themselves, about how we cope with what we love but don’t quite understand—as it is a book about a musician and his nutty fans” ( The Wall Street Journal ).
- GenresMusic
256 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2014
199 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 25, 2025
“Is that something that bothers you ever, the idea that because you are very famous, someone who thinks they love you might want to kill you?
Well, that’s always the case, isn’t it? Isn’t that the way it always happens? Aren’t you usually killed by the person who loves you the most?”
Really interesting view on Bob Dylan’s career told through the eyes of the crazed super-fans but also becomes a real insight into fame and what it does to a person. It’s a sad moment early on describing Dylan returning to his hometown where he is friendly and chatting to people until he spots a TV crew and suddenly disappears. Everybody has times where they don’t want to be seen, don’t want their every word and movement analysed, what must it be like to live a life where that is simply never possible. It describes collectors buying his childhood homes, his old high chair, digging through his rubbish, stealing notebooks to try and better understand his writing. Is it any wonder then the moments where he completely withdraws from this and seems to reject his fans? It makes you question your own role as a fan in an artists life and how invasive it can be. I don’t think they really owe any more than the art they choose to put out but how much more is demanded of them?
He has an incredible gift and has been more than well compensated for sharing it with the world for 60 years but would the kid who went to New York mimicking Woody Guthrie have thought it worth sacrificing any shred of privacy or chance at a normal life? I think having read this and seen more of a glimpse of the insanity that has been directed towards him for decades and what effect that must have on his psyche, it seems more impressive that at 84 he is still going on tour still giving himself over to the fans again and again. Maybe he’s addicted to touring and doesn’t know how to stop, maybe I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You really is about the fans.
Well, that’s always the case, isn’t it? Isn’t that the way it always happens? Aren’t you usually killed by the person who loves you the most?”
Really interesting view on Bob Dylan’s career told through the eyes of the crazed super-fans but also becomes a real insight into fame and what it does to a person. It’s a sad moment early on describing Dylan returning to his hometown where he is friendly and chatting to people until he spots a TV crew and suddenly disappears. Everybody has times where they don’t want to be seen, don’t want their every word and movement analysed, what must it be like to live a life where that is simply never possible. It describes collectors buying his childhood homes, his old high chair, digging through his rubbish, stealing notebooks to try and better understand his writing. Is it any wonder then the moments where he completely withdraws from this and seems to reject his fans? It makes you question your own role as a fan in an artists life and how invasive it can be. I don’t think they really owe any more than the art they choose to put out but how much more is demanded of them?
He has an incredible gift and has been more than well compensated for sharing it with the world for 60 years but would the kid who went to New York mimicking Woody Guthrie have thought it worth sacrificing any shred of privacy or chance at a normal life? I think having read this and seen more of a glimpse of the insanity that has been directed towards him for decades and what effect that must have on his psyche, it seems more impressive that at 84 he is still going on tour still giving himself over to the fans again and again. Maybe he’s addicted to touring and doesn’t know how to stop, maybe I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You really is about the fans.
July 11, 2023
Most of the books I've read about Dylan are of little use, including by an Oxbridge don of poetry and Prof. Greil Marcus of Berkeley, but this one doesn't explore the subject so much as fandom and obsession, and it's by far the most amusing of the lot though A.J. Weberman rooting through Bob's garbage in the Village was not so amusing. As usual, Dylan had the last word when he explained that they are songs meant to be sung. They are not poems meant for the page. A song may be changed by the backing, orchestration, arrangement, the singer's phrasing, the epiphany of the moment if the performance is live. He once said that he sought a "thin wild mercury sound." Any artist in search of something that elusive might be elusive oneself.
August 15, 2015
I received this book through the First Reads Giveaway.
I'll be honest, I was only introduced to Bob Dylan's music about 5 years ago, but since have become a sort of addicted. Not to the extent, though, of some of the fans within this book. This book, telling of the fan's journey through the land of Bob Dylan, showcases just how, sometime's intoxicating, but most times disconnected the relationship can be between artist and audience. All these super fanatics expected so much legendary and god-like material from a man who is just a man, and sometimes he didn't deliver. Whether that lack of delivery was by choice or because he couldn't, we'll never know. And through the years of performing to a static audience who seemed to never leave the foot of the pedestal in which they placed him, Dylan became frustrated with their constant expectations and dissections. This was an interesting read on the extreme fanaticism that exists in fandoms and how this doesn't always relay to a symbiotic relationship between artist and audience. I would definitely recommend this book to other Dylan fans, maybe as a mirror to reflect their own extreme obsession with a man who is just a man.
I'll be honest, I was only introduced to Bob Dylan's music about 5 years ago, but since have become a sort of addicted. Not to the extent, though, of some of the fans within this book. This book, telling of the fan's journey through the land of Bob Dylan, showcases just how, sometime's intoxicating, but most times disconnected the relationship can be between artist and audience. All these super fanatics expected so much legendary and god-like material from a man who is just a man, and sometimes he didn't deliver. Whether that lack of delivery was by choice or because he couldn't, we'll never know. And through the years of performing to a static audience who seemed to never leave the foot of the pedestal in which they placed him, Dylan became frustrated with their constant expectations and dissections. This was an interesting read on the extreme fanaticism that exists in fandoms and how this doesn't always relay to a symbiotic relationship between artist and audience. I would definitely recommend this book to other Dylan fans, maybe as a mirror to reflect their own extreme obsession with a man who is just a man.
October 14, 2015
I received a copy of this for free through Goodreads First Reads
First off I am NOT a Dylan fan! However I did learn a few things about him that I didn't know. What made this somewhat enjoyable is the insanity that ensues within the circles of the hardcore fans. I imagine every music legend has some of these insane type fans.
First off I am NOT a Dylan fan! However I did learn a few things about him that I didn't know. What made this somewhat enjoyable is the insanity that ensues within the circles of the hardcore fans. I imagine every music legend has some of these insane type fans.
July 19, 2015
[I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.]
A good, entertaining, and somewhat enlightening read about (dare we say 'obsessive'?) fan behavior, and the urge to collect and to KNOW everything about different aspects -- or EVERY aspect -- of an iconic figure's life and/or career.
A good, entertaining, and somewhat enlightening read about (dare we say 'obsessive'?) fan behavior, and the urge to collect and to KNOW everything about different aspects -- or EVERY aspect -- of an iconic figure's life and/or career.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews