Steve Jobs’ Ballad of a Thin Man
(Photo courtesy of Gizmodo)
In 1966 Bob Dylan embarked in a new musical direction, taking the folk community by surprise. They had viewed folk music with acoustic guitars and vocals as the purist form of music, thumbing their noses at the exploding popularity of rock music. This sentiment for folk could be felt especially in Britain as bands like The Beatles, Rolling Stones, and The Kinks brought blues-influenced rock-n-roll to the forefront. Bob Dylan had become the icon for the purists, and they weren’t quite ready for his change.
What people didn’t realize about Bob Dylan is that he had constructed his persona, even devising his own name to support this act. After four years of recording and touring as a folk purist and protester, Bob Dylan wanted to explore a new style of music, a style that would later be called folk-rock.
When Dylan surprised the purists with his jangly and bluesy rock, they responded in outrage. Folk concerts at this time were generally reserved, with the audience clapping politely in between songs.
In 1966 Dylan toured England after having ‘gone electric.’ He would play the first half of his set as he had during his days as a folk artist: guitar in hand, harmonica contraption around his neck, and singing alone on stage. The crowd would listen politely, enjoying his folk renditions of his new songs. But when he would come out on stage with a group of musicians (that would later become known as The Band) during the second half of the set, the audience would react in anger.
Bob Dylan’s performance at The Royal Albert Hall was recorded during the 1966 tour in England and released in 1998 in the Bootleg series. It captures the audience’s response and Dylan’s interaction with them (many consider it the best live concert recording ever released).
Near the end of the set Dylan sang Ballad Of A Thin Man:
Because something is happening here,
But you don’t know what it is.
Do you, Mister Jones?
Bob Dylan – Ballad Of A Thing Man
After the song a spectator shouted out “Judas!” Dylan was shaken, responding with “I don’t believe you. You’re a lier!” Then he turned to his band and shouted, “Play fucking loud!” as they kicked into a tense version of Like a Rolling Stone.
It was this recording that Steve Jobs selected to have playing on the sound system before he started the Apple iPad Keynote. As people took their seat moments before the Keynote, you could hear the exchange between Dylan and his audience from the 1966 recording, and you can’t help but suspect that Steve Jobs is expecting a similar reaction to the iPad.
With hindsight we know that Bob Dylan’s folk-rock infusion would create a genre that would be accepted (and influential for coming decades). Steve Jobs must believe that the iPad will have its own niché in the market, even though every other company that has attempted to market a tablet computer has failed.
History will show us whether Jobs’ venture into the tablet computer is successful or not. If it fails, will it be because we simply ‘didn’t know what it was,’ as Ballad of a Thin Man suggests? In spite of failures from previous tablets, Jobs is willing to turn to Apple and tell them to play loud.