Classic artist in Modern Times

When older generations talk about classic music, they always manage to include that you would never hear something this good being made today. You’ll find Bob Dylan is one of the many artists they refer to.

The great artists of “their time” made music that changed the way people looked at the world and it’s hard to argue with them; there are not a lot of musicians changing the world anymore.

But as long as Bob Dylan is still making music, at least we have a point to argue with.

Dylan has been making music longer than most of us have been alive with Modern Times being his thirty-first studio album.

He has a fantastic raspy voice that shows the strain and age of the musician inside of him.

He sings of pain and suffering and of our struggle to endure as human beings, whether it be mental or literal, and it seems fitting.

You can’t listen to Modern Times without thinking about Hurricane Katrina or 9/11, yet, the music is beautiful and slow – unlike either of those events.

Its clear Dylan isn’t trying to accompany his subject-heavy lyrics with heavy music; he can afford to keep it simple and let each individual piece of the puzzle speak for itself.

It’s hard to be critical of any of the ten songs on Modern Times, they provide the album with a sense of casualness and cool that rarely exists in music today. And maybe that is because Dylan has been making music for so long, it’s in his blood.

Dylan is arguably one of the greatest songwriters of all time.

Whether or not his songs speak to this generation as well as they did to his is, in a sense, irrelevant. If you find yourself nodding your head and thinking ‘absolutely’ while listening to Modern Times, then it doesn’t matter: Dylan proves to be timeless.

Danny Gordon can be contacted at d.gordon@umiami.edu.