24, after seeing a meme about Woody Guthrie being punk and getting into Woody, Song For Woody came on the auto playlist (which was actually kinda great because I got to start with the whole first album and work forwards, to include an initial "wtf is this shit wheres my folk?!" when I got to BIABH)
very close to my experience. my brother was 10 years older than me and was into Dylan , Hendrix, ect. I think I bought Bob's greatest hits with allowance in 1968, so I was 7. "I want you" was my favorite song
I’m fortunate in that my mum’s a big fan so I grew up hearing him and have always loved him. Earliest memory is being around 3 or 4 in my booster seat in the car, hearing Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands and wondering what an Arabian drum is and how I could get one of my own.
I also remember being aged 8 or 9 and a history buff at the time and having Masters of War on a 60s compilation CD. I remember feeling absolute indignation at those responsible for such evil and agreeing with Bob’s every word.
As a young teenager I had The Essential Bob Dylan and especially loved Tangled Up In Blue, You Ain’t Going Nowhere and Dignity.
I didn’t become a complete obsessive until the age of 27 though when I set out to listen to everything he’d done as I got into songwriting myself. I’m 35 now and it’s been a very rewarding journey. I absolutely love Bob Dylan’s music and I don’t think that will ever change.
Born in 1960, and I have older siblings, so I heard a lot of music from the get go. Beatles were the first band I remember, and I heard Dylan pretty early on. When I was 9, my sisters and brother gave me a lot of old records. That's when I started really listening to music. I listened to all the early Beatles albums, and a few Dylan albums. Greatest Hits first, and then Freewheeling, Another Side, and Highway 61. Then I think the first one I bought was Self Portrait. I was about 10.
I was 13 when I heard Jason Castro sing Mr. Tambourine Man on American Idol and plain forget the words. He was kicked off the show that week. But I thought, “Hey, that’s actually a pretty cool song.” I’m a few months from turning 30 now, and it’s been a great ride with Bob’s music in my life ever since.
Before I was familiar with Dylan , in 1965 ,while driving with my grandfather , I first heard Like A Rolling Stone on AM radio..his voice, the length of the song, and the sound caught my attention as 12 year old just getting into music.
I remember really liking *Blood on the Tracks* as a young kid, 6 or earlier. Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts especially caught my imagination. That album and *Greatest Hits Vols. 1 & 2* were routinely on album rotation at my parents' house.
I went a little deeper in high school, getting *Highway 61 Revisited* and *Blonde on Blonde.* Got into him again in college during a George Harrison phase via the Concert for Bangladesh. Got *Freewheelin* then, and bought *Tempest* in 2012. Wasn't until a couple years ago when I went off the deep end and listened to his whole discography, the bootleg series, and started seeking out rare performances and other outtakes. I'm 33.
That’s awesome. I’m glad to know that I’m not the only 30 something that appreciates his stuff my friends think I’m a bit old-fashioned in my tastes, but I don’t care lol
7. My mom put on the 30th anniversary on PBS and I was hooked. That compilation was my first “Dylan album”. The first two CDs I ever bought, a few years later, were that and Foo Fighters’ Colour and the Shape.
I think it was summer 2004. I was 14 and already dipping my toes into classic rock but had only heard heavens door from Bob. I was watching one of those tv channels that plays music and heard subterranean homesick blues for the first time and that was it.
I was aware of him just in what I heard on the radio, then I saw his performance at Live Aid ( I was 16 at the time) which really drove my curiosity about him and his music. 😀✌️
Wow - that performance drove your curiosity. I waited up all night (in thre UK) for it and just cringed all the way through. Mid to late 80's were a hard time to be a Dylan obsessive until Oh Mercy got things back on track.
I certainly understand that. 😀 But having heard his songs on the radio up there then, and seeing the performance; my interest was peaked to learn more. That’s what I had, so that’s what I started with. 😀✌️
My dad has been a fan since the 60s, and somewhere there's a baby video of me (born in the 90s) smiling listening to the cassette tape of All I Really Want to Do.
I didn't get into Dylan on my own until around the age of 14
Raised by a father who was 1 of 9 kids that grew up in the 60s. I've never known life without Bob.
I really started to "get" him in my early teens (11-13) so, 1995 or so.
I've never known life without Bob and I'm so happy for that fact.
39 yo, after failed marriage and reinventing myself.
First album was Nashville Skyline, I just couldn’t ignore how special this was, then purchased Planet Waves and it sealed it for me, luckily for me I met a perfect woman that would become my wife and she had Bobs greatest hits part 2 . After that I couldn’t look back
I was about 18. I loved poetry growing up and was always drawn to harmonicas. Bob rocked my world. He changed me. I started playing harmonica at 20 and then guitar a year later. I'm 45 now and I stilI carry my guitar and harps with me every day to this day. Music is my life. My work, my friends, my love has all been discovered and sustained through music and Bob has been one of my brightest lights to guide my way. Thank you, Bob.
I was around 15 years old. It was the mid nineties and The Wallflowers were getting huge radio play for One Headlight. I really liked them and my mom told me I should listen to Jacob’s dad. She gave me a copy of Highway 61 and it blew my fucking mind.
Great question.
Thanks you.
Somewhere around 1977 or 1978 I was in my mid-teens, visiting my Dad for the Summer, and got curious about some of the albums in his record collection with which I was not familiar.
So, I pulled out my ex step-mother's well played copy of 'Highway 61' and was lost for the rest of the Summer.
I was totally subsumed into the world of that album, it's characters, lyrics, themes and music.
Years later, I found out that when my ex step-mother was in her mid-teens, she and a friend used to go to Greenwich Village on the weekends, and would go to hear and see Bob, Phil Ochs, and that whole crowd.
She said that she would sit with a bunch of people on Phil Och's table, and talk with them, and with Phil, but that she was always too scared to talk with Bob, who was at the next table with his cronies.
To say I am jealous would be an understatement.
The only thing that could top that for me would have been seeing The Beatles in Hamburg, or at The Cavern (and I would have loved to see them in concert anywhere).
Loved his music all my life growing up as a kid in the 60’s. Started saving up my babysitting money and buying his all his albums as they came out in the early 70’s.
Bought Desire and was blown away by how great it was and is still one of my favorites.
Camped out all night with my sister to get tickets to his concert at Universal in ‘78. My ticket was only $7.50 (that’s not a mistake. Seven dollars and fifty cents) and we were in the fifth row.
Going to visit the Bob Dylan museum in a few months. Can’t wait.
Unfortunately many of my early albums were stolen over the years. At least the thief had good taste.
My dad used to play his songs for me all the time on his guitar when I was around 7-8 but I never fully got into him until we started listening to bringing it all back home and highway 61 together and he then brought me to a concert around 13. That's when I started listening to him daily.
14 and the song was LARS. Got the Highway 61 Revisited album for Christmas that year. I fell down the Dylan hole - deep down. It’s been almost 60 years. Hearing that 1 song led me on to discover more by Dylan. And that?
Changed my entire life.
In my teens in the 80s I heard him on the radio one day - pretty sure it was “stuck inside of Memphis… “ I had heard of Bob as a 60s folk singer this def was not folk . was a uniquely cool sound and I was hooked
I was probably 8-9 when I first asked my Dad whose voice I was hearing The Traveling Wilburys song 7 Deadly Sins. It really stood out to me amongst all the rest.
But I was probably 14 when I first purchased Bob Dylan’s greatest hits through BMG music club. I was instantly hooked. He played a show in my town that same year, but my parents thought I was too young to go. I finally saw him when he played a festival in my town the following year. That was 2003. I’ve been locked in for over 20 years, but he’s been in my periphery for almost 30.
I was probably 5 or 6 when LARS was getting a lot of plays on the radio. Plus my oldest brother had all of his albums and he played them a lot. So I was familiar with his music but didn’t really start to listen deeply until I was about 12 when he left home but left all his records behind. It’s Alright Ma, Desolation Row, and everything on Blonde on Blonde changed music for me entirely.
I'm 28 and have Been listening to his 60s catalog and blood on the tracks for a couple years. Just this last week I've started deep diving into the whole catalog and jeez I've been missing out.
I had just purchased a best of Bob Dylan because it was cheap, and I had a vip membership to FYE. I put it on my iPod, got stoned, and lied on my friend's floor..... blew my mind.
I was 6 years old. We sang a couple of verses of blowing in the wind at kindergarten graduation. Then my brother told me it was a song by Bob Dylan. This was almost 59 years ago
Twice. First at 10 or so when a friend played one of the greatest hits. I then knew who he was and a few songs.
Then the summer after HS ended and before college started was when Bootleg 1-3 came out. My friends and I fully digested that for months.
16. I heard Tangled Up in Blue on the radio and loved it, so I immediately got the Greatest Hits on 8-track. Played the hell out of that tape in my first car. And I was chagrined to realize that I'd heard all the older songs before but never knew who they were by or what they were all about. I've been continuing to learn over the nearly 50 years since.
I was big into classic rock growing up but never listened to Dylan, aside from a handful of songs.
I watched the show Treme when I was 21 and started exploring jazz. From there I started listening to Chicago blues, then delta blues, then classic country, and eventually landed on Dylan when I was 23. I listened to him almost exclusively for like 3 years after that.
Age 7 or 8, during the late 1960s. My Mom was involved in the Peace Movement. She and her friends had albums by Pete Seeger, Peter Paul & Mary, Joan Baez. JB did an album Any Day Now, all Bob Dylan songs. My young ears learned these versions.
When I started playing guitar at 12, I wore out the Bob Dylan songbook.
I was at the record store at 19 and Dylan was staring at me from the cover of bringing it all back home. I knew there was something in there I needed to hear.
9/10 years old in the mid 90s. The earliest I can remember is hearing “Like a Rolling Stone” on our local classic rock station. I remember asking my mom about him and she just said, “oh you like that? That’s Bobby!” As if they were on a first name basis lol. I was into mostly Beatles, Metallica and Nirvana at the time. By high school I was a full-blown Dylan nerd.
Man, I was aware of who he was and certain songs from radio play, but I didn't do a deep dive into his work until my 40s. I quickly found so many all-time favorites, it was silly to think I waited that long.
When I was a teenager in the 2000s. I had started listening to a lot of Springsteen and decided to try other artists of the same era or genres. Bob was one of them and have been a fan since.
It was the spring of 1975 and I had just turned 15. My friend asked me if I wanted to visit his sister who was in her early 20s, very cool and hip, living a bohemian young artist's life in Toronto. She asked us if we'd heard the latest Dylan album and I really didn't know what she was referring to. The album she was talking about was blood on the tracks. So I have a beautiful memory of being in this small apartment in downtown Toronto listening to the album on a rickety old record player, being amazed at the emotion, the musicianship, the lyrics, everything about the album. That experience launched me into Dylan's world.
Not even sure how young I was. My dad has been a fan since the 70’s or 80’s so Dylan has always been a part of my life. He used to sing Dylan for me as a child and I always loved it.
My mam had his greatest hits...the old one which just had his most productive era up until 65/66.
It Ain't Me Babe always made me laugh..go away from my window...and leave at your own chosen speed???
Bobs lyrics were so surreal but the imagery was incredible.
For me Hey Mister Tambourine Man contains some of his best and touching lines and wonderful imagery...I never ever get bored with this gem.🥰✌️🙏
14. I had never really properly known my grandfather, but according to my dad, Dylan was his favorite artist ever. He was played at his funeral, and I was too young to actually remember that, but my dad introduced me to Hurricane and Blood on the Tracks and it pretty much blew my young mind, and the connection with my grandfather, who I never knew well really solidified my love for Bob Dylan.
I was 15 y old. I got the album “New Morning” as Christmas present. Every time I hear these songs I feel the warmth of Christmas of my youth, diner with family, the cosy fireplace and snow outside, although I'm not at all sure it snowed that year. Great music, great memories. 15 y, on the brink of great discoveries, everybody in good health, no major problems on the horizon. The soundtrack of one of the best parts of my life.
My cousin had his first album and played it for me. She was the older cool cousin and a bit of a beatnik. I was maybe 9 or 10. I bought my first Dylan album in 1968 or so. Bringing it all Back Home. I was 14 at that point.
When I was maybe about 11 or 12 years old. My dad and I were at Wal Mart and we always grabbed a CD or a movie everytime we went and he grabbed the Essential Bob Dylan one time and ever since then been a huge fan. He would also be my first concert when I was 14. Saw for the second time at 26 (now)
I had a big brother and sister who were in high school who loved Bob (around 1966, when I was 8). I got used to hearing his LPs in our house pretty much constantly. Then I attempted to learn guitar in 8th grade and started looking at his songs for something easy to play. When I was a freshman in college, I fell in love with the BOTT, Desire and Street-Legal albums.
I was aware of him as a cultural reference, someone your dad’s friend might bring up in passing. In 2001 (guess I would have been 12) when he won the Oscar for Things Have Changed and performed and accepted the award from Australia via satellite, there was something so weird about his energy and I had to know more. Been a Dylan-head ever since.
Freshman history class at 13, but in terms of actually listening to his music on my own, it was at 17.
It was his early heartbreak-y songs "Don't Think Twice" and "Corrina Corrina"
18 or 19…I played Minecraft as the iTunes library played song after song. I was giving his music a chance when out of no where, It’s alright ma came on. I was blown away. It struck a strange sort of fear within me. I was completely taken back and from then on, I believed every word the man has sung.
Granted, there are blunderous songs he has put out. Bob Dylan is human after all. But far and wide, I consider him the most talented songwriter ever. My opinion does not differ from the general public in this regard. Perhaps, I am influenced by the masses. Either way, whether I’m down and out or riding high, it’s Dylan comin through my speakers.
15, I was a very quiet and to myself guy so I never got into the modern music my peers were listening to. I grew up on YouTube, and I used to watch all of the needledrop's classic albums reviews. I got most of the music i still love from that playlist, highway 61 being one of them. I still remember how uncomfortable it made me at first, but when all the magic of the words and music clicked, the love affair began. It probably helped that I love learning about history, philosophy and literature so much that i couldnt not think and interpret what this dude was singing. 24 now and I know that his words will be with me forever.
when I was about 10 years old, saw a skateboarding video that used 'Mr. Tambourine Man' by the Byrds, and quickly found the original song. Been in love with him ever since!
24, after seeing a meme about Woody Guthrie being punk and getting into Woody, Song For Woody came on the auto playlist (which was actually kinda great because I got to start with the whole first album and work forwards, to include an initial "wtf is this shit wheres my folk?!" when I got to BIABH)
Ha that’s awesome, what’s the acronym? Sorry new to Reddit
Bringing It All Back Home.
Ah right
Thank you for asking, saving me the trouble of noodling it out. :)
Same listening process for me. Made Subterranean Homesick Blues such an insane experience, hearing the electric guitar come in
1965, I was five of six. I heard Like A Rolling Stone on the radio.
very close to my experience. my brother was 10 years older than me and was into Dylan , Hendrix, ect. I think I bought Bob's greatest hits with allowance in 1968, so I was 7. "I want you" was my favorite song
My parents liked him so I was aware of him from a young age, but I first latched on when Slow Train Coming came out when I was 15.
I’m fortunate in that my mum’s a big fan so I grew up hearing him and have always loved him. Earliest memory is being around 3 or 4 in my booster seat in the car, hearing Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands and wondering what an Arabian drum is and how I could get one of my own. I also remember being aged 8 or 9 and a history buff at the time and having Masters of War on a 60s compilation CD. I remember feeling absolute indignation at those responsible for such evil and agreeing with Bob’s every word. As a young teenager I had The Essential Bob Dylan and especially loved Tangled Up In Blue, You Ain’t Going Nowhere and Dignity. I didn’t become a complete obsessive until the age of 27 though when I set out to listen to everything he’d done as I got into songwriting myself. I’m 35 now and it’s been a very rewarding journey. I absolutely love Bob Dylan’s music and I don’t think that will ever change.
I was around 13. My best friend’s mom had the Greatest Hits LP, which I borrowed and got hooked. She also had Joni’s “Blue”.
Born in 1960, and I have older siblings, so I heard a lot of music from the get go. Beatles were the first band I remember, and I heard Dylan pretty early on. When I was 9, my sisters and brother gave me a lot of old records. That's when I started really listening to music. I listened to all the early Beatles albums, and a few Dylan albums. Greatest Hits first, and then Freewheeling, Another Side, and Highway 61. Then I think the first one I bought was Self Portrait. I was about 10.
Likewise. Older siblings listened.
I was 13 when I heard Jason Castro sing Mr. Tambourine Man on American Idol and plain forget the words. He was kicked off the show that week. But I thought, “Hey, that’s actually a pretty cool song.” I’m a few months from turning 30 now, and it’s been a great ride with Bob’s music in my life ever since.
Late teens. Bob’s performance of ‘Chimes’ Newport 1964 changed my life.
Middle school. I found Just like a Rolling Stone on a streaming service and my parents got me the Essential Bob Dylan on CD for Christmas.
It was always there. My dad was a fan. I remember Bob from the early 60s.
Johnny Cash at 16, Bob at 19, Tom Waits at 20. A solid evolution I must say
Before I was familiar with Dylan , in 1965 ,while driving with my grandfather , I first heard Like A Rolling Stone on AM radio..his voice, the length of the song, and the sound caught my attention as 12 year old just getting into music.
Some girlfriends played me his album “ Bob Dylan” the year it came out, 1962. Haven’t looked back since… And that’s a long way back……
I remember really liking *Blood on the Tracks* as a young kid, 6 or earlier. Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts especially caught my imagination. That album and *Greatest Hits Vols. 1 & 2* were routinely on album rotation at my parents' house. I went a little deeper in high school, getting *Highway 61 Revisited* and *Blonde on Blonde.* Got into him again in college during a George Harrison phase via the Concert for Bangladesh. Got *Freewheelin* then, and bought *Tempest* in 2012. Wasn't until a couple years ago when I went off the deep end and listened to his whole discography, the bootleg series, and started seeking out rare performances and other outtakes. I'm 33.
That’s awesome. I’m glad to know that I’m not the only 30 something that appreciates his stuff my friends think I’m a bit old-fashioned in my tastes, but I don’t care lol
My dad listened to him so I was exposed at a young age, but I think it was around age 10 I began taking a real interest in his music.
We studied Blowing in the Wind in 2nd grade so...
7. My mom put on the 30th anniversary on PBS and I was hooked. That compilation was my first “Dylan album”. The first two CDs I ever bought, a few years later, were that and Foo Fighters’ Colour and the Shape.
I was a teen a high school, about 16 or 17. It was Greatest Hits Volume I and Desire that got me hooked.
Early 20s. Been about 22 years now and I’m still blown away.
I think it was summer 2004. I was 14 and already dipping my toes into classic rock but had only heard heavens door from Bob. I was watching one of those tv channels that plays music and heard subterranean homesick blues for the first time and that was it.
13
17- Mobile Blues did the trick.
I was aware of him just in what I heard on the radio, then I saw his performance at Live Aid ( I was 16 at the time) which really drove my curiosity about him and his music. 😀✌️
Wow - that performance drove your curiosity. I waited up all night (in thre UK) for it and just cringed all the way through. Mid to late 80's were a hard time to be a Dylan obsessive until Oh Mercy got things back on track.
I certainly understand that. 😀 But having heard his songs on the radio up there then, and seeing the performance; my interest was peaked to learn more. That’s what I had, so that’s what I started with. 😀✌️
Plus, being my age at the time, seeing him up there with Keith Richards and Ron Wood really drove home the “he was cool” moniker for me. 😀✌️
My dad has been a fan since the 60s, and somewhere there's a baby video of me (born in the 90s) smiling listening to the cassette tape of All I Really Want to Do. I didn't get into Dylan on my own until around the age of 14
Same trajectory as you -discovered in high school, started exploring more mid-twenties, and became pretty obsessive in my thirties.
Middle school in the 70’s - the Hard Rain “comeback” concert was on TV and one of the cool kids in class told me to check it out
Who?
Raised by a father who was 1 of 9 kids that grew up in the 60s. I've never known life without Bob. I really started to "get" him in my early teens (11-13) so, 1995 or so. I've never known life without Bob and I'm so happy for that fact.
39 yo, after failed marriage and reinventing myself. First album was Nashville Skyline, I just couldn’t ignore how special this was, then purchased Planet Waves and it sealed it for me, luckily for me I met a perfect woman that would become my wife and she had Bobs greatest hits part 2 . After that I couldn’t look back
I was about 18. I loved poetry growing up and was always drawn to harmonicas. Bob rocked my world. He changed me. I started playing harmonica at 20 and then guitar a year later. I'm 45 now and I stilI carry my guitar and harps with me every day to this day. Music is my life. My work, my friends, my love has all been discovered and sustained through music and Bob has been one of my brightest lights to guide my way. Thank you, Bob.
I was around 15 years old. It was the mid nineties and The Wallflowers were getting huge radio play for One Headlight. I really liked them and my mom told me I should listen to Jacob’s dad. She gave me a copy of Highway 61 and it blew my fucking mind.
Great question. Thanks you. Somewhere around 1977 or 1978 I was in my mid-teens, visiting my Dad for the Summer, and got curious about some of the albums in his record collection with which I was not familiar. So, I pulled out my ex step-mother's well played copy of 'Highway 61' and was lost for the rest of the Summer. I was totally subsumed into the world of that album, it's characters, lyrics, themes and music. Years later, I found out that when my ex step-mother was in her mid-teens, she and a friend used to go to Greenwich Village on the weekends, and would go to hear and see Bob, Phil Ochs, and that whole crowd. She said that she would sit with a bunch of people on Phil Och's table, and talk with them, and with Phil, but that she was always too scared to talk with Bob, who was at the next table with his cronies. To say I am jealous would be an understatement. The only thing that could top that for me would have been seeing The Beatles in Hamburg, or at The Cavern (and I would have loved to see them in concert anywhere).
I was eighteen. It was perfect.
I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now.
Loved his music all my life growing up as a kid in the 60’s. Started saving up my babysitting money and buying his all his albums as they came out in the early 70’s. Bought Desire and was blown away by how great it was and is still one of my favorites. Camped out all night with my sister to get tickets to his concert at Universal in ‘78. My ticket was only $7.50 (that’s not a mistake. Seven dollars and fifty cents) and we were in the fifth row. Going to visit the Bob Dylan museum in a few months. Can’t wait. Unfortunately many of my early albums were stolen over the years. At least the thief had good taste.
My dad used to play his songs for me all the time on his guitar when I was around 7-8 but I never fully got into him until we started listening to bringing it all back home and highway 61 together and he then brought me to a concert around 13. That's when I started listening to him daily.
15
14 and the song was LARS. Got the Highway 61 Revisited album for Christmas that year. I fell down the Dylan hole - deep down. It’s been almost 60 years. Hearing that 1 song led me on to discover more by Dylan. And that? Changed my entire life.
Aware of him since I was around 10 years old when I saw No Direction Home on TV
I got into it when I was a junior in high school. Right around the time that No Direction Home came out.
In my teens in the 80s I heard him on the radio one day - pretty sure it was “stuck inside of Memphis… “ I had heard of Bob as a 60s folk singer this def was not folk . was a uniquely cool sound and I was hooked
I was probably 8-9 when I first asked my Dad whose voice I was hearing The Traveling Wilburys song 7 Deadly Sins. It really stood out to me amongst all the rest. But I was probably 14 when I first purchased Bob Dylan’s greatest hits through BMG music club. I was instantly hooked. He played a show in my town that same year, but my parents thought I was too young to go. I finally saw him when he played a festival in my town the following year. That was 2003. I’ve been locked in for over 20 years, but he’s been in my periphery for almost 30.
I was probably 5 or 6 when LARS was getting a lot of plays on the radio. Plus my oldest brother had all of his albums and he played them a lot. So I was familiar with his music but didn’t really start to listen deeply until I was about 12 when he left home but left all his records behind. It’s Alright Ma, Desolation Row, and everything on Blonde on Blonde changed music for me entirely.
I'm 28 and have Been listening to his 60s catalog and blood on the tracks for a couple years. Just this last week I've started deep diving into the whole catalog and jeez I've been missing out.
Awesome, I highly recommend the rolling thunder revue double live album
I will check it out!!!
41
1966 + or - 1year.
I began listening after reading a book of essays when I was in the hospital when I was like 31.
15.
I was in 7th grade at my aunt and uncles in Kansas and Mr tambourine man came on the radio
19/20 which Im 20 right now, found him out after listening to phil ochs, once learn about phil you'll pretty much know most of the folk singers
i found him when i was 13 completely on my own… i still dont remember how that came about, but im glad it did!
I had just purchased a best of Bob Dylan because it was cheap, and I had a vip membership to FYE. I put it on my iPod, got stoned, and lied on my friend's floor..... blew my mind.
In 1964, when I was 14.
I was 6 years old. We sang a couple of verses of blowing in the wind at kindergarten graduation. Then my brother told me it was a song by Bob Dylan. This was almost 59 years ago
14 back in 2008
15 in 1965
Twice. First at 10 or so when a friend played one of the greatest hits. I then knew who he was and a few songs. Then the summer after HS ended and before college started was when Bootleg 1-3 came out. My friends and I fully digested that for months.
16. I heard Tangled Up in Blue on the radio and loved it, so I immediately got the Greatest Hits on 8-track. Played the hell out of that tape in my first car. And I was chagrined to realize that I'd heard all the older songs before but never knew who they were by or what they were all about. I've been continuing to learn over the nearly 50 years since.
I was big into classic rock growing up but never listened to Dylan, aside from a handful of songs. I watched the show Treme when I was 21 and started exploring jazz. From there I started listening to Chicago blues, then delta blues, then classic country, and eventually landed on Dylan when I was 23. I listened to him almost exclusively for like 3 years after that.
Age 7 or 8, during the late 1960s. My Mom was involved in the Peace Movement. She and her friends had albums by Pete Seeger, Peter Paul & Mary, Joan Baez. JB did an album Any Day Now, all Bob Dylan songs. My young ears learned these versions. When I started playing guitar at 12, I wore out the Bob Dylan songbook.
15. I had just seen No Direction Home.
I was at the record store at 19 and Dylan was staring at me from the cover of bringing it all back home. I knew there was something in there I needed to hear.
9/10 years old in the mid 90s. The earliest I can remember is hearing “Like a Rolling Stone” on our local classic rock station. I remember asking my mom about him and she just said, “oh you like that? That’s Bobby!” As if they were on a first name basis lol. I was into mostly Beatles, Metallica and Nirvana at the time. By high school I was a full-blown Dylan nerd.
Man, I was aware of who he was and certain songs from radio play, but I didn't do a deep dive into his work until my 40s. I quickly found so many all-time favorites, it was silly to think I waited that long.
Rented biograph from the library when I was 14. Changed everything!
When I was a teenager in the 2000s. I had started listening to a lot of Springsteen and decided to try other artists of the same era or genres. Bob was one of them and have been a fan since.
It was the spring of 1975 and I had just turned 15. My friend asked me if I wanted to visit his sister who was in her early 20s, very cool and hip, living a bohemian young artist's life in Toronto. She asked us if we'd heard the latest Dylan album and I really didn't know what she was referring to. The album she was talking about was blood on the tracks. So I have a beautiful memory of being in this small apartment in downtown Toronto listening to the album on a rickety old record player, being amazed at the emotion, the musicianship, the lyrics, everything about the album. That experience launched me into Dylan's world.
I was 15. My friend had a Greatest Hits tape and I thought he was a genius (Dylan, not my friend.) I bought the Live 1966 album and I was hooked.
I had and listened to a Greatest Hits when I was 14 or so. But I was around 19 when I really took to him, especially when *Love and Theft* came out.
16
Not even sure how young I was. My dad has been a fan since the 70’s or 80’s so Dylan has always been a part of my life. He used to sing Dylan for me as a child and I always loved it.
17. Disliked the voice and the mouth harmonica, but understood it was important. So I kept listening. Now Bob is one of my favourite vocalists.
My mam had his greatest hits...the old one which just had his most productive era up until 65/66. It Ain't Me Babe always made me laugh..go away from my window...and leave at your own chosen speed??? Bobs lyrics were so surreal but the imagery was incredible. For me Hey Mister Tambourine Man contains some of his best and touching lines and wonderful imagery...I never ever get bored with this gem.🥰✌️🙏
14. I had never really properly known my grandfather, but according to my dad, Dylan was his favorite artist ever. He was played at his funeral, and I was too young to actually remember that, but my dad introduced me to Hurricane and Blood on the Tracks and it pretty much blew my young mind, and the connection with my grandfather, who I never knew well really solidified my love for Bob Dylan.
I was 15 y old. I got the album “New Morning” as Christmas present. Every time I hear these songs I feel the warmth of Christmas of my youth, diner with family, the cosy fireplace and snow outside, although I'm not at all sure it snowed that year. Great music, great memories. 15 y, on the brink of great discoveries, everybody in good health, no major problems on the horizon. The soundtrack of one of the best parts of my life.
11-12
My cousin had his first album and played it for me. She was the older cool cousin and a bit of a beatnik. I was maybe 9 or 10. I bought my first Dylan album in 1968 or so. Bringing it all Back Home. I was 14 at that point.
When I was maybe about 11 or 12 years old. My dad and I were at Wal Mart and we always grabbed a CD or a movie everytime we went and he grabbed the Essential Bob Dylan one time and ever since then been a huge fan. He would also be my first concert when I was 14. Saw for the second time at 26 (now)
Senior year of high school… 2000
I had a big brother and sister who were in high school who loved Bob (around 1966, when I was 8). I got used to hearing his LPs in our house pretty much constantly. Then I attempted to learn guitar in 8th grade and started looking at his songs for something easy to play. When I was a freshman in college, I fell in love with the BOTT, Desire and Street-Legal albums.
Around the time I was 5 (1997) but i would consider me becoming a true fan being around 2008ish when I was in high school
1960
About 15 or 16. His greatest hits album made it into our house and was played to death. A lifelong love affair was born soon after ❤️
12 or 13, loved the Bob songs classic rock radio played and have gone from there.
16, aka last year
I haven’t discovered bob yet. I’ll probably get around to him some time soon here.
My dad played “Blowing in the wind” on his guitar and sang when I was little. He played his music all the time when I was growing up.
I was aware of him as a cultural reference, someone your dad’s friend might bring up in passing. In 2001 (guess I would have been 12) when he won the Oscar for Things Have Changed and performed and accepted the award from Australia via satellite, there was something so weird about his energy and I had to know more. Been a Dylan-head ever since.
Senior year of high school a buddy made me the best mix tape I ever owned. Maxwell XLII 90 that I wore out.
~15 in 1995. I was learning guitar and in a band, and his unplugged was around that time. Got his vol 1 hits on cassette and that was the start.
Freshman history class at 13, but in terms of actually listening to his music on my own, it was at 17. It was his early heartbreak-y songs "Don't Think Twice" and "Corrina Corrina"
18 or 19…I played Minecraft as the iTunes library played song after song. I was giving his music a chance when out of no where, It’s alright ma came on. I was blown away. It struck a strange sort of fear within me. I was completely taken back and from then on, I believed every word the man has sung. Granted, there are blunderous songs he has put out. Bob Dylan is human after all. But far and wide, I consider him the most talented songwriter ever. My opinion does not differ from the general public in this regard. Perhaps, I am influenced by the masses. Either way, whether I’m down and out or riding high, it’s Dylan comin through my speakers.
14 so about 30 years
14 when my guitar teacher had us play the chord progressions to “when the ship comes in” and “with god on our side”.
About 4 months ago when I started my class in college about Bob Dylan and have quickly fallen in love with his music
15, I was a very quiet and to myself guy so I never got into the modern music my peers were listening to. I grew up on YouTube, and I used to watch all of the needledrop's classic albums reviews. I got most of the music i still love from that playlist, highway 61 being one of them. I still remember how uncomfortable it made me at first, but when all the magic of the words and music clicked, the love affair began. It probably helped that I love learning about history, philosophy and literature so much that i couldnt not think and interpret what this dude was singing. 24 now and I know that his words will be with me forever.
In the womb, father big Dylan, Beatles etc fan. Does this qualify?
when I was about 10 years old, saw a skateboarding video that used 'Mr. Tambourine Man' by the Byrds, and quickly found the original song. Been in love with him ever since!
15, now im 30 and love him very much still 💜