Precious Memories: Happy 40th Anniversary to Bob Dylan’s ‘Knocked Out Loaded’
By “For only fifteen hundred dollars/ You can have anybody killed”
Hey! Happy Friday! I hope you are all enjoying the Open Championship as much as I am. What a leaderboard! A veritable who’s who of “who’s that guy again?” And Bryson, of course. Always Bryson. Anyway, ICYMI, this week, we celebrated 40 years of Dylan’s possibly worst album Knocked Out Loaded and I posted an essay I wrote about it over at my popular Substack Please Take My Advice. So if you need a little light reading before you celebrate the anniversary of some other thing, I have got just what you need.
This was the first appearance of the late-period trickster character that Dylan would occupy — a sly operator with casual morals, unusual mustaches and many lifetimes of experience. As he has been confronted with the reversals of age in a youth-driven industry, his uncanniness for reinvention is rivaled by only Bowie. Even in the scorched earth bewilderment of Knocked Out Loaded we can recognize the seeds of rebirth.
And if you don’t believe me, just ask Rhett Miller, who enjoyed it.
Not in the mood for reading? I understand. Treat yourself to “Brownsville Girl,” at least. Get the weekend started!