Now, little boy lost, he takes himself so seriously
He brags of his misery, he likes to live dangerously
And when bringing her name up
He speaks of a farewell kiss to me
He's sure got a lotta gall to be so useless and all
Muttering small talk at the wall while I'm in the hall
-Bob Dylan, "Visions of Johanna"

I love Bob Dylan. Simple enough statement, right, but how what exactly do I mean? Do I love him like friend? Do I love him like a fan? Do I love him like a brother? Or, do I love him like fat kid loves a butterfinger? I ask this because you'll see that the answer to this question is very telling of me--the kid who's blog you're reading.

I've come to find that a love for Bob Dylan has a very bipolar effect. On the one hand not a lot of people really like him--esp. those who have never heard his shockingly grating voice. I remember a friend of mine emphasizing how much more brilliant Tom Petty was than "this guy". I was so appalled that I didn't even know how to formulate a coherent rebuttal.

On the other hand, proclaiming yourself as a fan of Bob has it's cache. Anyone who's read a decent amount of Rolling Stone, knows anything about rock history or has had parents that smoked their fair share of weed have at least heard of him, let alone could hum the tune of "Blowin in The Wind."

But those experts of music--daily readers of pitchfork.com, owners of at least one Beatles poster, those who've synced "The Wizard of Oz" to Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of The Moon", or those who claim "Almost Famous" to be the greatest movie ever made--feel they understand Dylan's importance to rock and know very well the arithmetic involved in the "cool-points" boost that a proclamation of love for Dylan would incite.

On the one side of the coin you've got alienation from the Tom Petty-lovers and a back-stage pass with the sonic youth-lovers on the other. Who woulda thought that diggin Bob Dylan would be so polarizing?