'Bringing It All Back Home'

I was listening to this album in my car when I picked up a friend from the mechanic's shop.

My friend picked up the case for the album and noticed that they had categorized the album (and I guess Dylan, in general) as "rock."

My friend found this curious and noted that he would not have considered Dylan or this album as rock.

Having listened to quite a bit of Dylan in the last year, the supposition that he is some folk hero is greatly exaggerated. A vast majority of Dylan is rock music. The beat, the rhythm, the feel, the song structure -- all bases for rock music.

Which brings up the idea of genre. Especially "folk." We like to consider "folk" music as being rootsy, acoustic music like Peter, Paul and Mary, The Kingston Trio and Pete Seeger.

There is also the insinuation of folk music actually saying something about society, politics, war and whatnot. This is probably because of its association with civil rights, the Vietnam War and all that jazz.

But I think folk music is not so much about subject matter or the sound, but about the roots. The fact is, folk music can vary greatly from country to country. Irish folk music is much different than folk music from Tanzania or Russia. With that said, isn't folk music based on nationality? Where as other genres are based on song structure, instruments, beat and style?

Dylan ain't folk. I dare you to listen to "Subterranean Homesick Blues" and disagree.