BY: DIGITAL WAX MEDIA STAFF

 

The release of the new Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown starring Timothée Chalamet last month has elicited an array of responses ranging from high praise to outright dismissal. One viewer who did not appear to be to keen on the biographical drama was none other than Roger McGuinn, lead singer and guitarist of The Byrds.

 

While Bob Dylan – widely considered to be the greatest songwriter in the history of popular music – could be said to have had a substantial impact on the career trajectories of many of his contemporaries, his association with The Byrds and McGuinn, such as it was, could be argued to have been of particular significance.

 

Dylan would debut his song “Mr. Tambourine Man,” an acoustic number in the folk style, in March of 1965 in the lead-up to his album Bringing It All Back Home. The Byrds would change the landscape of popular music through their interpretation of the song, released less than a month later as the band’s debut single and featuring the chiming 12-string Rickenbacker sound for which The Byrds would come to be heavily associated.

 

Dylan himself would purportedly give his stamp of the approval with regard to the cover at a Byrds rehearsal prior to the release of their single version. The Byrds would go on to cover many other Dylan tunes, including “The Times They Are a-Changin’,” “Chimes of Freedom,”  “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere,” and “My Back Pages” among others.

 

Given the extensive history between the two acts, one might correctly assume that Byrds vocalist and guitarist Roger McGuinn was less than enthused to discover the lack of any mention of himself or The Byrds as part of A Complete Unknown, which has grossed $74.5 million worldwide as of the writing of this article.

 

McGuinn would take to social media to voice his apparent dissatisfaction with the snub, writing on the platform, X, “The Byrds are not mentioned in “A Complete Unknown. Byrds are historically significant for their cover of Dylan’s ‘Mr. Tambourine Man,’ which became a defining moment for the folk rock genre, but this connection is not part of the movie’s narrative.”

 

Just over half an hour after his initial post to the platform, McGuinn would share the link to a video in which original member of The Byrds – and later Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young – David Crosby can be heard declaring that Dylan himself was actually influenced to a great extent by The Byrds’ interpretation of his song.

 

Fan reactions to the initial post were varied in nature, with some X users expressing reverence for The Byrds significant musical and cultural impact, and others dismissing McGuinn’s grievances and the expected representation of the band as part of A Complete Unknown as self-serving and unnecessary. Further discourse saw fans speculating as to how the late and notoriously outspoken Crosby would have reacted to the film and to McGuin’s commentary.

 

Fans of Dylan, The Byrds, and of popular music as a whole still have an opportunity’s to catch A Complete Unknown on the big screen as the film continues its theatrical run.

 

Photo: Roger McGuinn performing live at the Tivoli, Utrecht, The Netherlands on 2009-07-15 by Hans Werksman – Used Under Creative Commons License