Bob Dylan thinks his music has been unnecessarily picked on by critics.
The 73-year-old musician was named MusiCares Person of the Year at the annual charity gala at Los Angeles Convention Center on Friday (06.02.15) and took the opportunity to scald those who have panned his singing voice during his 30-minute acceptance speech.
He said: "Critics have been giving me a hard time since day one. Critics say I can’t sing. I croak. Sound like a frog."
The ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ hitmaker continued with his rant by saying he has received far more criticism throughout his career than his peers such as Tom Waits, Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen.
He explained: "Why don’t critics say that same thing about Tom Waits? Critics say my voice is shot. That I have no voice. Why don’t they say those things about Leonard Cohen? Why do I get special treatment? Critics say I can’t carry a tune and I talk my way through a song. Really? I’ve never heard that said about Lou Reed. Why does he get to go scot-free?"
The singer-songwriter later went on to take aim at prominent figures within the music industry Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller whose songs he denounced for being simple and not dealing with important issues.
He added: "I didn’t really care what Leiber and Stoller thought of my songs. That was all right that they didn’t like ’em, because I never liked their songs either. ‘Yakety yak, don’t talk back.’ ‘Charlie Brown is a clown,’ ‘Baby I’m a hog for you.’ Novelty songs. They weren’t saying anything serious."
Bob Dylan slams critics
