2 bands that Bob Dylan said he liked in the 80s

Bob Dylan started his incredible and prolific career in the late 50s, being one of the musicians who revolutionized songwriting and showed artists like The Beatles that they could do things differently. So he had the chance to be part of the revolution and see the result of that up-close.

In the 1980s, everything had changed in music and it was the decade of MTV and the music videos. Even Dylan recorded some and was asked which were some of his favorites at the time.

2 bands that Bob Dylan said he liked in the 80s

The Police

The first band mentioned by Bob Dylan was The Police, he revealed in an interview with Martha Quinn (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) in 1984. She asked which were some of his favorite music videos at the time and he said that The Police’s “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” was one of them.

“I like the one of The Police when they’re jumping around in the studio. (Interview says ‘Synchronicity) Is that it? Whether or no, they’re in a studio and they are all wearing hats.” (The interviewer corrects saying is ‘Every Little Things She Does is Magic’) and Dylan says: “I like that.”

That track was released on The Police’s fourth studio album “Ghost In The Machine” in 1981. The track was written by the band’s vocalist and bassist Sting and the popularity of the song helped to make that album one of their best-selling ones.

Andy Warhol, Sting and Bob Dylan meeting

Bob had the chance to hang out with Sting at least once at Nell’s nightclub in New York City back in 1987. There is a photo of him, Dylan and Andy Warhol talking. The late artist documented this meeting in his diary.

                   Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan and Sting in 1987

Andy Warhol said: “Paige and I walked over to Nell’s. It was beautiful weather, in the forties or fifties. And Nell’s was so glamorous. Fred was there with Ian McKellen and his I guess boyfriend Sean. And against the wall was Claus von Bulow and Cosima and Andrea Reynolds. Nell just goes around taking pictures of people like Fred passed out on the divans. She has a funny picture of Taki whispering in Bob Colacello’s ear and Anthony Haden-Guest trying to hear it.”

He continued:

“And Sting was there, he wears Cerutti clothes now, and Nell asked him how his career and all started and he said this and that happened and then he said, ‘And then Andy made me a star.’ Maybe we were the first to put him alone on a magazine cover. He said he wants to do plays now. I don’t know why Sting would ever do that Frankenstein movie, The Bride. If it had been a singing Frankenstein, that would’ve been something.”

“And then Nell left her chair and then Bob Dylan came over and sat down and he said he’d just seen my photography show at the Miller Gallery—that he’d literally just come from there. And then Nell came back and pretended she didn’t know who he was and said that that was her seat. I want Nell to take pictures for Interview, but she only takes color pictures so I left her some of my black and white film. I introduced von Bulow to Nell and then to Dylan,” Andy Warhol said.

Cyndi Lauper

“I like Cindy Lauper”, Bob Dylan also told Martha Quinn back in 1984 when the only album she had released was “She’s So Unusual”. That record had “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and “Time After Time”, two tracks which had two great music videos that were played regularly on MTV.

Her album peaked at number in several Countries like Canada and number 4 on the United States Billboard 200. Bob and Cyndi had the chance to record together because they were both part of the charity single “We Are The World”, written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie in 1985.

However, Cyndi Lauper recalled in an interview with The Guardian that she didn’t like what Dylan told her one day. “Bob Dylan told me he didn’t like chicks in bands. I think some male rock stars were scared of me at the time. They saw me as this scary, unhinged woman. For that generation, women were just supposed to be in awe of these rock gods.”

In another conversation with The Guardian, she used him as an example when talking about shows like The Voice, which judges people only for their singing ability. “I don’t think I could put up with doing The Voice. You get tortured. Did Dylan do it? Would he make it through? I don’t know – if those shows were back then, would there even be a Bob Dylan today?”