1. Bob Dylan goes electric, 1965-66

1. Bob Dylan goes el ectric, 1965-66

If ’60s music has an equivalent to Washington crossing the Delaware, it’s the moment when Bob Dylan went electric. Equal parts history and myth, it’s a watershed moment when something new and world-changing was forged. Of course, that “moment” started in July 1965, when Dylan shocked and angered the Newport Folk Festival audience by playing three songs on electric guitar with a full band, and continued through a contentious tour that ended when the singer nearly died in a motorcycle accident in July 1966. We’ve seen the postmodern approach to Dylan, but this is a story with enough heft to be told straight: fans who felt betrayed, a young Dylan struggling with audience expectations, and his certainty that the music getting booed every night was important enough to raise the ire of his most devoted followers. He had to repeatedly convince backup band The Hawks (who would later strike out on their own as The Band) not to quit, and cycled through numerous drugs to deal with the stress and fast pace of the tour. Amidst the whirlwind, Dylan managed to get married, record two of the best albums ever made, and star in D.A. Pennebaker’s documentary Don’t Look Back. As I’m Not There tacitly acknowledges, it’s impossible to capture Dylan’s entire life and career in one movie. But this pivotal, intensely creative two years might tell his story better than any full-on biopic ever could. [Mike Vago]