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02/03/2006

Jerry Schatzberg's Dylan portrait graces new Q magazine cover

The new (“April”) issue of kiddypoprock magazine Q has a lovely, familiar Jerry Schatzberg portrait of Dylan from his Thin Wild Mercury Sound era gracing its front cover.

The mag, celebrating “40 Years Of Genius” (uhh? “45”, surely? GS), carries 23 pages of mildly interesting Bob copy, with short feature articles on Blonde On Blonde, Rolling Thunder and on the ‘80s and ‘90s discographies. There’s also a round-up of “50 Cult Dylan Tracks You Must Own” and “What Dylan means to me”-type features by a trio of pop singers. Really.

The issue is, obviously, a must-have for collectors. And it will be welcomed by boys and girls of discrimination who are just discovering the Dylan catalogue.

Its real significance, though, lies in what it reveals about the contemporary Dylan market – Q mag’s target demographic appears to be 16-30 year old male rock fans, evidenced by alluring teenage angst copy like “We sucked Satan’s c*ck” (attributed to a leading Brit rocker), and ads for shampoo, men’s moisturiser, hair gel and similar essentials.

It looks like Dylan is hitting the Pimply/Zit market - for the second time in 40 years.


Gerry Smith

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