THE 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSICIANS OF ALL TIME

7 The 100 Most Influential Musicians of All Time 7

Ginsberg, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, and Roger McGuinn—
came to motion-picture screens in 1978 as part of the
Dylan-edited Renaldo and Clara.
Lowndes and Dylan divorced in 1977. They had four
children, including son Jakob, whose band, the Wallflowers,
experienced pop success in the 1990s. Dylan was also
stepfather to a child from Lowndes’s previous marriage.
In 1978 Dylan mounted a yearlong world tour and released
Street-Legal and Bob Dylan at Budokan. In a dramatic turn-
about, he converted to Christianity in 1979 and for three
years recorded and performed only religious material. He
received a Grammy Award in 1980 for best male rock
vocal performance with his “gospel” song “Gotta Serve
Somebody.”
By 1982, when Dylan was inducted into the Songwriters
Hall of Fame, his open zeal for Christianity was waning. In
1985 he participated in the all-star charity recording “We
Are the World,” organized by Quincy Jones, and published
his third book, Lyrics: 1962–1985. Dylan toured again in
1986 –87, backed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. A
year later he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame, and the Traveling Wilburys (Dylan, Petty, Harrison,
Jeff Lynne, and Roy Orbison) formed at his house in
Malibu and released their first album. In 1989 Dylan once
again returned to form with Oh Mercy.
When Life magazine published a list of the 100 most
influential Americans of the 20th century in 1990, Dylan
was included, and in 1991 he received a Grammy Award for
lifetime achievement. As the 1990s drew to a close, Dylan,
who was called the greatest poet of the second half of the
20th century by Allen Ginsberg, was the recipient of
several national and international honours. In 1998, in a
comeback of sorts, he won three Grammy Awards—
including album of the year—for Time Out of Mind. Another