..Dylan, who is interviewed backstage at Wembley by Martha Quinn for MTV. The interview lasts over half an hour. Dylan is extremely talkative, discussing such matters as his early days at the Cafe Wha, the recording of Infidels, and his attitude toward videos. MTV broadcasts very little of the interview. At the end of the interview, Dylan tells Quinn that she asked some really good questions.
~Clinton Heylin (Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments Day by Day 1941-1995)
Martha Quinn: Will this tour help you reach a new generation? Bob Dylan: I don’t reach anybody. They find me. They find me. It’s not for me to go out and reach somebody. If they can find me, they find me, and if they don’t, they don’t. That’s the way it’s always been. I don’t think it’s gonna change now just because I’m such an old man and it’s nineteen-eighty… what is it?
7 July 1984
Martha Quinn interview for MTV,
Wembley Stadium backstage, London, England
I wasn’t quite sure how to do it and what material to use. I would have liked to do old folk songs with acoustic instruments, but there was a lot of input from other sources as to what would be right for the MTV audience. The record company said, “You can’t do that, it’s too obscure.”
~Bob Dylan (to Edna Gundersen May 1995)
I wasn’t quite sure how to do it and what material to use. I would have liked to do old folk songs with acoustic instruments, but there was a lot of input from other sources as to what would be right for the MTV audience. The record company said, “You can’t do that, it’s too obscure.” At one time, I would have argued, but there’s no point. OK, so what’s not obscure? They said Knockin’ on Heaven ‘s Door.
~Bob Dylan (to Edna Gundersen May 1995)
