So “Little” Steven Van Zandt thinks that Bob Dylan took the fun out of rock’n'roll.

‘Before Dylan, before rock became art it was a wonderful fusion of pop structure and personal statements,’ he explains, sounding less like a rock star and more like a fan. ‘I want to play music from a time when rock’n'roll was fun and we danced to it.’ So does he blame Bob Dylan for ruining rock music? ‘Yes, I do actually,’ he says smiling slyly, ‘and I tell him any chance I can. Look, the truth is that of course I can see the value of the Bob Dylan thing, but we try to stay on balance on the fun part.’ That means Iggy and the Stooges, Lou Reed, the Ramones, alongside newer bands like the Raveonettes and whatever he likes that lands on his desk.

We’re very fortunate indeed to have someone with Little Steven’s credentials to tell us what’s fun, and what isn’t.

Does he really think that Dylan plays over a hundred gigs a year because it’s boring? And people pack the houses year after year to see him and his band, from Oakland to Oslo, because they like suffering? Clearly Little Steven hasn’t been to a Dylan gig lately and heard Bob and the band burn up the stage on Summer Days or Highway 61. And yeah, people dance to it too.

Dylan didn’t take any fun out of rock’n'roll. He took forms of music which already existed (and which long pre-dated Little Steven’s hung-up and constricted notion of “rock’n'roll,” by the way) and he added to them the sparkle of his own lyrical and interpretive genius. Neither Van Zandt nor his erstwhile “boss” have ever come within a million miles of creating anything comparable, if you ask me.

And if anyone’s guilty of killing the “fun” of music in general, it’s more likely self-important pontificators like Little Steven who nail it down with labels and decree what’s cool and what’s not.

Well, I’m leaving in the morning as soon as the dark clouds lift
Yes, I’m leaving in the morning just as soon as the dark clouds lift
Gonna break the roof in - set fire to the place as a parting gift

Summer days, summer nights are gone
Summer days, summer nights are gone
I know a place where there’s still somethin’ going on

Addendum: One reader writes to defend L.S., sort of, saying that though it’s not Dylan’s fault, you could can draw a line from him to the more whining and pretentious bands of today. He also warns me not to put my back out dancing to Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat. Another reader sends an mp3 of Dylan hopping onstage as a surprise guest during a Springsteen show in autumn of 2003 - Shea Stadium if I’m not mistaken. The collective performed an awesomely awful version of Highway 61 Revisited. Little Steven himself was playing geetar on this atrocious rendition, and I take it that’s the point.

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