Maps of Music

Knocked Out Loaded (1986)

Where the lyrics of Knocked Out Loaded take you, and where it was really made.

Dylan's lowest-charting studio album since his 1962 debut peaked at No. 53 in the US, yet its 11-minute epic "Brownsville Girl" is still cited as one of his best songs.

Key places

Recorded at The Church Studios, London (1986)

Recording site The Church Studios — The album's recording location is listed as The Church Studios in London. The pin shows the studio's coordinates, not an exact building position. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recorded at Sound City Studios, Los Angeles (1986)

Recording site Sound City Studios — The album's recording location is listed as Sound City Studios in Los Angeles. The pin shows the studio's coordinates, not an exact building position. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recorded at Delta Recording Studio, New York City (1986)

Recording site Record Plant Studios — The album's recording location is listed as Delta Recording Studio in New York City. The pin is placed at the city centre, so the building position is not shown. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Knocked Out Loaded: twenty-fourth studio album by Bob Dylan
• Released July 14, 1986 by Columbia Records
• Includes three cover songs, three collaborations with other songwriters, and two solo Dylan compositions
• Features the 11-minute epic "Brownsville Girl", co-written with Sam Shepard
• "Maybe Someday" paraphrases a line from T. S. Eliot's poem Journey of the Magi

Background

• Debuted on the US Billboard 200 at No. 80, peaked at No. 53 three weeks later
• Dylan's lowest-charting studio album since his 1962 debut
• UK debut at No. 35, then fell off the chart five weeks later
• Highest chart position was in Norway, No. 9

Recording

• Most of the album was recorded in spring 1986
• "Got My Mind Made Up" recording or mixing reportedly took place in June
• Several tracks used overdubbing to build on instrumental tracks from 1984 and 1985 sessions

Cover

• Artist Rick Griffin, known mainly for Grateful Dead logos and poster art, was first commissioned for the cover
• Griffin's work featured Marlon Brando's character from The Wild One, working title All Jacked Up
• Dylan rejected Griffin's design and chose a reworking of the January 1939 cover of the pulp magazine Spicy Adventure Stories

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota; raised in Hibbing, Minnesota.
• Moved to New York City in January 1961 to pursue a music career.
• Signed to Columbia Records after playing harmonica on Carolyn Hester's album; debut album Bob Dylan released in 1962.

Members

• Solo artist; backed over the years by bands including the Hawks/the Band, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and his touring band led by bassist Tony Garnier.

Career

• Breakthrough with The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963); protest songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" became anthems for the civil rights and antiwar movements.
• Went electric with Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited (1965) and Blonde on Blonde (1966), provoking controversy among folk fans.
• Motorcycle accident in 1966 led to nearly eight years without touring; Basement Tapes recorded with the Band.
• Converted to Christianity in the late 1970s and released gospel albums; won Album of the Year Grammy for Time Out of Mind (1997).
• Has toured since 1988 on the Never Ending Tour; won an Academy Award and ten Grammy Awards; awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Rolling Stone's Anthony DeCurtis: "Knocked Out Loaded is ultimately a depressing affair," wrote DeCurtis, arguing the slipshod, patchwork nature suggests Dylan lacked artistic direction
• The Village Voice's Robert Christgau: wrote the album "sounds like something Dylan threw together in a week and away forever." Christgau praised side two and singled out "Brownsville Girl"
• The album was received poorly upon release, with contemporary critics finding it uneven and lacking cohesion

Reappraisal

• Entertainment Weekly's Bill Flanagan, in 1991, characterized Knocked Out Loaded as "haphazard", despite enjoying Dylan's collaborations with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Sam Shepard
• The Rolling Stone Album Guide, 2004 edition, dismissed the album as "the absolute bottom of the Dylan barrel"
• The A.V. Club grouped the album with Empire Burlesque and Down in the Groove as a trilogy of weak-to-awful albums
• Paste's Matt Mitchell ranked it the fourth worst of Dylan's studio albums in 2024, with only "Brownsville Girl" keeping it from the bottom

Records

• US Billboard 200: debuted at No. 80, peaked at No. 53
• UK Albums Chart: debuted at No. 35
• Highest chart position: Norway, No. 9
• Lowest-charting Dylan studio album since his 1962 debut

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The album's inner sleeve lists a long set of special thanks, covering musicians who played on it (such as Tom Petty), musicians who did not (Stevie Wonder), surreal characters, and Dylan's youngest daughter, Desiree
• "Maybe Someday" paraphrases a line from T. S. Eliot's Journey of the Magi
• Rick Griffin's cover artwork sold at auction in 2008 for $7,350
• Dylan rejected Griffin's design in favor of a reworked January 1939 Spicy Adventure Stories cover

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Maps of Ages ↗ (mapsofages.com)

Privacy · Contact