“What Good Is It?”: Mike Campbell Recalls Equipment That Stumped Bob Dylan in the Studio

Bob Dylan trying to play along to a metronome sounds like a setup for a bad folk-rock joke, but in 1985, that was the reality Mike Campbell was living while trying to work with the esteemed songwriter on his 23rd studio album, Empire Burlesque. Dylan asked Campbell to work together after hearing Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer,” the nostalgic ode to summer love that Campbell originally wrote for Tom Petty.

Videos by American Songwriter

Dylan wanted a hit, so it made sense to collaborate with the man behind some of the hottest, pop-sensible rock tracks of the time. What the ever-rubato Dylan wasn’t expecting, however, was the studio technique necessary to implement Campbell’s hit-making tools.

Mike Campbell Set Bob Dylan Up With His Hit-Making Drum Machine

Although we typically associate Mike Campbell with his long-time band, the Heartbreakers, fronted by Tom Petty, the lead guitarist wrote many of his hit songs using a drum machine. “Boys of Summer” was no exception. After Don Henley’s rendition of the track that Tom Petty initially turned down took off, Bob Dylan reached out to Campbell to see if he could get a hit for his upcoming record, Empire Burlesque. Campbell said Dylan asked him if he used a drum machine and if he still had it. “I said, ‘Yeah,’” Campbell told Vulture. “He went, “Could you bring it down tomorrow? I’d like to have a hit, too.’ In his mind, I’m the same guy who did it, so it would work for him.”

Unfortunately for everyone in the studio that next day, that was not the case. “He didn’t play along with the drum machine,” Campbell said. “I don’t know how he didn’t comprehend that. He was playing freestyle. After a few minutes, Bob and the engineer look over at me, and Bob goes, ‘That doesn’t sound right.’ He looked at me like it’s my fault. I said, ‘Well, Bob, when you turn the machine on, you have to follow it so the record is on beat with that.’ And he responds, ‘You mean it won’t follow me? Well, what good is it?’ He was dead serious.”

Campbell said the exchange showed him a different side of Dylan. Despite having access to virtually any drummer, session player or bona fide celebrity, he would want, Dylan still asked Campbell to bring a drum machine that requires a player to keep a steady beat, something Dylan is notoriously averse to doing. “It’s a thin line between child and genius,” Campbell said. “I love the guy.”

The Songwriter Taught The Guitarist Valuable Lessons, Too

One of the best parts of collaborating musically is the opportunity to get out of one’s comfort zone and learn from their creative partner, and that was undoubtedly true of Mike Campbell and Bob Dylan’s mid-1980s collaboration. Campbell might have taught Dylan the highs and lows of working with electronic equipment like a drum machine, but Dylan offered his fair share of lessons, too. Most notably, Campbell learned a lot about Dylan’s approach to live performances while on Dylan’s “True Confessions Tour” in 1986 (and how Dylan’s relationship with his audience varied wildly from the Heartbreakers’).

“[Touring with Bob] was a totally different work ethic than the Heartbreakers,” Campbell recalled. “The Heartbreakers honed into showbiz. You get a set list, there’s an arc, you whip the audience into a frenzy and engage them, the whole thing. Bob doesn’t do any of that. He can do what he wants to do and the audience can boo, clap, leave, or smile. The Heartbreakers would never. It takes a lot of courage to perform that way. But it keeps you on your toes, and I like that.”

Photo by FRCPhoto/Shutterstock