Why did Bob Dylan plugging in at Newport in 1965 cause an uproar?

In July 1965 Bob Dylan, a folk hero whose songs "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" had become anthems of the civil rights and anti-war movements, went on stage at the Newport Folk Festival with an electric guitar and a rock band, and was met with cheering and booing. Why people booed is still disputed. Newport had begun in 1959 and became a platform for artists like Pete Seeger and Joan Baez, who were part of those movements. His first electric recordings had come out that spring.

On 25 July 1965 he headlined, playing his first electric set since high school with a pickup group that included Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper, and he left the stage after three songs. One version says the boos came from folk fans alienated by his unexpected electric guitar. The filmmaker Murray Lerner, who filmed it, said that he believed the crowd was booing the electric sound, while others say people were upset by the poor sound and a short set. One account of the festival says the controversy is often overplayed: it was a small number of folk purists, not the general audience.

Whatever the size of the boos, his performance drew a hostile response from the folk establishment. Five days earlier his single "Like a Rolling Stone" had been released. Columbia Records had hesitated because of its six-minute length and electric sound, and many radio stations refused to play such a long track, yet it reached number 2 in the US and helped end the rule that singles should be under three minutes. Newport was the first time he played it in public.