The Grammy’s, some call it a waste of time, others call it an incredible waste of time.
But every now and then something out of the ordinary happens and that’s exactly what
happened in 1998 when Bob Dylan performed at the awards show. Lets explore that in today’s video.
I’ve previously covered the infamous 1990 American Music Awards when Guns N’ Roses
drunkenly swore on stage and backstage at the press. The Link to that video is down below.
For the 1998 Grammy Awards Bob Dylan would be performing the song Love Sick & Dylan’s
management company hired a number of extras to sway to the music in the background. One of those
extra’s was a performance artist named Michael Portnoy. Not to be confused with Mike Portnoy,
the former drummer of dream theater. Side note, I've done a whole video Portnoy mposter.
It's a fascinating story, the link is down below. Michael Portnoy would recall to Billboard
what rehearsals were like for the grammys revealing “The casting director put us through a
rigorous series of auditions where we were tested on our ability to sway rhythmically to the beat
We were instructed, and this is a direct quote, “to give Bob a good vibe.” If you watch us in
the background, you can see how liberally this was interpreted” he would say. The rehearsals
went off without a hitch, but when it came to showtime that wasn’t the case.
During the live broadcast of the grammy’s Dylan’s performance appeared to be going fine and Half way
through the performance, Portnoy would come to the front of the stage rip of his shirt
with the words Soy Bomb written on his chest and dance in a robotic like manner. Dylan for
his part though would maintain his composure and Hhre’s a clip of happened at the grammy’s.
It was estimated that 20 million people tuned in to watch the grammy’s and were either amused,
shocked or both. Some of the people who were on stage with Dylan thought the whole thing
was part of the production. Portnoy would spend a good amount of time on stage before security
escorted him off, but by his own admission he was not roughed up but merely taken outside of
the building and left there. Keep in mind the grammy’s that year took place in the middle
of winter at radio city music hall in new york city Portnoy would tell the Hollywood Reporter
that a few friendly cops let him into the subway to stay warm. Portnoy wouldn’t end up collecting
his paycheque for being an extra with the Grammy's production which was estimated to be about $200,
but the Grammy's thankfully didn't opt to press charges against him.
Portnoy claimed to the hollywood reporter that he put the words soy bomb on his body because
and i quote: “Soy Bomb” was a two-word poem. Portnoy described the poem according to yahoo as:
and i quote “Soy represents dense nutritional life. Bomb is, obviously,
an explosive destructive force. So, ‘Soy Bomb’ is what I think art should be: dense,
transformational, explosive life!” Portnoy would justify his actions saying to the same publication
“It was such a perfect format to do something inscrutable. To inject some confusion into the
mainframe. It felt like I couldn’t get on that stage and not do something else. And at that
point in my life, I was working as a comedian. It was almost like telling a joke with my body.
The Grammy’s the following year used the event to promote the show claiming the awards ceremony was
and i quote “wild” and “unpredictable.” Portnoy would admit to running into one
of Dylan’s band members years later at a party and sharing a good laugh about the whole thing.
So whatever came of Portnoy? Well he started his career in the early 90’s as a standup comic
before becoming a performance artist. He would actually end up having a successful career as
an internationally renowned performance artist spending most of his time overseas taking part
in exhibitions and performances. He would tell the
the hollywood reporter his legacy about the soy bomb incident revealing "A lot of kids never
heard of Soy Bomb, but it’s still out there. A friend told me that on The X-Files that just aired
they have “Operation Soy Bomb” and it involved some kind of massive conspiracy and my picture
is on their schizo board with all the connections going to it.The incident also found it’s way into
other elements of pop culture with SNL and the tonight show with jay leno parodying the event.
That does it for today's video guys thanks for watching. Be sure to hit the like button
and subscribe and we'll see you again on rock n' roll true stories. Take care.