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NBC slammed for saying Paul Simon will end up historical footnote to Bob Dylan, Internet says 'he's doing fine'

'NBC News with this absolute brutal body slam on Paul Simon out of NOWHERE,' a user commented

NBC News is facing the ire of many Paul Simon fans after their recent article in which they compared the iconic musician to Bob Dylan. For those needing a recap, singer-songwriter and actor Paul Simon has a musical career that spanned over six decades. Yes, that is over 60 years and a span that is certainly a near-injustice, to sum up in a few sentences, let alone in a negative light. Not all artists can claim they have a fan in everyone on the planet, and each to their own, sure, but Paul Simon is widely regarded as one of the best songwriters in popular music history.

Simon formed the duo, Simon & Garfunkel, with his schoolfriend Art Garfunkel in 1956. The pair released five studio albums and became one of the most acclaimed groups of the 1960s. Fast-forward to today and you will still hear their songs in some media platform or other and they're commonly held in high esteem. Simon composed nearly all of their songs, including 'The Sound of Silence', 'Mrs Robinson', 'Scarborough Fair/Canticle', 'America', and 'Bridge over Troubled Water'.

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Paul Simon sold his music to Sony

Paul Simon has been making headlines of late after he reportedly sold his entire song catalog to Sony Music Publishing for an undisclosed sum. The deal covers more the aforementioned of music, including Paul Simon's 'You Can Call Me Al' and '50 Ways To Leave Your Lover'. and the above hit songs by Simon & Garfunkel.

According to BBC, Paul said he was "pleased" to have Sony as the "custodian of my songs for the coming decades". Additionally, Bob Dylan sold his songs last year to Sony's rival Universal Music for nearly $400m (£290m), while Neil Young sold half his catalog to Hipgnosis Songs Fund for around $150m (£109m) in January.

'Simon seems to be doing fine'

According to NBC News, after Paul Simon's decision to sell his catalog, "He'll still end up a historical footnote to Dylan". While it may not be a rare occurrence that the two famous songwriters get compared, often a debate among fans, such a comment has seen an ignition of anger by Simon's fans on Twitter.

"This is just like such a weirdly mean way to report on this? Like, has Paul Simon spent the last decade gunning for big hits and failing? Also his songs are still covered and played constantly," said a fan while another wrote, "Simon>Dylan smh."

One fan shared a link of the article with their own caption, "NBC News with this absolute brutal body slam on Paul Simon out of NOWHERE." 

"Call Me Al alone has like 380 million plays on Spotify. No idea where this guy is getting this shit," said a fan to which another replied, "yeah I mean, simon seems to be doing fine compared to dylan if this is how we're going to measure it."

"There is obviously, to any one person, art of value in the past. But I think there's this weird impulse in what I can only describe as the opinion mills to just paint anything by an old white guy as out of touch in order to try (and fail) at appealing to millennials & zoomers," commented another fan as another replied, "Unless the old white guy is bob dylan, apparently."