July 7, 2026
Blowin’ in the Gloom
Not Dark Yet
Bob Dylan nearly died, came back swinging, and fans say no one can replace him
TLDR: Bob Dylan nearly died from a rare fungal illness in 1997, and the article frames that brush with death as the doorway to his remarkable second act. In the comments, the real fight is bigger: fans argue that Dylan wasn’t just great, he may be one of the last larger-than-life music legends in a culture that no longer makes them.
This wasn’t just a piece about Bob Dylan almost dying in 1997 from a terrifying fungal illness linked to bat droppings and then clawing his way into a late-career comeback. In the comments, it turned into a full-on "they don’t make legends like this anymore" town square, with readers treating Dylan less like a musician and more like the final boss of an era that has already vanished. The loudest reaction came from commenter codeulike, who basically declared the age of giant, culture-shaping heroes over.
That hot take opened the floodgates. The big argument wasn’t really about whether Dylan mattered — everyone seems to agree he does — but whether anyone can ever matter like that again. One side was all melancholy: culture is too splintered now, too many scenes, too many niche audiences, no more everyone-watches-the-same-thing superstar machine. The other side, hinted at in the same comment, was almost weirdly hopeful: maybe that fragmentation is actually good, and maybe we’ve traded a few towering idols for a lot more voices.
And yes, there’s a darkly absurd edge to all this because the trigger for Dylan’s second act is so bizarre it sounds made up: bat-dropping fungus, a motorcycle, chest pain, and then artistic rebirth. It’s the kind of detail the internet loves — half tragedy, half meme fuel. The result is a comment-section mood that swings between elegy, awe, and a very online version of, "Only Bob Dylan could nearly get taken out by airborne bat poop and still become a bigger myth."
Key Points
- •The article says Bob Dylan nearly died in May 1997 from histoplasmosis caused by *histoplasma capsulatum*.
- •It describes the fungus as associated with bird and bat droppings in the Mississippi and Ohio River Valley and outlines its potentially fatal effects on the lungs and heart.
- •The article portrays Dylan’s post-1978 period as artistically uneven after his temporary conversion to evangelical Christianity and his gospel trilogy.
- •It highlights several albums from this period, including *Infidels*, *Oh Mercy*, *Empire Burlesque*, *Under the Red Sky*, *Good as I Been to You*, and *World Gone Wrong*.
- •The article says many observers saw Dylan’s early-1990s covers albums as evidence of retreat, while arguing he was actually continuing to refine himself on the road.