Happy Birthday, Bob Dylan Updated May 24, 2010 6:41pm

Bob Dylan, performing live in 2009. (Getty/Kevin Winter)

By Jordan Heller

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN — Bob Dylan, a legendary figure in American folk and rock music, turned 69 years old on Monday.

Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, has remained a potent force in rock music and American pop culture for nearly five decades. His early hits, 1963’s “Blowin’ In the Wind” and 1964’s “The Times They are A-Changin’,” became anthems for 1960s counterculture. 

His spirit of counterculture sometimes confounded his biggest fans, most famously when he was booed by his folk-loving followers when he dumped his acoustic guitar for an electric guitar at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

In his latest incarnation, Dylan infuriated some of his purist fans by appearing in a 2004 commercial for Victoria's Secret lingerie.

In honor of the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame inductee's birthday, Flavorwire posted an edifying tribute on Monday: "69 Things You Didn't Know About Bob Dylan."

The website collected a list of Dylan trivia, including a snippet from a Beatles biography that claimed Dylan was responsible for first introducing the Beatles to marijuana.

And, while living in Greenwich Village in the 1960s, the rising pop star was reportedly a "chess fiend."