Under the radar of the media, the band are embarking on an anniversary tour. Ian Anderson explains their success

 

If the czars of musical fashion had their way, Jethro Tull would have ceased to exist decades ago. Tull music is a fanciful melange of prog rock, metal and folk, laced with classical lite and a smattering of Monty Python whimsy. The White Stripes they are not. The band haven't had a Top Ten single since 1970 and their most famous song (Aqualung) portrays - perhaps rather too sympathetically - a pervert on a park bench. Oh, and their oeuvre is almost entirely undanceable.

 

And yet ... Ian Anderson and his troupe are currently embarked on a globe-straddling 40th anniversary tour, packing out the enormodomes of America en route. In the febrile world of pop, where the average NME-endorsed hipster crashes and burns after a couple of indie hits, the Tull are a ruggedly reliable stock, playing 70-plus gigs every year and quietly flogging 60 million-plus albums. Celebrity fans range from Nick Cave and Stephen King to Geoff Hoon and Russia's President-elect.

 

So, in the face of near-total media indifference in their homeland, how has Anderson, 60, contrived such a successful career? Culled from a meeting at his discreetly splendid Wiltshire pile, amid his 400-acre farm, here are a few tips to success the Jethro Tull way.

 

see whole article here: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol...icle3881098.ece

i liked tull.... had some great singles and albums about fairies etc...:lol:, think hes been on the shrooms! :lol:

i liked tull.... had some great singles and albums about fairies etc...:lol:, think hes been on the shrooms! :lol:

 

Wouldn't surprise me :lol: :lol:

 

I liked Living in the Past and The witch's promise.

'the witches promise' was my fav... 'lend me your ear whilst i call you a fool'...:lol: brilliant!

What of 'Skating Away on the Thin Ice of a New Day', or 'Nursie', or, one of their all-time classics, 'Aqualung'? Or 'Locomotive Breath'??

 

 

One of the better groups of the late 60's still getting out and about some today...Ian Anderson, the mad flautist, what a front man.... :rolleyes:

You could say his second & biggest hit could be this forum's theme - Living In The Past

 

I have one of his albums - Thick As A Brick.

 

Edited May 18, 200817 yr by Euro Music