The album that changed Ian Anderson’s perspective: “They were rock gods”
We’ve all heard the phrase ‘trying to break America’. Ever since British Invasion music in the 1960s, America has become the golden egg for future generations to crack. Lucrative, hedonistic and keen to do everything as big as possible, it was a land where the more modest style of British fame could be warped into glittering stardom and unbridled arrogance.
Music is no longer a place that affords the ability to roll from gig to gig in blacked-out stretch limos, sipping champagne in an open-chested shirt, but in the 1970s, it was. And no one did it better than Led Zeppelin.
Their grand and dramatic style of rock, soared with Robert Plant’s vocals, echoed throughout America and soundtracked a decade of hedonistic opulence that seemed to be thriving in parts of the country. And it wasn’t a slow burn either, from the release of their debut self-titled album, the band crashed through the country as a recorded and live tour-de-force, selling out American arenas instantly.
On that initial tour, they took Jethro Tull alongwith them as support, and for Ian Anderson and co, watching their fellow Brits step onto American stage like immortal rock gods opened up doors of ambitious possibility. Anderson said, “This album showed us that you could be a huge success in the U.S.A. without singles, hype and showbiz clout. The music stood and still stands up for itself.”
It may have been a compliment shared through gritted teeth for Anderson, who openly admits he didn’t practice the same lifestyle of sex, drugs and rock and roll, as Zeppelin. They were a band renowned for their post-show shenanigans that centred around as much unbridled partying and elaborate lovemaking as possible, but then being able to deliver a monster set the next night.
Anderson admitted, Jethro Tull was happy to exist “outside the orbit of their nightly shenanigans” and in turn, developed a somewhat distant relationship with the Zepellin’s enigmatic frontman Robert Plant.
Anderson revealed, “Led Zeppelin were Led Zeppelin; they were rock gods, and we were the humble support act. … We rarely spoke, particularly to Robert, who was on a higher plane, as a vocalist and as a person. Jimmy Page was a little bit more friendly, but Bonham, you steered a mile away from because he was a raving nutcase! He was always polite enough to me, but I probably just saw him on a rare good mood.”
It was later revealed that Plant issued a retrospective apology to Anderson years later, who refuted it as largely unnecessary, issuing the behaviour as merely a sign of the times. But perhaps Plant’s compulsion to extend an olive branch was due to creative sympatico the two bands shared. Because like Zeppelin, Jethro Tull were keen to experiment with as many different genres and textures as possible, and that would have undoubtedly been present to both bands, no matter how distant, during that tour.
Anderson explained, “Jethro Tull and Led Zeppelin did share that same interest, even passion, for music that was not the normal stuff of rock and roll. And perhaps they, too, were influenced in some ways by what influenced me: Indian music, Mediterranean music, and British folk music.”
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