The prog-rock bands Ian Anderson wanted to make fun of
Not every album has to have the same kind of good-natured spirit about it to be iconic.
Sometimes the greatest album of all time can have a little bit of tongue-in-cheek humour behind them, and while Jethro Tull did take their musicianship seriously, Ian Anderson could see the funny side in throwing a few jabs at some of their contemporaries now and again.
Because if there’s one thing This is Spinal Tap should have taught everyone, it was that it should be okay to laugh at yourself in the music industry. Not everything goes exactly as planned during a show day, and even if things go haywire or the drummer blows up, it’s important to not get too down on yourself about it. The whole point of rock is to have fun, but things were starting to get more than a little bit dour in the early 1970s.
It was clear that the utopian idealism that everyone was preaching at the time was never going to work, but even if Woodstock was a failed attempt at peace after the Altamont Free Festival, there was still room for people to not be downtrodden. Yes, songs like ‘Ohio’ by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young needed to happen, but when progressive music started to become one of the biggest genres in the world, it felt like every single person in the music industry became allergic to smiling.
From Pink Floyd to Gentle Giant, every one of the hot bands at the moment seemed to have a little bit more of a serious tone to them. They were in the business to create high art whenever they could, and that meant making long extended concertos or exercises that seemingly went nowhere half the time. Jethro Tull may have fit right in with them, but Anderson knew the genre could use a little bit of levity.
So while Thick as a Brick could be considered one of the most lavish prog rock albums of all time, that’s kind of the joke behind the whole thing. Anyone looking at a song that takes up two full sides of vinyl is going to be in for a rough ride, but most of Anderson’s ideas include casually poking fun at common prog-rock tropes, whether that’s through breaking the musical fourth wall or throwing in casual Monty Python-esque references.
“There were several bands producing rather elaborate and sometimes pompous, overblown productions of music. Those were bands like Yes and King Crimson and the early Genesis. It wasn’t my favorite kind of music.”
Ian Anderson
And Anderson wasn’t exactly shy about naming the bands that had inspired him to poke some fun at the genre, either, saying, “It remains as a parody of the concept prog-rock album of its day. Because at that point, there were several bands producing rather elaborate and sometimes pompous, overblown productions of music.
“Those were bands like Yes and King Crimson and the early Genesis. It wasn’t my favorite kind of music, but I enjoyed a lot of it. They were great musicians and did some great stuff, but it seemed a convenient time to create a spoof of that grandiose concept album.”
Most bands might have a sense of humour about this kind of thing, but what Anderson was doing wasn’t that far off from the more eclectic studio albums from the time. The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is a brilliant piece by Genesis during Peter Gabriel’s run, but a storyline that centres around a kid in New York going on an Alice in Wonderland-style fairytale adventure, which hardly makes sense half the time.
So while Thick as a Brick might be the expert level of concept albums, it does have a little something for everyone if they’re willing to go on a bit of a wild ride. Anderson was already a fantastic songwriter, but he knew he’d feel better playing with everyone’s expectations once in a while.
