The prog-rock masterpiece that made Jethro Tull stars and changed Ian Anderson’s life forever
Whenever someone starts a progressive rock band, the last thing on their minds is whether or not they will get a hit on the radio.
This music is meant to expand everyone’s idea of what a rock and roll band can do, and even if artists do their best to wrap everything up in a nice package, it’s going to be an extremely tough sell to get a song longer than four minutes on the charts, let alone a song that breaks the ten-minute mark. But Ian Anderson knew he could count on people embracing the music when listening to Jethro Tull.
Even by prog standards, though, Tull’s music is much deeper than most people were willing to go. King Crimson had already started to toy with the idea of music that went into different genres on a whim, but most people were drawing the line at coming to a rock and roll show and watching someone go on an extended flute jam. But there was much more depth behind the band than most people saw.
Anderson wasn’t afraid to show off his chops every now and again, and listening to his take on Bach’s ‘Bouree’, it was clear that he had done his homework in terms of making music that people could digest, even if it was a little bit strange. When the band finally clicked on the album Aqualung, though, things started to turn a corner in a big way.
There are plenty of prog classics on here like ‘My God’, but there isn’t a single Tull fan who doesn’t get pumped when listening to the opening riff of the title track. Prog was never exactly meant to be cool, but from the moment that the riff starts, the band is off on a musical journey, going from crunchy guitars to a plaintive ballad to one of the greatest solos of the 1970s once the band starts ramping up the tension midway through the track.
While all that’s missing is Anderson’s signature flute solo, he admitted that his life would never be the same once the song blew up, saying, “Quite a lot of the song is me strumming an acoustic guitar and doing a laid-back, meandering bit of storytelling. People tend to think of the opening riff, but they’d be hard-pushed to hum much of the rest of it. It’s also a rare Jethro Tull song that has no flute in it”.
“It was the most life-changing piece of music for me personally. It afforded me the opportunity to release even more adventurous albums.”
Ian Anderson
Beyond being one of the band’s greatest hits, though, the reason why it broadened the playing field was because of how long it was. No one expected a six-minute musical journey to find some time on the charts, but if the band were being thrown into the prog-rock world, they figured that they would have some fun making the most of it by throwing everything and the kitchen sink into their albums.
And listening to what they did on Thick as a Brick, they were willing to take more chances than any of their contemporaries. Many prog bands like the idea of stretching out their songs, but crafting an entire concept album that is one long extended piece is both a tongue-in-cheek dig at the genre itself while also being some of the most competent prog music ever committed to vinyl.
Anderson may have been a bit dubious about stepping outside of his comfort zone before, but the success of ‘Aqualung’ managed to teach him one valuable lesson. Although the label might have a tried-and-true formula for how to make some hits, people are always going to respond well to artists who are following their passion.
