Line #29 YMMV/JethroTull


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2	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Obviously ''Music/{{Aqualung\|JethroTullAlbum}}'' and ''Music/ThickAsABrick'', also ''A Passion Play'' and ''Songs from the Wood''.
3	** ''Heavy Horses'' and ''The Broadsword and the Beast'', and that's not even getting into individual songs.
4	** ''Minstrel in the Gallery'' too.
5	** The criminally under-rated ''Stormwatch''.
6	** Their later output isn't remembered quite as fondly, but it does include such gems as the Grammy-winning ''Crest of a Knave''.
7	*** ''Crest of a Knave'', ''Rock Island'', and ''Catfish Rising''. The fact that, twenty years after their debut, they manage to put out three top-notch albums in a row, really says something about their staying power.
8	** Can't forget ''Stand Up'', one of Tull's earliest records and an excellent representation of their "blues rock" era.
9	** An unfairly overlooked one is ''The Jethro Tull Christmas Album'', a stunning example of a festive rock album that actually ''works''.
10	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: "THIS is the story of the hare who lost his spectacles!"
11	* BrokenBase:
12	** The band's own website [[http://jethrotull.com/?portfolio=a-passion-play invokes this trope]] at the beginning of its history of ''A Passion Play'':
13	--->Tull fans are a rather cordial group but breech the topic of ''A Passion Play'' at your own peril. Many vehemently defend it as Tull's finest work — others downright loath it.
14	** Should Ian carry on in spite of his failing voice? A number of fans are of the opinion that he should either pack it in altogether or find someone else to sing for him (such as Ryan O'Donnell, who performed vocals on the ''Thick as a Brick 2'' and ''Homo Erraticus'' tours in a manner akin to Ian himself).
15	* CommonKnowledge: It's often suggested that "Bungle in the Jungle", which was on the charts when the UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli[=/=]George Foreman [[Film/WhenWeWereKings "Rumble in the Jungle"]] fight happened in [[UsefulNotes/DemocraticRepublicOfTheCongo Zaire]], inspired the fight's nickname, with Ian Anderson himself suggesting that it's a reasonable possibility. In fact, the "Rumble in the Jungle" name was attached to the fight when it was first announced in July of 1974, and more likely it was a case of the song benefitting from the publicity about the fight when it was released in October.
16	* CoveredUp: "Bouree" by Bach.
17	* EndingFatigue: After spending the first two and a half minutes of "17" wondering if Anderson will take a break from singing (he doesn't), the last four minutes are spent wondering if Anderson will take a break from his flute solo (he also doesn't).
18	* EpicRiff: "Aqualung", "Locomotive Breath", several others.
19	** The opening riff to ''Thick as a Brick'' may be the band's most recognizable.
20	** "Sweet Dream" has a particularly notable riff.
21	** "Living in the Past" has to qualify. There aren't too many well-known riffs in [[UncommonTime 5/4]].
22	** You've also got the mighty riff of "Minstrel in the Gallery", followed by "Cold Wind to Valhalla".
23	** ''A Passion Play'' has quite a few, but probably none more than the main riff from "Magus Perdé" (which starts at around forty minutes into the album).
24	** "To Cry You A Song" from ''Benefit'' has one, reputedly inspired by [[Music/EricClapton Eric Clapton's]] riff from Blind Faith's "Had To Cry Today".
25	* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: Justified in a lot of songs (such as "A Passion Play," which literally involves encountering Jesus in Purgatory) but also overdone in others. "Thick as a Brick" is basically {{troll}}ing people on the subject.
26	* FandomRivalry: With Music/{{Metallica}}, due to their controversial Grammy win.
27	* FanonDiscontinuity: ''A'' and especially ''Under Wraps''. Even ''The Very Best of'' [[CanonDiscontinuity ignores both albums]].
28	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The band were surprisingly successful in the United States, regularly selling out stadiums all over the country throughout the 1970s.
29	* GrowingTheBeard: The inclusion of guitarist Martin Barre (during ''Stand Up'') and keyboardist John Evan (during ''Benefit''), which greatly expanded and tightened the band's sound.
30	* HarsherInHindsight: ''Too Old To Rock 'N' Roll: Too Young To Die!'' marked the first appearance of Tull's third bassist, John Glascock. Three and a half years after that album, he passed away at age 28; not too old to rock 'n' roll, but certainly too young to die.
31	** Whether it's this or {{hilarious\|InHindsight}} (or both), Mick Abrahams wrote and sang the song "Move on Alone" for the band's first album. Abrahams would leave the band shortly after the album's release. Ian Anderson lampshades it in the liner notes for the release of ''This Was''.
32	* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments: On ''Ian Anderson Plays the Orchestral Jethro Tull'', Ian dedicates their performance of "Life Is a Long Song" to all musicians who have passed on, specifically mentioning [[Music/LedZeppelin John Bonham]], [[Music/TheWho Keith Moon]], and Music/JimiHendrix.
33	** Just try and listen to "Another Christmas Song" without getting choked up.
34	* HoYay: For decades a live concert staple has involved Ian Anderson sticking his flute between Martin Barre's legs in a distinctly phallic manner, and fiddling with the protruding end of it for a while. Generally this ends with a disgusted look at the free hand, then wiping it as if now covered with something very sticky.
35	* IAmNotShazam: Some people misidentify Ian Anderson as Jethro Tull.
36	* NightmareFuel:
37	** The cover of ''[[http://www.progarchives.com/forum/uploads/16221/a_passion_play_small.jpg A Passion Play]]''. A dead ballerina with blood dripping from the side of her mouth, staring right at you. The high resolution image on the cover of the remixed edition is arguably worse.
38	** ''[[http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/418/cover_1740152292009.jpg Broadsword and the Beast]]'' is pretty creepy as well. Ian Anderson as some kind of fairy with a SlasherSmile and a {{BFS}} is not a comforting sight.
39	** "Left Right" begins with nearly a minute of horrible mewling noises, making it a First Note Nightmare as opposed to a LastNoteNightmare. Ugh.
40	** The stalking theme of "Watching You Watching Me".
41	** ''"Per errationes ad astra? Then dream, dream on. The dream is all. All good sense gone."'' The fact that it is the only sung line in a spoken word piece, and that Ian chants it like a monk with no backing instruments, is what makes this line NightmareFuel. Plus, the piece itself is meant to be an extra-terrestrial warning about mankind's potential to do harm to any worlds it encounters...
42	** The repeating and layered chanting of "The mouse police never sleeps, the mouse police never sleeps..." at the end of the titular song is surprisingly aggressive, emphasized by there being ''no music'' for a good ten seconds.
43	* SugarWiki/SweetDreamsFuel: A surprising number of songs, including "Nursie", "Fire At Midnight", "One Brown Mouse" and "Moths". Most of the Christmas album as well. Ironically, "Sweet Dream" is not an example.
44	* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: More of an issue during the band's more active years. Since Tull changed its sound every few albums, criticism was pretty inevitable.
45	** {{Lampshade\|Hanging}}d from their debut album's title, ''This Was''. By the time the album was released, Anderson's writing had already shifted to the folksier sounds of ''Stand Up'', and obviously wanted to let his audiences know ''this was'' Jethro Tull's sound and style at the time the album was being recorded. [[WordOfGod He's often stated in recent interviews]] that had he decided only to do what fans wanted him to do, Tull would have remained a blues band, and the likes of ''Aqualung'' and ''Thick As A Brick'' would have not come to be.
46	** ''Under Wraps'' is somewhat atypical of them (due to it featuring a very heavy focus on synthpop), and is often called their worst album because of it.
47	* ValuesDissonance: "Pied Piper" is not a song that Ian would write today. He explains this in the annotations for the remixed ''Too Old to Rock 'N' Roll: Too Young to Die!'':
48	--> "Plainly, it's about an older man fancying younger girls. But then that's what we tended to expect from pop musicians, disc jockeys and other such people around at the time. We now know that it could actually be quite horrific rather than an innocent bit of fun. But at the time of my writing that song it was based on what we perceived as reality, but without the outcome, without the traumatic effect that it has on young people."

Context YMMV / JethroTull