Jethro Tull Tickets

While many legendary musical acts have fused popular styles of music, Jethro Tull certainly takes the cake on complexity, and it has paid off with commercial success and respect from those in the music industry that realized the band’s profound impact.

The band somehow found a way to combine hard rock with blues twinges and folk melodies, and matched that with profoundly dense lyrics – with an added touch of the flute. The product brought Jethro Tull 11 gold albums and five platinum during its heyday, and kept them as a musical force well into the ‘90s.

The band came together in England during the late ‘60s. Ian Anderson formed the collective with Glenn Cornick on bass, Mick Abrahams on guitar and Clive Bunker on drums. After the single "Sunshine Day," the band landed a long-term gig at the Marquee Club in London and developed quite a following. While the band had image problems in the beginning, including the notion of a rock band with a flute-playing, flailing frontman, and a blues-playing guitarist that wanted the spotlight. In the end, Abraham’s music and Anderson’s antics were just what were necessary to get them attention.

Jethro Tull opened for Pink Floyd in London’s Hyde Park early one summer and by the fall they had a contract with Island Records. Abrahams left the band after Anderson became more of a dominating member and Martin Barre became the new guitarist. Their debut album, "This Was," was issued in both Britain and the U.S. and the band was balancing fame on both continents. The sound of the group was ever-changing, and at this point involved more strings and a theatrical feel.

By 1971, the band released its best-known work, "Aqualung." The band moved away from blues and focused more on the meaningful lyrics from Anderson. The title track and "Locomotive Breath" still sit in heavy rotation on most classic rock stations in the U.S. After the success of the previous album, Jethro Tull released "Thick as a Brick" the next year – it was a concept album running for almost 45 minutes, which was a first in rock music – progressive rock at its most progressive, and commercially successful.

After another concept album that was panned by critics but accepted by the masses, the band released "War Child" in 1974 – it was much more theatrical and dealt with violence. The single ‘Bungle in the Jungle" became a hit. The band ended the decade of dominance with three folk rock albums, which were accompanied with massive tours. During the tours, the band also reinvented the arena tour, including lengthy medleys with long instrumental sections plus multiple costumes and colors, led by Anderson.

While Jethro Tull continued to alter its sound through the years, embracing an electronic rock sound in the early ‘80s and hard rock later in the decade, by the ‘90s they set off to tour with their diverse catalogue, complete with a variety of onstage performances.