For almost six decades, Jethro Tull’s singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ian Anderson has been part of the music business, witnessing up close the rise and evolution of Rock and Roll. He has a broad musical taste that ranges from Classical Music to Punk Rock, but Rock and Roll Garage selected two bands that he was actually never a big fan of. 2 bands Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson said he is not a big fan of The Beatles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usNsCeOV4GM&pp=ygUNYSBkYXkgaW4gbGlmZQ%3D%3D This might be shocking for most Rock fans, but Anderson has said that he was never really a Beatles fan. However, like everyone else, he acknowledges that they were crucial to the evolution of music, especially Rock and Roll. He talked about them in an interview with Indeflagration in 2017 when asked which was his favorite album by the Fab Four. “Wow, you got me there because I was never really a Beatles fan. I suppose it would be ‘Sgt Pepper’s’. Because of the landmark it represented in pop music and rather like in the same year, Pink Floyd’s ‘The Piper at the Gates of Dawn’.” They were the life-changing musical moments for a generation. Although I wasn’t a Beatles fan, I guess I learnt something from Sgt. Pepper’s in terms of variety, of the rather surreal nature of it, that was quite laudable. George Martin was a friend of mine (I didn’t know the Beatles at all). His role in all of that is very important.” “I like to think of Sgt. Pepper’s as the album that could not have been made with another producer. It had to be George (Martin), he was Beatles no.5. He was actually probably Beatles no.3! He was a very special guy and helped to bring together those very opposite personalities and musical backgrounds." As Anderson noted, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” was crucial for the evolution of Progressive Rock. Curiously, the both albums mentioned by the Jethro Tull leader were recorded at the same time at Abbey Road studios. The members of both bands had the chance to see some recordings of each other. The two albums ended up being released in 1967, the same year Jethro Tull was formed. Even though Ian Anderson wasn't a big fan John Lennon was his favorite Like everyone, especially in the 60s, Anderson was obviously inspired by the Beatles' music and songwriting. When it comes to his favorite member of the band, his pick would be the late John Lennon. “When I was a schoolboy I was always attracted to John Lennon above the others, by a long way. Paul McCartney seemed to be the cheerful, cherubic, slightly wet character in the line-up. (It was) as if the band had had a Cliff Richard transplant.” “But John had attitude, a sense of disdain. (Especially) when it came to being groomed and made to dress in matching suits. The first time I saw pictures of The Beatles in Hamburg, it struck me that here was Lennon in his natural habitat. Leather-clad, greasy of quiff and with an air of menace. Photographs of that period are arguably more iconic than almost any subsequent images of the band," he told Classic Rock in 2021. Genesis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CubzEiY42zk&pp=ygUUd2hhdCBpIGxpa2UgZ2VuZXNpcyA%3D Another band Ian Anderson acknowledges as important to music is Genesis, although he was never a big fan of them. “I was never a fan of Genesis, but their musicianship is amazing,” he told Oswaldo Marques from Stay Rock Brazil in 2021. However, when he told Vintage Rock in 2002 who he considered the "Big Four" of Progressive Rock, he included the band on that list. He explained why he was not enjoying their music, especially in the early 70s. “That was 1972 that is where I guess I was getting those notions from, to be A. surreal, and B. beyond reality and to parody and send up certain institutions of Britishness. In doing so, under the umbrella of prog rock. I was in a way sending up the whole notion of the concept album and prog rock as it had become known in that period of time. Having started off in 1969 with the more gentle sound of progressive rock.” Ian Anderson continued: “Once it became prog, there was an element of send up and perhaps certain bands. Perhaps Yes or ELP and Genesis having taken it to a bit of an extreme. Where it was becoming rather self-indulgent. Musically great but self-indulgent and perhaps pompously setting themselves apart from rank and file musicians like the rest of us who were still learning to play our instruments,” Ian Anderson told Live Music News & Review in 2019. Like Jethro Tull, Genesis was also formed in 1967. The first era was with Peter Gabriel on vocals, releasing 7 influential Progressive Rock studio albums. The second and most commercially successful era started in the mid-70s when the vocalist decided to leave the band. Then Phil Collins became the vocalist from 1976 until 1991, with a more commercial sound. It was when the group released their most famous records, making them one of the best-selling bands of all time. They have sold an estimated amount of more than 100 million records sold worldwide.
