The recipe for Rush's sound certainly came from a mixture of Hard Rock and Progressive Rock, which helped make them one of the most unique bands of all time. Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, John Rutsey, and later Neil Peart were all deeply influenced by British Prog Rock bands, including Jethro Tull. The Rush frontman was lucky enough to see the band led by Ian Anderson live in Canada in the early 70s. He became a massive fan of their music and, over the years, revealed which songs from their discography were among his favorites. The 2 Jethro Tull songs that Geddy Lee picked as favorites Jethro Tull “Thick as a Brick” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFYOcOBPkzg&pp=ygUiSmV0aHJvIFR1bGwg4oCcVGhpY2sgYXMgYSBCcmlja-KAnQ%3D%3D The first one is actually an entire album, since Jethro Tull's "Thick as a Brick" (1972) contains one continuous piece of music, split over two sides of the LP record. It is Geddy Lee's favorite album of the band led by Ian Anderson. Their music inspired him and Rush a lot and in an interview with Sirius XM Classic Vinyl Influences show back in 2013. He mentioned that "song" as a huge influence. (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) "I got very deep in the Prog Rock of the time and I became a bif fan of Jethro Tull. Still to this day I think one of the best concerts I ever saw in my life was Jethro Tull on the 'Thick as a Brick' tour. What an album, when I hear that album every once in a while, on the radio, a snippet of it, it really brings back that show in that period of time when it was so great.” Geddy Lee continued: “All these bands were coming over that did challenging music. (They) really forced you to listen to these songs over and over and over again to try to understand what they were tring to do. To me that was just incredible and challenging stuff. They were one of my favorites back then,” Geddy Lee said. Geddy always has been a huge fan of the British Progressive Rock group. During his spoken-word tour to promote his autobiography “My Effin Life” in 2023, he said that the band should have definitely be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He even said it was terrible that Rush, for example, was inducted before them. He said (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage) “There are a lot of bands that come to mind. But the first band of course is Jethro Tull. I mean, I love Jethro Tull so much. They were so inspirational to me and I talk about this in the book. (…) So the fact that they are not in the Hall of Fame is just plain wrong. The fact that we are there before them is just plain wrong. So I hope they will correct that one day,” Geddy Lee said. Jethro Tull “Bourrée” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2RNe2jwHE0&pp=ygUaSmV0aHJvIFR1bGwg4oCcQm91cnLDqWXigJ3SBwkJsAkBhyohjO8%3D The second Jethro Tull track Geddy Lee already said is one of his favorites is "Bourrée". The track is from the band's second studio album "Stand Up", released in 1969. That was the first Tull album to feature the guitarist Martin Barre, who would be with the band until 2012. He listed that track in 2019 when Amazon Music asked him to choose songs that inspired his bass playing consciously or subconsciously. Watching Jethro Tull live when he was a teenager inspired him a lot. He was mesmerized by Ian Anderson's performance and also the band's sense of humor. "I was a massive Tull fan from very young. They are one of the bands that I saw live in Toronto. Yes, we were lucky to see so many incredible concerts when we were very young. I hope that too reflects in Rush.” Geddy Lee continued: “I was mesmerized by Ian Anderson. His presentation was simply magical and he delivered it with such a sense of humor and great style. There really wasn’t anyone else who looked or sounded quite like them and that holds true to this day. We saw it as a huge challenge to try and create something that can seem so dynamic onstage.” “They are probably best regarded as a live band. Although their series of albums around that period were exceptional," he told The Quietus in 2012. Jethro Tull was formed in Luton, Bedfordshire, England back in 1967. They have released 24 studio albums so far and sold an estimated amount of more than 60 million records worldwide. The band continues to tour and record but their only classic and original member nowadays is Ian Anderson.
