Ian Anderson’s opinion on the Sex Pistols

Punk Rock music became big in the mid-70s, especially as a response to the excesses in music, such as those seen in Progressive Rock groups, which featured musicians who were extremely technical with their instruments and created complex, lengthy compositions. The biggest Punk phenomenon in the United Kingdom was the Sex Pistols, whose metaphorical guns were aimed at groups like Jethro Tull, led by multi-instrumentalist and singer Ian Anderson. But what is Anderson’s opinion of the Punk group fronted by John Lydon?

What is Ian Anderson’s opinion on the Sex Pistols

Surprisingly, Ian Anderson is a big fan of Punk Rock music and already praised bands like the Ramones and of course, the Sex Pistols. In an interview with  Something Else in 2013, he recalled that he first wasn’t really into them because of the way the vocalist Johnny “Rotten” behaved on stage. But later on he started to appreciate them and he went out and bought a copy of their only studio album “Never Mind the Bollocks: Here’s the Sex Pistols” (1977).

“It’s just part of what happens in the world. Allegiances change, tastes change. A new generation comes about and they want to listen to something that represents their growing years. Not the stuff of their older siblings.”

“It’s understandable. It didn’t particularly upset me. When the punk thing came about, it was in some ways quite a welcome return to basics. I went out and bought my own copy of the first Sex Pistols album. (Also) the first Stranglers album. I quite enjoyed them in a funny sort of way. It didn’t stop me from carrying on what I was going at the time,” Ian Anderson said.

John Lydon was influenced by Jethro Tull and told Ian Anderson he loved “Aqualung”

To show they were against the establishment at the time, some punk musicians, like John Lydon, used to criticize famous progressive rock groups, like Pink Floyd, to maintain their persona. However, he actually liked those bands and Jethro Tull was one of them. He told the crowd during a show a few years ago that he liked Anderson’s band.

Ian recalled that in an interview with Harrogate Advertiser in 2020. “The punks pretended they hated Tull and the Prog rock bands in 1977. But that was part of the marketing for the new bands. Johnny Rotten was a big fan of our 1971 album Aqualung. If you look at the cover with the tramp leaning to one side and scowling there is a definite resemblance with his own stage persona in the Sex Pistols. Rotten told me years later he loved ‘Aqualung’,” Ian Anderson said.

The Sex Pistols were active for only 3 years back in the 70s. Their reunions happened once in the 90s and twice in the 00s. But, their only studio album to this day is “Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols” released in 1977. So it proves that with only one record they were able to really cause a musical and cultural revolution in the world.