Jethro Tull, Metal, and The Grammys

I never really took the Grammy Awards very seriously anyway, but have ignored them entirely since the Metallica/Tull debacle. It's been well documented that even the Tull members themselves agreed that they had no business being nominated in the "hard rock/metal" category in the first place.

If memory serves, when Metallica finally did win a Grammy a year or two later, in their acceptance speech Lars Ulrich thanked Jethro Tull "for not releasing an album this year."

I don't follow the Grammy's at all (couldn't care less,really) but do they even still have a hard rock/metal category ?

007 wrote:

I don't follow the Grammy's at all (couldn't care less,really) but do they even still have a hard rock/metal category ?

Yup. Megadeth was nominated this year for a song off of Th1rt3en, but they lost to Halestorm.

Fat Freddy wrote:

007 wrote:

I don't follow the Grammy's at all (couldn't care less,really) but do they even still have a hard rock/metal category ?

Yup. Megadeth was nominated this year for a song off of Th1rt3en, but they lost to Halestorm.

Never heard of Halestorm but I just gave them a quick listen to. No too bad , I guess (when I saw the female vocalist I was expecting something along the lines of Evanescence), but I'll stick with Megadeth.

tohostudios wrote:

Boris2008 wrote:

The strange thing is though, although they have never been hard rock or metal, I don't know many hard rock/metal fans (of a certain age) who don't like them.

They just won the award for not being Metallica that night and didn't deserve the flak that they got for it.

That's an interesting point. I can't remember the last time Tull came up in a music conversation I was having and the other person said "Ugh! Can't stand them." I'm sure such people are out there but Tull sure seems to be a common bond between hard rock/metal fans.

For instance, Jethro Tull is practically the only band SD and I have in common.

Me. I don't like Jethro Tull. I don't like flutes. I don't like folk music. I don't like them on a plane, I don't like them on a train. I don't like Jethro Tull, Samiam.

I'm and old guy, Jethro Tull was one of my favorite bands ever.

tohostudios wrote:

S.D. wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

For instance, Jethro Tull is practically the only band SD and I have in common.

Steely Dan also.

Oh yeah, I forgot The Dan.
But I'm late to the party on Steely Dan; hated them as I was growing up. I only appreciated them as I got older.

But I've always dug Tull.

I am a latecomer to Tull but i love em. Great great music!

exact33 wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

S.D. wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

For instance, Jethro Tull is practically the only band SD and I have in common.

Steely Dan also.

Oh yeah, I forgot The Dan.
But I'm late to the party on Steely Dan; hated them as I was growing up. I only appreciated them as I got older.

But I've always dug Tull.

I am a latecomer to Tull but i love em. Great great music!

Take that Monkey Man!

tohostudios wrote:

exact33 wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

S.D. wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

For instance, Jethro Tull is practically the only band SD and I have in common.

Steely Dan also.

Oh yeah, I forgot The Dan.
But I'm late to the party on Steely Dan; hated them as I was growing up. I only appreciated them as I got older.

But I've always dug Tull.

I am a latecomer to Tull but i love em. Great great music!

Take that Monkey Man!

whatever Dr. Bogenbroom

Sorry King, apparently you missed this post:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

Boris2008 wrote:

The strange thing is though, although they have never been hard rock or metal, I don't know many hard rock/metal fans (of a certain age) who don't like them.

They just won the award for not being Metallica that night and didn't deserve the flak that they got for it.

That's an interesting point. I can't remember the last time Tull came up in a music conversation I was having and the other person said "Ugh! Can't stand them." I'm sure such people are out there but Tull sure seems to be a common bond between hard rock/metal fans.

For instance, Jethro Tull is practically the only band SD and I have in common.

Me. I don't like Jethro Tull. I don't like flutes. I don't like folk music. I don't like them on a plane, I don't like them on a train. I don't like Jethro Tull, Samiam.

That's the "Monkey Man" to which I was referring.
I guess that's what I get for using The King as a "role model" for others.

I got no love for Steely Dan neither.

If I'm not mistaken that was the first year for the metal/Hard Rock category so it got a lot of hype. To the point it was presented as Metallica getting the nomination just so they could usher in this new Grammy category with a Metallica win. It was like they pulled the rug out from what the fans expected. In my circle of metal fans it wasn't Jethro Tull's music (I really have grown to love that album) being the problem it was more the perception that they were a "seventies band" and wasn't this new category acknowledgement supposed to be an attempt to get with the times.

I will say I think it served Metallica better in the end to get the snub.

jstate wrote:

If I'm not mistaken that was the first year for the metal/Hard Rock category so it got a lot of hype. To the point it was presented as Metallica getting the nomination just so they could usher in this new Grammy category with a Metallica win. It was like they pulled the rug out from what the fans expected. In my circle of metal fans it wasn't Jethro Tull's music (I really have grown to love that album) being the problem it was more the perception that they were a "seventies band" and wasn't this new category acknowledgement supposed to be an attempt to get with the times.

I will say I think it served Metallica better in the end to get the snub.

except Lars cried for a week...

Quote :

I will say I think it served Metallica better in the end to get the snub.

They got more mileage in the press out of losing the Grammy than they would've if they'd won it.

I used to have an issue of RIP or some other metal mag that had a huge photo in it of the crowd at a Metallica concert, a couple of guys were holding up a huge bedsheet sign that said "F**k the Grammies. Who the f**k is JETHRO TULL?"

Fat Freddy wrote:

Quote :

I will say I think it served Metallica better in the end to get the snub.

They got more mileage in the press out of losing the Grammy than they would've if they'd won it.

I used to have an issue of RIP or some other metal mag that had a huge photo in it of the crowd at a Metallica concert, a couple of guys were holding up a huge bedsheet sign that said "F**k the Grammies. Who the f**k is JETHRO TULL?"

Speaking of gaining mileage out of the Grammy snub.....This took place shortly after the Grammy's during Metallica's performance of "One" in Hartford, CT on 3-17-89. This was the first video bootleg I ever owned of the band. James tongue-in-cheek comment after the song regarding Tull is pretty funny.

Always better for the street cred to be considered the rebellious outsider who the system won't acknowledge. It seemed cooler to me that they didn't win. It was like a rallying cry for Metallica.

I will say this, the Grammy Museum in LA has had some great sounding exhibits. I've never been but I've often been tempted. Plus I believe they pump a lot of funding into music education. So awards aside I've got no issue with the Grammies.

BTW the Halestorm singer at one time was taking vocal lessons (and probably whatever else he was teaching) from Steve Whiteman.

I got up this morning and was listening to Jethro Tull's Stormwatch album and this particular Grammy telecast jumped back in my head again.  

I started thinking about how my listening habits have changed over the years since 1989.  I, like many other metal fans, was super pissed when Metallica didn't get that Grammy.  Granted, I already owned a couple Jethro Tull albums by that point and I liked them well enough, but I didn't really consider myself a fan at that juncture.  But over the next couple years I started exploring the Tull discography and became an utter fanatic...which continues to deepen until this very day.  

In 2009 I started using LastFM to scrobble my music listening, so I decided to take a look how Jethro Tull and Metallica have lasted in my listening 26 years after that infamous Grammy broadcast.

Here are the results:

Jethro Tull - 1394 plays

Metallica - 16 plays

Kind of humorous seeing how different this plays out now.

My stance on Tull hasn't changed. Didn't like them then, don't like them now.

When they won the Grammy, I was just getting into them and buying their back catalog. Probably 80% of what I listened to then was Tull. I still listen to them a lot: mainly their '80s stuff like "A" and "Under Wraps" and Anderson's solo album "Walk Into Light." Top 5 band of all time in my little world.

Tull has been an incredibly steep climb for me. But the rewards have been enormous. IMO they just happen to be one of the more inaccessible bands out there. That's not a complaint but an acknowledgment. Yes was the same way when I was a kid, and now they're in my top ten.

Eh , Tull is ok. But not Grammy worthy imo.

More than Grammy worthy (which they deserved numerous times throughout the 70s) but they should also have been in the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame years ago.

A band that unique, those are the kinds that really deserve recognition. Ian Anderson I believe is one of the best songwriters from the entire decade of the 70s...and that decade has more great songwriters than any other.

S.D. wrote:

More than Grammy worthy (which they deserved numerous times throughout the 70s) but they should also have been in the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame years ago.  

A band that unique, those are the kinds that really deserve recognition.  Ian Anderson I believe is one of the best songwriters from the entire decade of the 70s...and that decade has more great songwriters than any other.  

All this is true

corplhicks wrote:

Tull has been an incredibly steep climb for me. But the rewards have been enormous. IMO they just happen to be one of the more inaccessible bands out there. That's not a complaint but an acknowledgment. Yes was the same way when I was a kid, and now they're in my top ten.

I get where Mr. Hicks is coming from.

I love Jethro Tull but I have to admit, nearly every album requires multiple listens until I finally "get it".  But once I do "get it" that album inevitably joins the pantheon of "albums I dig out when I'm in a rut" because Tull's music is just so different and timeless that when I get the musical "blahs", Tull always relieves them.  

Tull albums (or Ian Anderson solo albums for that matter) are not "instant hitters"; you generally don't start singing along right away on first listen.  But the upside of that is that Tull albums have much longer staying power than the "flavor of the day" albums.  I can dig out Tull albums that are decades old and they still sound like music that could have been recorded yesterday.

tohostudios wrote:

corplhicks wrote:

Tull has been an incredibly steep climb for me. But the rewards have been enormous. IMO they just happen to be one of the more inaccessible bands out there. That's not a complaint but an acknowledgment. Yes was the same way when I was a kid, and now they're in my top ten.

I get where Mr. Hicks is coming from.

I love Jethro Tull but I have to admit, nearly every album requires multiple listens until I finally "get it".  But once I do "get it" that album inevitably joins the pantheon of "albums I dig out when I'm in a rut" because Tull's music is just so different and timeless that when I get the musical "blahs", Tull always relieves them.  

Tull albums (or Ian Anderson solo albums for that matter) are not "instant hitters"; you generally don't start singing along right away on first listen.  But the upside of that is that Tull albums have much longer staying power than the "flavor of the day" albums.  I can dig out Tull albums that are decades old and they still sound like music that could have been recorded yesterday.

I couldn't have said it better myself, Toho.