Talk:Ian Anderson (musician)

flag controversy
I find it a bit odd that about a third of the article is dedicated to the "flag controversy" bit. Isn't it just a minor detail of his career? -- LodeRunner 22:45, 11 November 2005 (UTC)


 * Yes. In fact, it's not really related to his career anyway. But, interestingly, he was right- the response by the "New Jersey radio station" proved it, they obviously didn't think deeply before they vowed never to play Tull. I think he only offered an apology to ease the minds of the people he mocked – the people that can't tell the difference between patriotism and nationalism. He was right, he knows it, and others proved it. Oh well, I agree with you, but there's not much on him anyway, it's kind of a short bio, should I just copy-paste from J-Tull.com and cite the source? --Chewbacca 13:19, 2 January 2006 (UTC)


 * Yes, I think that's a good option. Maybe it's better if you can add the information already on wiki and of course your own knowledge in that biography. The bio on the Jethro Tull website is also not the best I know...--62.194.168.38 22:47, 2 January 2006 (UTC)

Article name
Why "(singer and musician)" instead of just "(musician)"? The former seems redundant. I propose to move the article to Ian Anderson (musician). Any objections? dbtfz talk 11:07, 10 March 2006 (UTC)


 * For brevity and clarity I'd prefer Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull)... However, checking What links here, there are already between 50 to 100 direct links to this page, and they would all have to be redirected. So ... I'd prefer to leave it be. -- ProveIt (talk) 14:46, 10 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Quite a lot of people use 'musician' to mean 'instrumentalist', so it isn't redundant to say 'singer and musician'. Myopic Bookworm 13:46, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

I agree with ProveIt. I ask someone about Ian Anderson, and they're like, "Who?" I say, "Frontman of Jethro Tull..." and they're like "Oooh, him. Yea, I know the one." Ian is forever tied to Jethro Tull, at least in our memories, and since, at some point in the future, another musician or singer named Ian Anderson might come about, we'd probably run back and change this one to Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull). Might as well do it now :) -Chewbacca 12:13, 30 May 2006 (UTC) And hey, Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) already has at least three links to it!

Is the chart position for Divinities sourced to anything? I'm a Tull fan and I don't remember that one ranking nearly so high.


 * Divinities was number one on the EMI Classical chart. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.253.137.46 (talk) 17:32, 26 July 2008 (UTC)

Reorganisation
I've moved stuff around quite a lot, because some of the details ranked as trivia such as his business concerns, musicianship and awards are hardly that. I've also added details to flesh some of these points out a little more. MoltonStPilgrim 19:10, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

"aka" Jethro Tull
Sorry, my edit comment was truncated, but I just reverted three edits that claimed Anderson was Jethro Tull. This is not correct; see Jethro Tull, which explains the origin of the name. Cmprince 22:05, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

Query
Was it Ian Anderson that first used the immortal phrase "I've suffered for my music, now its your turn"? Strikes me that it would accord with his sense of humour. I once heard him say, "here is **** on the saxophone. I hate that instrument. Mind you that's mostly because I could never play the f***er.

Soarhead77 11:29, 15 July 2007 (UTC)

One man recording
Is there a source for the section stating that Anderson recorded locomotive breath on his own? I have heard that story related to Jack in the Green, in the liner notes of SFTW (remaster) album.

Plus I have to say that taking anything Ian says as gospel is unwise, he's a renowned teller of tall tales.


 * Obviously, Anderson did not play the piano introduction or the bit toward the begining in which the piano and guitar trade licks. The article as it reads now suggests that he originally recorded some sort of demo of the song by his lonesome, and I think that irrelevant--or, at best, trivial. Lots of people have made demos with overdubs. (I think in general we should grant a biographical subject the benefit of the doubt regarding his autobiographical remarks except where he is contradicted by other evidence or where his remarks sound fantastical. I'm nevertheless going to remove the bit about the "Locomotive Breath" demo.) TheScotch (talk) 06:41, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Son of a Hotel Manager???
I've read in two places that Ian's father was in the boiler business. Years ago I read he owned a company called "Anderson Boiler," and in a magazine article published about Ian and his brother Robin in the late 1970s it said they were the sons of an owner of a certain "RCA BOILER FLUID COMPANY." Now, let me say that having worked in boilers myself a few points need mentioned: 1)  What on earth is boiler fluid?  2)  Being around boilers would certainly have allowed Ian to know how to create the rhythm on locomotive breath. 3) Lots of boiler references in Tull:  Locomotive Breath, Heavy Water (Smoke stack blowing...), and Raising Steam come quick to mind.

On adopting the flute
Here is a nice quote, see if it's any use here:
 * "I was a guitar player, but not a very good one, so it seemed prudent to hopefully switch to an instrument that Eric Clapton couldn't play — not a good reason. It didn't have to be a flute — I just saw it hanging in a window and I thought, "I rather like that." It's kind of a musical Swiss watch. It's an object of precision engineering and it has an aesthetic — it's kind of functional jewelry. I like the way flute is made, the way it consists of lots and lots of little parts all delicately fastened together and soldered and plated with anything from nickel to platinum."

This Was
Re: "According to the sleeve notes for the first Tull album, 'This Was', he had been playing the flute only a few months when the album was recorded."

Since the original liner notes said nothing of the sort (and neither did the first CD repackaging), this is misleading.

Voice problems
I came to Wikipedia to learn about what happened to Ian Anderson's voice while I sat through a recent concert. I couldn't find any reliable/credible explanation on my own anywhere on the Internet, and Wikipedia doesn't even mention it. One would expect the Wikipedia biography of a prominent musician and singer whose voice has been nearly crippled by injury or illness to at least mention that fact, and moreso to explain the facts. I urge that someone who knows something about this issue please add the facts to the article. It is well known that he has suffered from vocal issues for some time approaching 30 years now, and it's obviously a big part of his biography. Winecellar (talk) 01:30, 17 June 2011 (UTC)
 * It is indeed well-known, but not well-documented, AFAICT. If anyone can find reliable, verifiable sources, I agree this would be a worthwhile addition to the article, but idle speculation belongs right here on the talk page, if anywhere. Geoff Capp (talk) 06:21, 18 June 2011 (UTC)