Posted on 11/13/2003 7:53:25 AM PST by Pikamax
Jethro Tull singer remarks irk fans
DAVE SOMMERS , Staff Writer 11/13/2003
Is he really "Thick as a Brick," or as classic rock lovers insist, just suffering from "Locomotive Breath?"
Whatever song they choose, Jethro Tull fans across the state are boiling mad at the band’s lead singer Ian Anderson, and are planning some type of payback for remarks he made to the Asbury Park Press recently in which he claimed Americans should in essence be ashamed to fly their country’s flag.
In fact, classic rock station 94.5-FM "The Hawk" has not only stopped playing all Jethro Tull songs, they are urging anyone who attends the two scheduled Anderson shows in New Jersey this weekend to bring along an American flag, just to wave it in the Scotland-born rocker’s face.
Jim Spector, program director for WTHK "The Hawk," explains the decision.
"I’d estimate that 99 percent of the phone calls we got (this week) were from people asking us to pull all Jethro Tull songs from the air," said Spector, who cited comments Anderson made to Asbury Park Press reporter Mark Voger.
"And that’s what we did."
In the article, Anderson told Asbury Park Press reporter Mark Voger that he despises President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair so much for "invading" Iraq, but that he thinks we are despised by the world due to our "invasion."
And if that wasn’t enough, Tull went on to express disgust in seeing "the American flag hanging out of every bloody station wagon, out of every SUV, every little Midwestern house" across the country.
"Unfortunately, the way the world sees it, we don’t look kindly on the flag-waving stuff anymore. In Europe the only time you see flag-waving is at soccer games when people beat the (excrement) out of each other," Anderson told the Asbury Park Press.
"But most of the time we keep the flag-waving out of normal society these days because we know that it just engenders old animosities. (W)e old Europeans ... are a little sadder and wiser as a result of having the (excrement) beaten out of us a number of times, and our cities and national monuments destroyed," the rocker said.
"It’s easy to confuse patriotism with nationalism," he added.
Anderson’s tour, entitled "Rubbing Elbows with Ian Anderson" tour, is designed to be more than just a musical event, he noted.
For example, during each show, Anderson will invite a local radio or TV personality with him onstage, along with several audience members.
Occasionally the talk turns to his views of the world.
As for containing Saddam Hussein, Anderson said that task should have been handled by the U.N. not the U.S. led coalition.
"I mean, you know, to call (the Iraq occupation) a war is to attempt to dignify a spurious invasion as something that sounds rather grand. As a career-molding war for you-know-who. I mean, to call it a war is just a disgrace," he said.
"We are all going to have to learn that sad lesson that what was done in Iraq is the wrong thing. We had Saddam Hussein pretty much under control. To do what was done by Blair and Bush is, I think, a great sin for which I suspect both of them will pay in terms of career and reputation in the way that it is written up in history."
America must work better with other countries if we expect to have peace, Anderson said.
"We have to work over the next two or three generations, not the next two or three months or years (to step) out into the world and gently show a kinder and more human face."
Many music fans do not seem to agree.
"If you don’t wish to see our Flag, take your butt back to Great Britain ... (and) don’t let the door hit you on your way out," one anonymous critic known as Gunner Mike wrote last night on the popular political Web site, www.freerepublic.com.
Anderson/Jethro Tull is scheduled to play Saturday at the Count Basie Theater in Redbank and in Collingswood tomorrow at the Scottish Write Auditorium.
Meanwhile, Spector said he has invited Anderson to be interviewed on 94.5 "The Hawk," but so far has received no reply.
"The morning show "Free Beer and Hot Wings" is strongly encouraging anyone attending area Ian Anderson/Jethro Tull shows to bring American flags and wave them proudly," the station said in a press release.
Flute solos in rock and roll! In every song! ROFL!! And they dressed like wee English gnomes.
Spinal Tap had nothing on Jethro Tull. They were impossible to parody.
You mean there are stations that actually still are playing their music??
I think they meant Scottish RITE Auditorium. Too bad if there's some electrical problems etc. I can't imagine the men who are members of that particular organization would be too thrilled with having an anti-American performing on their stage.
If you don't like America, there's a whole big world out there where you can live. Don't think you can stay here, take advantage of all this country offers, and then bash it. These people make me sick.
"If you don’t wish to see our Flag, take your butt back to Great Britain ... (and) don’t let the door hit you on your way out," one anonymous critic known as Gunner Mike wrote last night on the popular political Web site, www.freerepublic.com.
PING!
The UN couldn't prevent Ian Anderson's music from being broadcast of the airwaves, much less "contain Saddam Hussein." I never liked Jethro Tull's "music" so it would be no great loss to me if I never heard from him/them again...
You've got the lyrics wrong. Google before posting...
Easy for him, anyway.
As for containing Saddam Hussein, Anderson said that task should have been handled by the U.N. not the U.S. led coalition.
I really get tired of explaining this to people. We already HAD him contained. It was necessary to *remove* him.
The UN would have been happy to have him "contained" forever, so that they could continue to skim off the Oil for Food funds, Saddam could continue killing and starving people (not to mention sending bounty payments to the families of suicide bombers, and building tacky palaces with that same money), and the US and Great Britain could pay for the "containment" in perpetuity.
Thanks, but no thanks.
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