The 1970s Were Great! Here's Proof!

The accepted line now in pop-music history was that the 1970s were a disappointment, that the music somehow failed to fulfill the promise of the 1960s. Well, you could say that with some justification about its political-social-economic progress (or shall we say, "regress"), but the music itself is another matter entirely. One easy way to gauge this is to find one of the handful of artists who rode the waves of the '70s successfully and examine their output. Of course, music is constantly evolving, artists (hopefully) are constantly growing. Those groups which manage to hold themselves together for more than a few years are either good at figuring out the fickle tastes of the general public, or, they are able to remain true to themselves, never sell out, and command the respect and loyalty of a core fan-base. I would prefer to look at the 1970s through the filter of the latter kind, and one would be hard put to find a better example than Jethro Tull. Jethro Tull as a group represents a fantastic development of a whole array of musical ideas first introduced into the popular music of the 1960s. They also managed not to crumble before either Punk or Disco. They maintained their integrity and kept going from strength to strength in each of their albums, despite the fact the snobbish/minimalist-oriented musical press hated them. As a fan who discovered them after-the-fact (I was only a young boy during their era of greatness), it is difficult for me to fully understand why the music press were so tone deaf, but then again, they despised the magnificent Led Zeppelin too -- so go figure! However, Jethro Tull did not try to curry favor with the critics when one of their albums got (predictably) slammed, but just went ahead and made another great album of visionary originality. They were unapologetically British, musically progressive, artistic, bluesy, hard-rocking, world-aware, philosophical, comical, witty, and even, medieval. They were a complete ensemble of acoustic, electric, electronic and orchestral instruments, including the usual guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, but also flute, strings, piano, and saxophone. The chapters of their growth make for an incredible odyssey, and each forms a perfect musical and lyrical exploration of a different cluster of ideas. Though there were line-up changes, most who were members at all stayed on for at least several years, and there were some that remained on for at least half or all of the band's rather lengthy peak period, which began before the seventies and spilled over into the eighties. This is a long way to say they remained consistent in quality and musical identity. And they followed their own peculiar nature. If Ian Anderson is the creative heart of the group, then he never lacked for talented collaborators among his band-mates. Nor did they ever do a "rush-job" in the recording studio -- every album from this period has a finished, fully-realized quality. They released five top-form rock operas: Aqualung (1971), Thick as a Brick (1972), Passion Play (1973), War Child (1974), Too Old to Rock'n'Roll, Too Young to Die (1976). Two wonderful hard-rock/trad-rock albums: Minstrel in the Gallery (1975), The Broadsword and the Beast (1982). Two great hippie-rock albums: Stand Up (1969), Benefit (1970). And three exquisite folk rock/social commentary albums: Songs from the Wood (1977), Heavy Horses (1978), Stormwatch (1979). Nowadays the critics would be so lucky to find anyone so talented to write about. That is why they fawn over anyone who approaches even a tenth of such musical ability and inspired songwriting. Back in the day though, your typical critic didn't know how good it was.