English progressive rock giants Jethro Tull are a unique phenomenon in popular music history. Their mix of heavy rock, flute-led folk melodies, blues licks, surreal, impossibly dense lyrics, and overall profundity defies easy analysis, yet in their 1970s heyday, they garnered a massive level of commercial success, notching a string of gold and platinum records and securing their place within the classic rock canon with releases like Aqualung (1971), Thick as a Brick (1972), and A Passion Play (1973). Even as critics cooled on them, Tull remained popular through later phases with their folk-rock records of the late '70s, the electronic experimentation of the early '80s, and eventually a Grammy Award-winning return to hard rock with 1987's Crest of a Knave. Led by enigmatic frontman Ian Anderson -- a singer, songwriter, guitarist, and rock's premier flutist -- Tull carried their unique amalgam with varying degrees of success into the 21st century with a 2003 Christmas album and a barrage of compilations and anniversary releases. Aside from Anderson, guitarist Martin Barre was the only other longtime member involved in most of the band's lineups and when the two parted ways in 2011, the group went on hiatus. After reviving a new version of Tull to commemorate their 50th anniversary in 2018, Anderson took the band back into the studio for a pair of late-period albums, 2022's The Zealot Gene and 2023's RökFlöte.
