The Jethro Tull frontman says he was left \u201cembarrassed\u201d when he discovered that his band was named after an actual 18th-century agriculturalist \u2014 and that by then, it was already too late to change it.<\/p>\n
Ian Anderson on Jethro Tull and Playing the Flute – YouTube
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Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n Anderson made the confession in an interview with AXS TV\u2019s Dan Rather, explaining that the band had gone through a series of names in its early days as it tried to establish itself on the late-1960s London circuit.<\/p>\n \u201cTo me, it was a nice made-up name invented by the booker in our manager and agent\u2019s office,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cWe kept changing our name in the very early days. And when they suggested Jethro Tull, I said, \u2018Okay,\u2019 because I was anxious to be seen to be taking advice and accepting management encouragement.\u201d<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n The band had previously performed under names including Navy Blue, Ian Henderson\u2019s Bag o\u2019 Nails and Candy Coloured Rain. None of them stuck. Jethro Tull did \u2014 although Anderson had no idea who Jethro Tull actually was.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody told me at that time that Jethro Tull was an 18th-century agriculturalist who invented the seed drill, and of course is in the history books,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I was at school, I only did a very small amount of history, and we didn\u2019t cover that particular era. So, I didn\u2019t know that Jethro Tull was a real historical character.\u201d<\/p>\n \n (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n Anderson says he learned the truth a couple of weeks later. By then, however, the band had secured a residency at the Marquee Club, one of London\u2019s most important rock venues.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it was a couple of weeks later that I found that out,\u201d he said. \u201cI was rather embarrassed to realize we were named after a dead guy who invented the seed drill, but at that point, we\u2019d just been given the residency at the Marquee club.\u201d<\/p>\n So the name stayed.<\/p>\n What to read next<\/p>\n \u201cHe, too, was a musician as it turned out,\u201d Anderson added, with a hint of a smile. \u201cOver the years, I\u2019ve always felt rather guilty about the identity theft. It\u2019s just as well I don\u2019t have his credit cards.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I feel kind of embarrassed about it. So a couple of years ago, I thought, \u2018I should really try and push Jethro Tull, the historical character, back to number one on Google Jethro.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n That may be a difficult task. The band has released 24 studio albums, toured the world countless times and, most famously, beat Metallica<\/a> to the first Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock\/Metal Performance in 1989. The success of 1971\u2019s Aqualung<\/a> alone has probably made the band\u2019s name impossible to dislodge from the top of any search engine.<\/p>\n \n (Image credit: Getty Images)<\/p>\n Anderson also discussed the guitarists who influenced him \u2014 and the one who convinced him to focus on the flute<\/a> instead.<\/p>\n \u201cIn my generation, it\u2019s hard to imagine people who didn\u2019t want to be Hank Marvin,\u201d he said of the Shadows guitarist. \u201cHank Marvin had this wonderful clean tone on a single-coil Fender Strat<\/a>. And that was a sound that captivated people.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Jethro](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/9u6ptkcETxFNuX5C2Xh9ck.jpg\")
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