http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,103016,00.html

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Remarks Get Jethro Tull Banned From Radio Playlist

Thursday, November 13, 2003

MANAHAWKIN, N.J. — Jethro Tull is off the playlist of a classic rock station after the band's frontman criticized displays of the Stars and Stripes.

"I hate to see the American flag hanging out of every bloody station wagon, out of every SUV, every little Midwestern house in some residential area," Ian Anderson was quoted as saying in an interview published Sunday in the Asbury Park Press. "It's easy to confuse patriotism with nationalism. Flag waving ain't gonna do it."

The verdict from listeners of WCHR-FM's "The Free Beer & Hot Wings Morning Show" was swift.

"The reaction of our audience has been 99 percent in favor of the ban and 99 percent incredulous that he would say such stupid things," said Phil LoCascio, WCHR program director and on-air personality. "He is a smart guy. As far as we're concerned, this ban is forever."

He said the ban isn't censorship because "our listeners' right to ask us not to play the music is equal to his right to say what he wants."

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Sounds to me like the radio host got what he wanted out of this: a lot of free publicity and a mention on FoxNews.

By the way, Anderson was making a valid point about the presence of a flag decal on an SUV not necessarily representing the level of patriotism of its owner. But radio is not a place for open discussion of such issues these days, especially if the blood thirsty shut ins are in a revenge mode.

too bad jethro tull sucks balls.

I almost hate to post on this thread, but BostonAg nailed it.

Displaying a flag in inappropriate places is not a true sign of patriotism. Most people who are true patriots respect the flag and what it represents, but I've seen far too many flag displays that end up indicating disrespect for the flag, or at best ignorance. Flying it on the antenna or flying free from a window on your car usually results in shredding it. If you deliberately rip up the flag in an attempt to show your patriotism, you've missed the point. Too many of these folks are the same ones who get bent out of shape when someone burns or sits on a flag.

Yep, display the flag from a pole at your home or business. Display it only during daylight hours or lit at night. Take it in for bad weather. Fold it properly for storage. And retire it when it becomes faded or torn.

We pulled him yesterday when we learned of this article.

Keep in mind the country station I work for also doesn't play the Dixie Chicks either

Anderson is not one to shy away from controversy. About thier album released in '71...

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Released at a time when a lot of bands were embracing pop-Christianity (a la Jesus Christ Superstar), Aqualung was a bold statement for a rock group, a pro-God anti-church tract that probably got lots of teenagers wrestling with these ideas for the first time in their lives.

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http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=UIDCASS70311101404051768&sql=A99kxlfae5cqy#top

Does a country station play a lot of Jethro Tull these days?

For my part, I have also stopped playing or buying any Jethro Tull albums. As I have never started playing or buying Jethro Tull albums, this might not have much of an effect on Mr. Anderson.

I work for a very large radio company... Classic Rock, Country, Adult Contemporary... you name it, we have a station that plays it

AG-N-NE,

How much Tull was played on your classic rock format(s)? I rarely hear their material. Seems that most of the longer "album rock" oriented material that could/should be covered wasn't getting much airtime anyway.

Bunch of bandwagon American fans. Just wait until we go 4-8 one season and see how many flags are still hanging from windows.

I don't know their rotation, but I know we have 7 of their songs in our Library (I just looked it up). I'm mainly over with our Top 40ish and AC stations, but I did get the memo yesterday about it, that we sent out to the jocks.

Our biggest porblem has been some of our country jocks are getting Dixie Chicks back on, which results in about 75 calls to my office cussing me out

7 songs, eh?

Perhaps,

Teacher
Living in the Past
Bungle in the Jungle
Aqualung
Locomotive Breath
Skating Away (On the Thin Ice of the New Day)
Thick As A Brick

Did I get 'em right?

The only other one's that I can think of that've recieved airtime in recent years are

Cross Eyed Mary
Farm on the Freeway

Teacher
Living in the Past
Bungle in the Jungle
Aqualung
Locomotive Breath
Skating Away (On the Thin Ice of the New Day)
Thick As A Brick

Your remaining songs are
A Christmas Song
Jack Frost & The Hooded...

Jethro Tull is and always has been a bunch of pathetic hippies. Their music is boring. All of this was apparent long before today, and I don't recall ever hearing much of their stuff on radio anyway.

Let's not give them any attention - they were already being ignored.

Those last two would appear to be new material released in September.

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=UIDCASS70311101404051768&sql=Azsevadzkq8w8

Thanks, I've got one more Tull CD to add to my Xmas list.

So Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull basically says this:

1) He doesn't hate America, but he estimates that half the world hates America. (probably an accurate estimate)

2) He actually finds most Americans to be decent people, and points out American traits that he admires.

3) He tries to point out differences between patriotism and flag waving nationalism, and why the latter does not necessarily serve our best interests or make the country stronger.

4) He comes out very strongly against the Iraq war, as well as GWB and Tony Blair.

So essentially, most of his remarks were relatively mild, except those directed at a couple of political leaders, and admittedly, those comments were very harsh. And that's what bothers me about this whole manufactured controversy. What he said was not anti-American. It was anti-Republican.

So, FoxNews picks up the story, carefully editing the text (as is their habit) to make it sound like Anderson is Anti-American, and now we find out that a large media company (ClearChannel?) has directed its stations to stop playing Jethro Tull because Ian Anderson doesn't like George Bush or Tony Blair. Kinda scary, don't ya think?

Boston,

Doesn't sound good for FOX. Where'd you get the full story? Got link?

Thanks

dp

Here's the link to the whole story, on the radio station's web site: http://www.1057thehawkfm.com/

The thing is, Anderson is very obviously against the war and he makes some pretty harsh statements against Bush and Blair, and those statements may indeed piss people off. However, he never said anything which should be perceived as "anti-American" by anyone who has the common sense to simply comprehend what he is saying. On the contrary, he is trying to point out why we are perceived in such a negative way in the world community, why flag waving nationalism does nothing to change that perception, and he offers opinions on what we should do to make things better in the long term. I didn't see what he said as being hateful toward America or Americans, only toward some of its leaders. Again, that may piss you off if you're a Republican, but it's not anti American.

Boston's always trying to find a conspiracy with anything FoxNews related...... better watch it, you may have some black helicopters flying over your house this weekend.....

You guys are old

chick

Is Boston wrong?

Was it carefully edited to achieve the desired result?

It's not conspiracy. The radio station program manager was either too stupid to understand what Anderson was saying, or understood it and decided to exploit it for his own purposes anyway, counting on the probability that his audience was too stupid to know the difference. (I personally think it was the former, but it also appears he was correct about his audience.)

I don't think he was in cahoots with FoxNews. Fox has in the past, employed a policy of looking for potentially inflammatory stories like this one and editing or embellishing them for maximum propaganda effect. They are not conspiring with anyone in order to do it. They are simply in the propaganda business and that is one of the ways they go about doing their dirty work.

The bigger point here is that at least one large media company has jumped on the bandwagon and decided to remove Jethro Tull from their playlists because Ian Anderson has committed the high crime of being critical of the Republican administration. I just think that's a little scary.

gb00,

I resemble that remark!

Boston,

Thanks for the full report. I don't have to agree with everything that Anderson says in order for him to remain my favorite musician.

Ian and the Tull boys have been somewhat under the radar for quite some time. Perhaps some national publicity will generate album sales for the boys.

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In each city, Anderson will invite a local radio or TV personality and several audience members to join him onstage for an evening of conversation and music. There'll be Q&As, acoustic performances of Tull songs and, most interestingly, a local musician performing an original song backed by Anderson's band.

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That format sounds like a lot of fun. I went to see Roger McQuinn in a similar format in a small venue once and it was an incredible show. It was like listening to a college professor tell you the history music from the late 50's until now. He played all his famous riffs and described how they evolved into songs, giving historical background for the times, and showing how other musicians had influenced his sound. All told, it was about 90 minutes of music and an hour of talk. Might be the best concert I ever went to.

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The bigger point here is that at least one large media company has jumped on the bandwagon and decided to remove Jethro Tull from their playlists because Ian Anderson has committed the high crime of being critical of the Republican administration. I just think that's a little scary.

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Actually, when you get a load of calls inofrming you that you will lose listeners, and little to no support for the artist, you can not continue playing the artist. It makes no business sense.

I personally have no problem with Tull and the Chicks making comments, I fully support their free speech rights, but at the same time, I support the right of my listeners, and when a majority of respondents ask that an artist be pulled, we really have no choice but to pull them, unless we want to become a non-profit org.

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Actually, when you get a load of calls inofrming you that you will lose listeners, and little to no support for the artist, you can not continue playing the artist. It makes no business sense.

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And when radio stations and media companies repeatedly demonstrate that they will cave to pressure from organized call in campaigns against politically targeted artists, they just act as enablers for fringe groups interested in snuffing out all opinions that do not match their own. This is not the same as the Dixie Chicks controversy. I think it can be argued in that case that Natalie Maines did indeed alienate her target audience (although stations still overreacted). In this case, however, one program manager at one tiny station in New Jersey was apparently too stupid to comprehend what Anderson was trying to say, so he orchestrated a little exploitation stunt which apparently escalated through the talk radio mafia to a national boycott. What makes this case different is that it is quite likely that the huge majority of those who may have called in wouldn't know Jethro Tull if it hit them in the face. They probably don't listen to classic radio stations and wouldn't be able to tell if the stations were continuing to play Jethro Tull or not. They were told to call and protest, and they responded like the dutiful sheep they are. It's a lynch mob mentality, and we would all be served better if huge media giants would stand up to these organized bands of zealots, instead of continually backing down like the cowards they are.

So I should take the chance of alienating these people who may or may not actually listen to my station?

Sorry, I like my job

They did a cover of "Bouree" by Mozart that was just flute, bass and drums.

Very, very cool.

Gig 'Em

Oh...and I don't know how 99.5 The Fox here in B/CS will make it through one day without playing "Aqualung"...I think that one's on a daily.

Gig 'Em

Without saying too much (CSAF, I'm glancing in your general direction - as I enjoy my anonymity) Jethro Tull is alive and well (heh, as much as any classic rock artist is) at Clear Channel, and at 99.5 here locally.

Bostonag=Kneejerkliberal

bones,

I think you could argue that he's just exposing knee jerk conservatives.

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This is not the same as the Dixie Chicks controversy. I think it can be argued in that case that Natalie Maines did indeed alienate her target audience (although stations still overreacted). In this case, however, one program manager at one tiny station in New Jersey was apparently too stupid to comprehend what Anderson was trying to say, so he orchestrated a little exploitation stunt which apparently escalated through the talk radio mafia to a national boycott.

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Couldn't agree more about the program manager.

[This message has been edited by Aggie Spirit (edited 11/15/2003 7:10a).]

It's because he invented the seed drill! Damn the seed drill! It is satan!