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Credit: Far Out \/ Heinrich Klaffs<\/p>\n
Sat 30 May 2026 14:10, UK <\/p>\n
If anybody knows what it means to push yourself to the limit creatively, it\u2019s Ian Anderson<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Throughout his career, he has never remained stagnant with the kind of work that he produces. This applies to the type of music he was making and how he would sing. There were never any rules for Anderson; the only thing that mattered was producing the most mind-bending music he could. <\/p>\n As he told Far Out in a recent interview<\/a>, in his youth, he was compelled by music with a vastly expansive outlook. As he said of the precursors to his prog future, \u201cPiper at the Gates of Dawn and The Beatles\u2019 Sgt Pepper\u2019s <\/a>in 1967, released only three months apart from each other. Those two were a signpost saying, \u2018Progressive rock this way\u2019. They were intriguing because they were a sign of things to come.\u201d But beyond those cornerstones, the next big impetus arrived two years later.<\/p>\n Anderson\u2019s diverse approach towards music was cemented with the gutsy Led Zeppelin. When Jethro Tull first toured with Led Zeppelin, they realised how bands could embrace sounds from different cultures and incorporate them into genres that had once seemed set in their ways.\u00a0<\/p>\n Like how the Beatles worked with Indian influences and Led Zeppelin worked with Africa<\/a>, Jethro Tull borrowed from various cultures, genres and overall styles when they were making music, giving rise to one of the most diverse discographies in rock.\u00a0<\/p>\n While Anderson was always happy to embrace the more bizarre-sounding music, he did push himself too hard at times. In the \u201880s, the band recorded several albums with him singing in a slightly different octave. While it sounded great in the studio, it proved too much of a struggle for Anderson to perform live.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI made records in 1982 [The Broadsword And The Beast] and 1984 [Under Wraps] where I sang really well on record, absolutely at the top of my range. I\u2019m a baritone, and my range is usually up to an E or an occasional hasty F, and then I was singing F# and G,\u201d recalled Anderson, \u201cI was singing at the top of my range and singing consistently up there, not just the occasional high note.\u201d<\/p>\n He continued, \u201cIt was something I couldn\u2019t keep up night after night and I lost my voice in 1984 and had to pretty much take a year off to recover. I cancelled three shows in Australia and two shows in the USA. Over the period of a month I cancelled more than 50 per cent of all the shows that I\u2019ve cancelled in my entire 44 years in music.\u201d<\/p>\n Ian Anderson\u2019s favourite rock singers<\/p>\n Many singers seem to struggle with this, as they don\u2019t consider how difficult it will be to perform the vocals they record night after night when they go into the studio. When Ian Anderson performed with Foreigner\u2019s Lou Gramm, despite having huge admiration for Gramm and calling him \u201crock\u2019s finest ever tenor,\u201d he recalled the singer saying how difficult he found performing live compared to performing in the studio. <\/p>\n![\"Ian](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ian-Anderson-Jethro-Tull-02-Far-Out-Magazine-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a>Credit: Far Out \/ Jethro Tull<\/p>\n
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<\/a> The Far Out Classic Rock Newsletter<\/p>\n