Jethro Tull: the story behind Thick As A Brick

Jethro Tull's frontman and songwriter Ian Anderson was surprised when critics called the band's previous album, Aqualung (1971), a "concept album". He rejected this, thinking it was simply a collection of songs, so in response decided to "come up with something that really is the mother of all concept albums". Taking the surreal English humor of Monty Python as an influence, he began to write a piece that would combine complex music with a sense of humour, with the idea it would poke light-hearted fun at the band, the audience, and the music critics. He also intended to satirise the progressive rock genre that was popular at the time.
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