Jethro Tull is blasphemous!!!

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Jethro Tull is not blasphemous. They are in fact pro-God and pro-Christian, but there is an obvious irreverence in their lyrics that is aimed at hypocritical Bible thumpers and false prophets.

One example is "Hymn 43", which is about salvation from hypocrites, "gory glory seekers who use His name in death".

Another example is Christmas Song, which is about the hypocrites who lose the true meaning of Christmas while being gluttonous and stingy. 

The final and most obvious example is of course "My God", which is about what the false prophets and Bible thumpers have done to God and Jesus in the name of organized religion. Remember that Christianity is about salvation, not religion. 

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jimidom Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: August 02 2007 Location: Houston, TX USA Status: Offline Points: 570	Posted: September 19 2007 at 16:35
	Jethro Tull is not blasphemous. They are in fact pro-God and pro-Christian, but there is an obvious irreverence in their lyrics that is aimed at hypocritical Bible thumpers and false prophets. One example is "Hymn 43", which is about salvation from hypocrites, "gory glory seekers who use His name in death". Another example is Christmas Song, which is about the hypocrites who lose the true meaning of Christmas while being gluttonous and stingy. The final and most obvious example is of course "My God", which is about what the false prophets and Bible thumpers have done to God and Jesus in the name of organized religion. Remember that Christianity is about salvation, not religion.
	*"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." - HST*

rambaron Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Newbie Joined: September 15 2007 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 33	Posted: September 19 2007 at 15:46
	I am quite aware that Ian had no problems with God himself as I said in brackets earlier "(although I don’t believe he has anything against faith in general just the supposed problems of organized religion)." I mean look at his Christmas album. I would add upon his criticism, but that would probably topple the boat. Jethro Tull is definitely one of my favorite bands as their messages are as relevant today as they where then and I wish more bands today would have some sort of message that is relevant in today’s society just as Tull did. But you have to admit, next to Harry Potter, Black Sabbath and others Tull can be considered very blasphemous. Hell, remember, the Beatles and “Bigger than Jesus” although this quote is gravely misunderstood by many, it changed laws banning Beatles music in several states and started so many angry anti-Beatles groups . Although, today, I doubt anybody has anything against the Beatles. But I mean, its so dumb when people all get together and spend precious time and money into either supporting or hating something, and they don't take just a little bit of time to understand what they are for or against, they just all become as sheep! Chicapah, I will not argue that Black Sabbath is indeed very shallow in intellectual concepts and thought provoking ideas, but their debut didn't have anything to do with the devil and was more about dungeons and dragon stuff, all apart from the song NIB, which again was more a song about the devil learning about love and it saving him. Whether it is God's love or a woman's, what’s the difference? He repelled his evil ways, great uplifting story that’s no different than any fairy tail where good triumphs over evil. They are famous not because of the lyrics or controversy, but the monster riffs that are overplayed on the radio and also because they perfected a new genre. The pioneers being Atomic Rooster of course. Sabbath later began to focus on music that "sounded" dark and evil because that is pretty much what their shallow fan base where expecting. Ozzy of course later began doing crazy sh*t for attention, but that was long after his Sabbath days. I do admit that I like to rock the boat, but only cause that usually generates the most thought provoking ideas rather than just sitting in a room and being concurrent in a conversation about how much and why we love something. Edited by rambaron - September 19 2007 at 15:58

Chicapah Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: February 14 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 8238	Posted: September 19 2007 at 14:10
	I agree with Ghost Rider. Ian Anderson was railing against our immature, close-minded image of God, not God himself. My thinking is that groups like Black Sabbath wrote about "the Devil" in order to create controversy and attract attention to themselves rather than trying to convey any "deep" or thought-provoking ideas or concepts.
	"Literature is well enough, as a time-passer, and for the improvement and general elevation and purification of mankind, but it has no practical value" - Mark Twain

Raff Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: July 29 2005 Location: None Status: Offline Points: 24392	Posted: September 19 2007 at 13:34
	My JT favourite song, "My God", is probably one of the main culprits here. However, if you read or listen to the lyrics carefully, you'll find out that they're anything but blasphemous - in fact, they're very much pro-God, in spite of being against organised religion and the hypocrisy that often comes with it.

Philéas Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: June 14 2006 Status: Offline Points: 6419	Posted: September 19 2007 at 13:31
	Interesting observation. It is indeed strange. I think it has to do with the nature of the music itself; Black Sabbath's music can be very menacing wheras Jethro Tull's isn't for the most part. And I'm sure it's quite rare that the average listener takes time to make a detailed analysis of the lyrics when listening to a band for the first time, the music is what counts, sort of. So if a band's music seems evil, the band is more likely to get labelled evil, regardless of the lyrics. Edited by Philéas - September 19 2007 at 13:32

andu Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: September 27 2006 Location: Romania Status: Offline Points: 3089	Posted: September 19 2007 at 13:25
	You like to rock the boat don't you?

rambaron Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Newbie Joined: September 15 2007 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 33	Posted: September 19 2007 at 13:21
	Hehe, I always like making titles that stir people up, but are somewhat true. (I don't want to offend anybody, I think I did a good job keeping it neutral, the only thing i'm trying to say is that people in general are stupid) I have actually been wondering recently, why was Black Sabbath was so hated, and still is to some extent by many religious groups for being a bunch of Satanists and having antireligious music? I am only really familiar with their early “quality” albums that they made and many of them really deal with nothing more than what Neil Morse himself would sing about. Most often the songs would involve resisting and dueling with the Devil, the only one that is arguably satanic is NIB where Lucifer falls in love with a mortal woman and repents evil becoming good. In fact before their debut album they where largely a blues band who just happened to stumble upon a new kind of music. It goes to show how many of us never really listen to the meaning of the lyrics and just assumes everything based on appearance as so many satanic groups (who are just as clueless) started to love them and consider Black Sabbath as their own kind. The band themselves became so frightened of this they got metal crosses blessed (by their supposed enemies) to protect them from Satan, which they wore everywhere. Now the thing that really confuses me, people that I know who have always thought Black Sabbath is so sacrilegious have no problems and have even been fans of Jethro Tull. This stumps me as Jethro Tull is arguably the most sacrilegious band that has ever existed. So many of their songs and albums have quibbled and mocked organized religion. Hell that was the main concept for Thick as a Brick and Aqualung and yet these where never considered blasphemous. Harry Potter “not a big fan myself” on the other hand, a story that evolves around teachings that Jesus Christ himself have preached is so enormously hated. While Jethro Tull blatantly blasted organized religion on their most popular albums (although I don’t believe he has anything against faith in general just the supposed problems of organized religion). Any thoughts? Edited by rambaron - September 19 2007 at 13:22