“Bores the pants off me”: The one artist John Paul Jones thought made terrible music

Rock and roll was never intended to be tied to one particular style. Although many people continue to swear by the model that Chuck Berry and Little Richard set for everyone, the biggest names of the genre were the ones that helped people branch out into different areas no one had heard before, whether that be The Beatles opening people’s eyes or Pete Townshend expanding the musical palette with his rock operas. But by everyone’s standards for rock, Led Zeppelin had nearly everything that a fan could ask for.

From the minute that Jimmy Page left The Yardbirds, he was already looking to make things slightly heavier than usual. There had been countless blues acts that had come before him, and he wasn’t about to become another guitarist lost in the lurch. So the next best thing was to create the ideal supergroup behind him so that he could play nearly anything that he wanted.

But whereas most people might like to think of Zeppelin as Page’s baby, there was a lot more to them than a few great guitar riffs. Robert Plant had become the ideal frontman that anyone would have aspired to be in their prime, and John Bonham practically made the kind of thunder that Thor would have been proud to have made whenever the band played live. If there was ever a secret weapon to their sound, though, it would have to be John Paul Jones.

Since he had cut his teeth on the session music scene the same way Page did, Jonesy was far better equipped to change genres at the drop of a hat. Whether that was him playing the bass or stepping behind the keyboards, he was the perfect arranger to bring Page’s ideas to life, whether that was the unsteady riffs of ‘Black Dog’ or the orchestration George Martin would have been proud of on ‘Kashmir’. Both of them wanted to push forward, but another genre was emerging with the same idea.

Around the same time Zeppelin started making waves, bands like King Crimson were ushering in what prog-rock was going to be. There had been tunes based on creating something more grandiose, but by the time most people heard artists like Yes and Pink Floyd, they understood the meaning behind sitting with a tune and letting a track unfold for 20 minutes at a time. Jones may have had respect for that approach, but that ended whenever he listened to Jethro Tull.

“Ian [Anderson] is a pain in the ass. We toured with Jethro Dull once, and I think he probably spoke three words to Jimmy or me at any one time. His music bores the pants off me, it’s awful.”-John Paul Jones

Despite taking them out on the road and being around for about as long as Zeppelin were, Jones was never a fan of the group, saying in 1977, “Ian [Anderson] is a pain in the ass. We toured with Jethro Dull once, and I think he probably spoke three words to Jimmy or me at any one time. His music bores the pants off me, it’s awful. Page came up with the greatest line about them. He had a title for a live album when Jethro was playing in Los Angeles: Bore ‘Em at The Forum.”

Then again, Anderson was simply looking at rock and roll from a completely different angle. His approach to classical music certainly wasn’t going to earn him any favours with pure rock fans, but listening to him get heavy during some parts of Thick as a Brick was genuinely impressive, even if it was meant to be a send-up of every band that took themselves a little bit too seriously.

More than anything, Jethro Tull’s music seemed to speak to a much different audience than what Page and Jones were aiming for. There was a universal power behind tunes like ‘Whole Lotta Love’ and ‘Dancing Days’, but people were bound to go to Anderson if they were looking for something more cerebral.