Added: 5 years ago
From: crazedvole
Views: 142,272
Sort by time | Sort by thread (beta)

Link to this comment:

Share to:
see all

All Comments (200)

Sign In or Sign Up now to post a comment!
  • J tull steel monkey, niggers still monkeys

  • I love this song, never knew it had a music video...pretty cool. Crest Of The Knave always had a slight Dire Straits (minus money for nothing and walk of life) vibe to me. But this had a slight ZZ Top vibe. I use the word slight very loosely. Funny thing, the video is very 80's but the band looks very 70's. If they dressed like they did for the Under Wraps days, then this would be totally 80's. Its cool though

  • @MuttonAndTheHam and haddock

  • Please stop with the negative comments regarding Crest of a Knave. The band had been around 20 years, Ian still kept the lyricism and Martin was competing with the likes of Van Halen and Vai etc... (electronics and gizmos) and made the guitar growl as if he were Jeff Beck and laid down some appropo licks for the music recorded. Mountain Men, Budapest , Farm on the Freeway along with Steel Monkey are just more examples of Tull's A to Z ability to entertain and adapt.

  • liked em 40 years ago (my elder brothers albums) still good, thick as a brick (listen to the whole heap) still my fav..................still hate salmon (crap taste)

  • @edelweiss1001 and haddock..i ve got the had....have you got the dock.? haddock

  • This song confirms how hard it is for any artist to resist the influence of his culture and times - if the song's label didn't tell me this was Tull, I'd never have known it. Sounds like a pretty generic 80's pop-rock band, that's about all.. And if I didn't know JT's work from the previous decade, I suppose this would be tolerable musically. Except I DO know so much of Tull's gorgeous previous fare, so, bottom line, I can only wince, at least a little, at the direction of this piece.

  • Tres 80's - but still good - hey, bands try to change with the times, they're not singing to themselves - still, it's a shame to see them prostituting themselves - even they Stones tried their hand at punk (Shattered) and disco (Hot Stuff) -- the fact that Tull came out with decent song here is a credit to their creativity & chops -

  • I doubt it ever gets cold enough to freeze the balls off a STEEL monkey -

  • Well really...it was for both hard rock and heavy metal, and this is certainly a hard rock song, though most of the still excellent album was not. They probably got the category due to Aqualung, which in 1971 was as metal an album as many.

  • Why did so many of the 70's prog bands turn to shit in the 80's? Well, okay this music is okay. But it's not near the greatness of earlier releases. The older stuff is timeless, but this is outdated 80's music. Lulz.

    Members of Yes, King Crimson and ELP formed Asia, which is the epitome of 80's cheese.

  • @sinbysin666 It's because in the late 70's punk blew prog off the pop charts permanently. But punk quickly faded away to the underground shortly after that. Then, nothing but pop dominated the charts, so all the prog bands tried getting critical acclaim, but failed miserably. Darn shame too.

  • @Pasalaqcua Well, with critical acclaim I'm not sure, but they definitely achieved commercial success. 90125 is the best selling album to date for Yes. The same story with Genesis' Invisible Touch. And Crest of a Knave by Tull was also a success. Quite an irony; but I don't think this is selling out. It was the 80's, it was a different time. If they would make the same music as they did in the 70's, they would have risked of being overlooked.

    This, like many others are different, but still good

  • I don't know what we need to say a genre is metal..............

    like @savgeo I will cite Ian Anderson:

    Flute is a metal instrument.

    He is right is made with metal, know nickel and some other metals.

    The others beyond the steel strings they don't have anything metal, maybe the drums...ah forgert it.

  • Well,I'm a retired ironworker,and a life-long Tull fan.And though I appreciate their tip-of-the-fedora to my trade,this is NOT Jethro Tull's best work,by a long-shot.I think whoever said it could be a spoof on ZZ,may be close to the truth.A decent track,but not great(oh,I am also a lifelong musician,and I love ZZ too,btw)

  • The Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental

  • This sounds and looks so blatantly like ZZ Top that I wonder if their intent was to poke fun at them

  • The won for best HARD ROCK/ Heavy Metal album, Crest may not be a metal album, but it very much is Hard rock, they deserved it, awesome comeback album

  • can sumone upload a HD version please :)

  • brilliant

  • Old style...!

    in the beginning there was The Tull and then it was the rest.

  • "The flute is a heavy, metal instrument".

    This statement is entirely true, indeed, as it is a metal instrument that tends to be on the relatively fairly heavy side of things.

    But, it is also probably the statement of the year, in whichever year it was said (I think it was stated in 1989). It is a major LoL statement of witty charm and of epic success.

  • i don't know...for the first time i hear this song and i don't know...i like the music from 70's to 80's...but the song can also pass

  • This is a fucking cheese classic. 

  • i have dis on vinyl... messed up hearing that synth line on vinyl....

  • caiptan bulldog led me here.

  • OF COURSE IT'S ROCK AND NOT METAL !! BUT OK, TULL DESERVED AN AWARD ONE WAY OR ANOTHER !!  ;-) THAT'S GRAMMY'S STRATEGY : IF THEY HAVE NOT GIVEN AWARD TO A TOP GROUP, THEY THINK: " OH WHAT A MISTAKE HAVE WE DONE" ......"IT'S TIME TO GIVE AN AWARD TO TULL IMMEDIATELLY" !!!!! HAHA ! JUST LIKE WITH CARLOS SANTANA WITH THE AWFUL "MARIA".... THE LIFE WE' RE LIVING REALLY SUCKS...

  • GREAT SONG. VIVA IAN !!! THIS SONG SHOULD BE PLAYED EVERYDAY ON THE RADIO !!! THIS LIFE AND ITS SYSTEM TOTALLY SUCKS !!...................

  • When Tulll got the Grammy, most of the members couldn't find a metal band with both hands. No offense to Tull, who I do live (ahem, as well as Dire Straits). Just look at past history who they awarded Grammys to in the past

  • metal is the guitar so yeah tull does have something to do with metal. if you cant hear this guitar your deaf savgeo -_-

  • This may be my favourite Tull track. Ian Anderson as a badass longcoat. Awesome.

  • Man, they had no intentions of "fitting" any category.That was a decision by the Academy. Tull, as do all elite bands, write OF themselves. Each story is a mix of individual experience combined with other experience. Of course it takes an insightful mind to turn this into a UK standard. Only the best turn it out as They Mean it.

  • Did you use a Sharp VCR? The sound and video quality is quite similar to the one my dad had at the time. Quite good for SLP mode. 

  • They were making a statement. They were totally thumbing their nose at the industry. Ian is a GENIUS! The song rocks and it was a solid Tull album. Every album is different with them, that's what makes them so good. If ya want to piss on an album, do it on " Under Wraps". Not Ian's best work

  • @teaser261 Under Wraps is better than everything they did after A and excluding Roots to Branches. UW is a fine pop experiment, whilst Chrest of a Knave, Rock Island, Catfish Rising are mostly Dire Straits cloning. I hate Dire Straits )

  • @drainfunk this video is heavey with a zz top influance. my understanding is the often refered to dire straights sound was largely due to Ian having to learn how to sing again after having some vocal dmage. you can really here a big difference in his voice today.

    I suppose all is fair in rock and roll... after all, Tull has been ripped off by everyone from the Eagels to Atlantis Morrisett.

  • @drainfunk btw this here sounds like zztop and not like dire straits (great band) and you forgot broadsword which came out in 1982 and what was one of their best albums

  • @drainfunk tull just go with the seasons i like all there albums a is low on the list but

    they ride with the times there is no influance it is all them just being progressive

    this is real music not pop

  • y'all are too hung up on what you think tull should sound like. yeah, it could be gibbons but martin tears the roof of the sucker and it rocks like a son of a bitch. compare this excitement to tull post 2003, no comparison, and i'm being generous.

  • I first heard this song on a Lego video called "The Spirit Stompers: the ghostly job"

  • They briefly considered changing their name to Jethro Top in an effort to become more market friendly.

  • everyone felt lost and confused in the 80's...it was a dark dark time.

    but still - they ought to have been lined up and shot. I mean this is Tull here. They oughtn't be nobody's bitches.

  • the best of all Jethro's Tull songs, totally pwned

  • not Tull at their best...guess it was the 80s though

  • Tull can do anything!

  • steel monkey is absolutly amazin

  • zz tull?

  • There's this blatant sound-alike of ZZ Top, and they also flirted briefly with a Dire Straits sound, in "Rocks on the Road" & "Part of the Machine." But nobody sounded like Tull in the late 70s, and a band that gave us at least 10 great albums has nothing to apologize for as far as I'm concerned.

  • @bobgee1999 Said she was a dancer feels very DS too...

  • IMHO, Broadsword was the last Tull album of worth, though even before that there were some with little appeal for me -- Stormwatch, A, Passion Play. There were some good things on Crest, but Broadsword was the last Tull album I could listen to from start to finish--just a personal thing.

  • cheesy video tho

  • be it flute or strat... this mother-fucker was ALWAYS where it's at

  • as a huge Tull fan there was a time when they're sound changes would disapoint me, like this mimic of ZZ, or the D Straits sounding stuff. but as time has gone by I have relized they were simply trying what seemed popular, not mimicing.

    the really wild part is how well they have adapted to the popular sounds while keeping their common threads. Tull is, and will always will be one of the most inovative bands ever! even when that inovation comes on the heals of others. they are simply great!

  • @infodisinfo That's exactly what I thought! Sounded a lot like ZZ Top. Even though I like ZZ Top a lot, this doesn't suit Tull and Anderson.

  • thanks for the comment!

    I, too, am a big ZZ fan... Billy Gibbons is one of the greatest living guitarists. ever hear the story behind his Pink Stratocaster?

  • @infodisinfo No, I haven't. Please, do tell!

  • at the hight of his short lived career, Jimi Hendrix was so impressed with Gibbons ability to play the blues he gave him a pink Strat! True story, and Hendrix even stated on a national talk show how he was so impressed with the young Gibbons.

    to me the real jem of this story is a great guitarist who was also black being this imressed with a white mans playing of the blues. in todays politically correct world this may sound a bit off, but it really speaks volums to Gibbons ability.

  • I can certainly agree with that, especially coming from someone like the legend Jimi Hendrix (another favourite of mine). Cool story, did not know that.

  • Another huge Tull fan here too. Looking back, I think Ian was in a bit of a confidence crisis in the mid/late eighties; Broadsword and Underwraps didn't please everyone (although I like both very much) and then the voice problems kicked in. I think that on Crest and Rock Island there's an element of playing it safe, maybe for commercial reasons, and some of the "uniqueness" disappeared. Started to come back with Roots to Branches thank God!

  • yeah, I certainly agree that the later stuff is a bit of a return to the roots of Tull, minus the blues, that is! No pun intended, although I think that Roots to Branches was named so for a reason.

    I did find enjoyment in all their albums except A, and a Passion Play - not a fan of those two.

  • I don't know what you say, but comparing this with the old Tull, it sucks majestically!

  • Cool song. 5 stars. go Jethro

  • still gotta say the vocals are so much like dire straits "brothers in arms" it's wicked cool!!!

  • Thats why they beat Metallica in the 89 Grammy awards, Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental

  • awesome guitarist!

  • i have 3 CDs of jethro tull: The Crest Of A Knave - Through the years - The very best of

    this is one of their best songs with budapest, the whistler...

  • I have 16 Tull CD's, including the 4 disc box set, the 2 dist best of, a 24k gold edition of A Passion Play, There is an incredible amount of great Tull tracks.

  • HEYYY AQUALUNG

  • Love the song and album. I play it a lot. The video though .....ummmm is this ZZ Tull or Jethro Top? Rock on Ian and how about some new stuff? Dot com is still good but it came out years ago.

  • great

  • beautiful tribute to the steel monkeys !

  • Excelent song!

  • ZZ Tull! LOL!

  • strangely Ian, and the band still rocks, now true musicans wouldn't you agree?

  • lol back in 88

  • I like this song and most of what Tull did. I think Ian and his Musicians have overall put out more interesting material than Hetfield & Co. But, honestly, Metallica should have won that Grammy back in '88. And Justice For All was simply the better album that year. I think it was the best they ever did - their musical peak. To Live is to Die still sends chills down my spine. I played that song to death. Meanwhile, Crest of a Knave still sits relatively unused in its case.

  • Of course Jethro Tull have nothing to do with metal. I don't even how they won the grammy for the best metal album of thet year. After Ian Anderson received the award, he said: the flute is a metal instrument

  • The Grammy was for the best hard rock / metal act... Perhaps Tull was a better hard rock band than Metallica was a metal band...

  • No, Damien. I firmly believe that that award was given to Tull in order to kill the category, since "Hair Metal", and other metal bands were among the most criticized of all genres. To some, Grammy Awards only verified.

    Look at the way some people reacted to "Hair Metal"

  • @savgeo "We didn't win a Grammy for being a metal band, we won because we're a bunch of nice guys..." Ian from the documentary Living with the Past.

    Honering the talent of Tull was long over due, even if it was misplaced. 'Crest' was their hardest album in a decade, and with Tull's one of a kind sound there really is no catagory that fits perfectly.

    Just my opinion.

  • @infodisinfo You hit the nail on the head! There is no 'category' for Tull. Pure originality.Plus,serious chops, writing from another level, and an overwhelming British feeling to it (Like it or not). Genius all over this band! Just my opinion.

  • @weewilly49 may be just your opinion, but this Italian-American could not agree more!

  • @savgeo the flute is a heavy metal instrument

  • @savgeo He actually said :

    "The flute is a Heavy metal instrument" :)

  • @savgeo You fucking moron, do you see Ian Anderson playing a flute in this video?

  • totally agree with u

  • That is a chaperelle cowboy!!!

  • Take that, . . you young whippersnappers!!!

  • Comment removed

  • You may want to check out Tull's "Kissing Willie." That is a funny one!

  • If Thick as a brick was a parody of the prog bands that were popular at the time, why are we all so sure this isn't a deliberate parody of Dire Straits & ZZ Top, some of the 'dance moves' in this video are far too ZZ Top like to not be a deliberate parody if you ask me.

  • This sound just like "Sleeping Bag" by that little Ole' band from Texas, ZZ Top

  • your correct that it has the same sound as ZZ

  • jethro tull is one of the greatest bands ever. i'm just going to pretend i never saw this.

  • I found the cassette album of this at my house like two days ago.

  • Ian Anderson for ever!! Viva Jethro Tull

  • Poco significativo periodo per i JT, molto tecnici ma poco creativi

  • its not folky enough for me, that bass makes it sound like funk, and its basically a pop song, not prog

  • Funny actually, because Dave Pegg is actually one of the best known british folk bass players, along with Ashley Hutchings, Rick Kemp etc.

  • was the tull spoofin' the top on this one? the top prolly got a huge kick outta' that 1. LOL

  • and justice for all.... the album metallica became sell outs. maybe that was the day you became a panzy. you couldnt handle the raw power anymore. your a looser. every song on and justice for all rocks

  • Hehe before you can hurt my feelings you need to learn to spell correctly. Even then it's not likely possible. Raw Power? And Justice For All is not very raw. It's quite polished, if you can follow that. It's a good album, sure. Did you happen to hear the 3 GREAT albums they made before it? The first was the only "raw" one. ;)

  • great playlist

  • I bought the Metallica album in question the day it hit the shelves. And Justice for All? Frayed ends of Sanity isn't very heavy. It's funny, that was the album Metallica became sell-outs. Hehehe. Long time music fan here...

  • Long time music fan? Doesn't make you less wrong.

  • Uno de los grupos que más me ha influido, creci de pque escuchandolos....

  • oh ya lol listen to that riff! way heavier than Metallica, just listen to "Frayed Ends of Sanity", I mean thats pussy shit...

  • their still better than matallica

  • its Metallica, never get that wrong

  • love jethro tull!! absolutly amazin

  • Long time Tull fan here. No idea about the hate for this song. It's pretty good. I've always liked it. Admitting that isn't easy with other Tull fans LOL!

  • Yes it sounds a bit like Dire Straits.Yes it sounds a bit like ZZ Top.Yes it sounds dated,yeah yeah yeah.This is Jethro Tull,they can do whatever the hell they like and it will always sound fucking great!

  • Tull prob influenced them other groups.. whatiya think! As far as I am concerned, Tull has way more texture and complexities to their music, Metallica I like too, but they don't have texture or tension in their music like Tull.

  • all wrong the guitaring on this song was the best theyd ever done class song and not a 1 dimensional group

  • Mi sa che i 2 commentatori di sotto li conosco! Abbiamo avuto tutti la stessa ragazza per un periodo... se non sbaglio si chiamava Federica. Grande "Cattivi pensieri", hai colmatato le mancanze sessuali di molti adolescenti! sb.bam! sb.bam!

  • NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! La sigla di "Cattivi pensieri"! Il programma culto di Telecapri! La nave-scuola dell'autoperfezionamento sessuale di schiere di giovani masturbatori! Questa è la colonna sonora delle adolescenziali notti onanistiche italiane!!!

  • Nooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!! la sigla di "cattivi pensieri" la trasmissione che mandava in onda i pornazzi su TeleCapri!!!!!!!!!

  • i guess zz top was the thing at this time !!!

  • Yea, Barre sounds a lot like Gibbons here!

  • Not a big fan of this song. A bit too cheesy. But the rest of this album is respectable.

  • shit, i prefer the jazz part of jethro tull

  • Great song. Terrible video. Call the fashion police.

  • This song rock!But I love Jethro Tull from early days.This is great.I have all albums.

    I am 26 years old and I am grow up with Led Zeppelin,Rainbow,Uriah Heep,Bad Company and AC/DC,Def Leppard...More?Jethro Tull Rocks!

    I am from Bosnia.Hahahaha...Strange?Not.

  • This song sounds like if it was from ZZ Top.Even the clip looks that way..

  • Now, I may only be 14, but I love Jethro tull, and for my birthday in about a week, I get to go to a tull concert

  • Im on high ride junkkies

  • I always thought it sounded a bit like ZZ Top's Sleeping Bag, with the 80's symphonics. Lyrically, it is superior, as is EVERYTHING Ian crafts.

  • The thing about the Grammy is this. They split hard rock and heavy metal into separate categories. And for all of Metallica's bitching, Jane's Addiction had the best album in the category, so there you go.

  • come on guys, of course that grammy was fair

    sure and justice for all is a great album but metallica were at the beginning of ther carreer and their sound still needed to be refined greatly, for starters, they lacked Mustaine! both Kill 'Em All AND Ride The Lighting contained Mustaine-Era material, whereas this for one didnt, so there are many flaws. Tull had been in the businessfor YEARS, and even if only just heavy enough to be METAL it was still a heavily refined album worth of the win!

  • Im only 19 and jetrho tull is awsome. To all people who think this is some attempt at metalicca remember Tull was around years before.

  • Crest of a Knave was my first introduction to Tull. It still has to be my favourite album. Yes it's rocky but it's refined with Budapest still giving me the tingle factor every time I hear it. That's the beauty of Tull though, their albums are like the Flake ads... You always prefer the one from your era.

    Very glad to see so many younger listeners too. I'm 35 and most of my peers havent heard of them.

  • I guess this album marked a shift with the old line here new technology got in new guitar

    solos new arrangements he even tried a dire straits sound

    I must declare that i love the previous ones

    even the critics didn't appreciate

  • Sound Quality isn't as good as I'd hoped, but that dosen't hurt an excellent song.

  • love this.this album didnt get the attention it deserved.

  • i swear i am the only person in high school who likes, let alone knows Jethro Tull.......

    its sad really......

  • which country r u from?

  • hey, same for me (i see we are of the same age). and when my friends listen to some Tull song when they come to my home, all of them (except for a guy who liked it) tell me I'm a freak...oh well...

  • Nobody my age likes them either, everyone thinks I'm really weird for listening to them, but it shows you what they know! Jethro Tull is the greatest! I saw them live a couple weeks ago and it was the most amazing night of my life!

  • you're lucky, lafleursacree... i have not seen them yet :(

  • I absolutely loved this album, just about every song. I wish we could get a bit more of it. "Jump Start", "Won't Be Comin Back", "Mountain Men" and of course "Budapest" were inspired. Say what you want but Ian doesn't copy he is off on his own trail.

  • Not to bash Metallica, but Jethro Tull has a significant talent pool. Ian Anderson played flute for the LSO, and he's a rather talented lyricist and composer. Plus, if you're whining about a Grammy from the twenty years ago, well...then you have problems. :P

  • doesnt say much about metallica lol. here's some cheese for that whine. typical metal headbanger

  • its true. metallica as a true heavy metal band deserved the grammy. jethro tull, although a legendary hard rock band with enormous talent, isnt heavy metal.

  • i agree with u

    i think these awards weren't fair at all!

    if jethro tull should have gained a grammy, it should've been during their golden age, 70-80..

  • Love the Tull!

  • is it just me or does this feel like a zz top imatation.

  • wouldnt call it imatation. more like the same flare.

  • If anything, ZZ Top would be imitating the style and fashion of Jethro Tull. Unless you are just talking about the music video...

  • Ha,ha! Ian looks like Fagin in the 1968 film 'Oliver'. I hope he doesn't pick any pockets. Intro of the song reminds me of U2 'Little red men'.

  • He's always looked like that,that's why the 1968 film 'Oliver' copied it.That's why U2 copied it!Why think of a riff yourself when you can copy it?It's all been done and heared before.After your many years on this planet and your eons of musical,would you not agree with me?

  • now thats some damn good rock and roll there kiddies. hope you were paying attention. and damn was that ian anderson with a lead guitar. first time seeing that. and damn he owned that guitar

  • The song is ok, though wicked repetitive. The video is laughably 80s. It's interesting to watch the posted videos of Jethro Tull and see how video technology changed. Just because you can do a certain effect doesn't mean you should.

  • Its from the album crest of a knave It also had the track hot night in Buddapest Possibly in there days of snow balling!

  • The track in my oppinion is aimed towards the Amercan INDIAN !

  • J Tull was main staple late 60's and early 70's. Grad, got job, kids, blah, blah... just heard this one for first time. Nice to be back again- kids grown, wife OK, but may need to quit job- where it all began! Great tune, better on Bose in Escalade though- will keep both.

  • This song was Tull's salute to the steel workers who climb the beams to put up highrise buildings. I saw it first on a video juke box in Germany when I was in the military. And I've been a huge fan ever since.

  • not a great tull song

  • è la sigla di CATTIVI PENSIERI SU TELECAPRI

  • Grande!!! Un altro telecapriano d'altri tempi!!!

  • poor quality, good song

  • this is about drugs, right? ))

    that's too much mainstream for jethro tull.

  • its about ironworkers

  • & the grammys called this hard rock wtf?

    I admit i do like jethro tull as art/folk/prog rock but just because someone plays guitar heavily doesn't dub it hard rock

    thats like saying Olivia newton-john is a great hard rock artist when she doesn't write her oen solo & pays people from toto to make them

  • p.s. Hope not.

  • Mmmmm! is he fucking scottish?

  • Aye, he certainly is. I dont feel a lot of warmth here wehavejoy. So I am glad to bring you the good tidings, Ian is a JOCK born in Dunfermline, ancient seat of the Scottish Kings. Hope I havent spoiled your day. :D Tull forever.

  • interesting but Great song

  • afterburner that is

  • if im not mistaken, this was out before zz top