Jethro Tull

English rock band Jethro Tull tried on half a dozen names and styles before frontman Ian Anderson switched from guitar to flute—a move that shaped their distinctive sound. ∙ Rolling Stone ranked Tull’s 1971 LP, Aqualung, among its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. ∙ Composed of a continuous, 43-minute track split over two sides, their fifth album, Thick As a Brick, improbably topped the US charts in 1972. ∙ Crest of a Knave, their 1987 album, won the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance, beating out Metallica, Jane’s Addiction, Iggy Pop, and AC/DC in the process. ∙ The group’s original four members reunited in 2002 for the first time in almost 35 years and released their one-off gig on the DVD Living With the Past. ∙ In 2008, Anderson was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for his service to music. ∙ Over the course of their half-century career, the band has earned 11 Gold and 5 Platinum albums in the US.