Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson Chose Books Over Drugs
- Posted on Nov 3rd 2009 2:30PM by Pat Pemberton
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The Eagles' Joe Walsh tore out hotel walls with a chainsaw. Who drummer Keith Moon drove his car into a pool. Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious was charged with murder. But as those drug-addled musicians lived the rock 'n' roll lifestyle to excess in the '70s, Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson was concluding concert nights with a book and a quiet hotel room."Everybody was at it in the '70s," Anderson tells Spinner. "It was just like that all the time. That's why I went back to my hotel room, read a book, watched TV, never hung out with other musicians, never went to parties, just traveled to the next place, did a show, read another book and went and got a roast beef sandwich or whatever I was going to eat. I was perfectly happy doing my own thing."
With drug abuse so common in the rock industry, one is almost tempted to ask musicians, "What was your drug story?" But Anderson, who still performs with Jethro Tull more 42 years after its inception, seems to be a rare example of a famous musician from the '60s and '70s who stayed clean. "They used to smoke pot in the 60s," he says. "It was such a stinky, awful thing. I didn't want to go anywhere near that. It was vile stuff. And then the pills -- that all seemed a bit dangerous. And then, of course, the more scary things, from cocaine on through to heroin."
For Anderson, seeing musicians abuse drugs was a let down. "I've been onstage with some people who have been serious drunks -- great, brilliant, legendary guitar players -- and just thought, 'This is awfully sad, hearing them slurring and messing their parts up just because they've been at it,'" he says.
He does admit to indulging in the occasional alcoholic drink, but, Anderson says he drinks in moderation -- and never before a gig.
"I have to have my wits about me and be focused," he says. "I don't find it in any way helpful to take a drink if I'm trying to play music."
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