This
article is not about the art of Jethro Tull, but
about the people who appreciate it. To be more
specific: it's about the fans that virtually meet on
the internet, exchange their views, opinions and
information, design and maintain Tull-websites, or
just drop in for an occasional Tull-chat.
This
article was originally published in the November 2001
issue of Bert Maessen's magazine "That's NOT the
way Ian planned it - The Jethro Tull bootleg
magazine".
WWW and Tull, does that ring a bell? There are over
150 of them: websites dedicated to Jethro Tull. They
vary in design, size, quantity and quality of
information, purpose or intention - you name it. But
what the webmasters of these sites and their visitors
together have achieved is, that Jethro Tull has
become one of the best documented bands on the
worldwide web.
How did that happen? Can we speak of a virtual Tull
community? And what are the sites that are a must for
every Tull-follower on the globe? This article is an
attempt to answer these questions.
*
Way back in the year …. 1994
When I got access to internet in 1996, I
discovered to my astonishment that there was a lot of
activity going on when it comes to Jethro Tull. As a
Tull-follower I had been rather isolated from others
who shared the same passion, ever since most fans I
knew backed off in 1973, when A Passion Play was
released. This album for most of them simply was too
much to cope with. And since I was always a guilder
short or a day late I missed out on all the seventies
gigs! What a bummer…
What I came across on the worldwide web were a few
Tull-sites that offered information on the various
aspects of Jethro Tull. One of the pioneers was Mike
Lynch who in 1994 had launched his Tull-site The
Paradise Steakhouse. ( http://www.fredcorp.com/tull/
). For over 6 years this site was the most frequented
one, until first Dag Sandbu's site and later the
Official Tull site took over. There was a handful of
comparable Tull-sites operational back then, trying
to cover the whole scope, which inevitably led to
overlap, limited informational quality and the
practice of "borrowing" eachothers'
graphics.
Another very successful initiative, dating from 1992,
was Dave Steiner's "St. Cleve
Chronicle" (SCC).
This moderated Jethro Tull mailing list reached its
peak in 1999, counting over 6800 subscribers from all
continents! This list offered an important feature:
interactivity, which was the internet was intended
for in the first place. There was a new issue every
month. People who were subscribed back then will
certainly remember the ardent discussions, the
exchanges of information, views, interpretations and
memories. There were a lot of regular posters and the
need for information was huge. Bear in mind that in
those days there were only a few "paper
sources", like A New Day, two or three fanzines
and Bert's magazine that offered information on Tull.
The SCC was the first platform where in-depth
discussions took place.
Though Mike's and Dave's sites are still on-line,
they were no longer maintained nor updated since 1999
and these pioneers seem to have evaporated into thin
air…. alas.
The third platform where Tull-fans could virtually
meet was the Usenet newsgroup alt.music.jethro-tull
(AMJT). Like the SCC it had its regular posters, but
the nature of the medium made the contents more
direct and shallow. It started as an all American
thing, but over the years more and more posters from
Europe, Israël, South America and Australia joined
in. Like so many newsgroups, AMJT was infected by
so-called "trolls", people who like to
distort discussions by insulting and embarassing
posters. I'm under the impression that the regulars
from the beginning have found a virtual Tull-home
elsewhere
Many Tull-fans, who got access to the internet in the
mid-nineties participated in all these platforms and
had come to know eachother well. I estimate that in
those days a group of about 60 people, mainly
Americans, had regular contacts. Even appointments
were made to visit Tull-concerts together, pictures
were shared and bootleg tape trading flourished.
There it was: the virtual Tull community of fans,
generally in their thirties and forties, who in most
cases had never met in the flesh, but nevertheless
had become friends in due time.
*
The second generation sites
Then something remarkable happened. In
1997-1999 a new generation of Tull-sites was
launched. Instead of covering the full scope of Tull,
the webmasters of these sites specialised and
focussed on one or two aspects of the band and its
music. These sites became very popular in a
relatively short time and - more important - derived
their success not only from the efforts of their
webmasters, but to a great extent from the
contributions of fans who visited their sites! And on
top of that we can recently see how these webmasters,
instead of competing, cooperate by passing on
information that is relevant for their
colleagues'site, thus improving the overall quality
and diversity. There seems to be a drive, an urge, a
mission perhaps to make Jethro Tull one of the best
documented bands on the internet.
This development - that has been underway for about
three years now - shows in my opinion five things:
1. It is in the interest of the fans that both
in-depth and recent information on Tull is available
anytime. The mutual interest of webmasters and
visitors has produced a lot of unknown information;
saving it from oblivion
2. The Tull-site "that has it all" is an
outdated concept and makes maintaining too
complicated and updating too late;
3. Visitors tend to commit themselves to the sites
they appreciate and contribute, which proves that we
can speak of a community.
4. Paper resources are gradually replaced by - or at
least additional - to virtual ones.
5. Mr. Anderson and his gang should be proud of his
fans, for they offer him much more than the money
they spend on CD's and concert tickets: a loyalty not
many bands experience these days.
*
J-Tull Dot Com
Somewhere in the course of 1998, Jethro
Tull must have become more and more aware of the fact
that the popularity of the internet could serve them
well. By launching their official site they could
directly and on a far larger scale provide their fans
with the latest information, but also use it as a
marketing tool. When we take in account that Tull
gets very little airplay and not much publicity in
papers and music magazines, the importance of this
relatively new medium is obvious. In January 1999 the
Official Jethro Tull Website was launched and
promoted by naming their new album after their site:
J-TULL DOT COM.
*
Who are they?
The question rises as to what the
virtual Tull-community consists of anno 2001. Who are
these people? This one is not easy to answer as my
perspective is limited. But I'll give it a try.
Last month I've been counting the names of people who
regularly post in Tull-newsgroups, forums and clubs
and this search produced the names of about 130 fans.
They are the regulars, the most dedicated fans and
form the true blood nucleus of this virtual
community.
Apart from that there is a second group: an unknown
number of "lurkers": people who for one
reason or another only read postings in newsgroups,
clubs and forums, but seldom or never write one
themselves. Important is that they want to stay
informed. There must be hundreds of them, but no one
knows exactly how many.
The third group is formed by the people who regularly
visit Tull-sites and come back over time. Only a
thorough statistic survey of the most popular
websites could give us some information. They remain
a mystery, but I don't think their number exceeds one
hundred. People who sign guest books on websites, but
are never heard of again belong to this group too.
There is a fourth and mysterious group: these are the
occasional visitors; people who only visit Tull-sites
before and/or after Tull performed in their
neighbourhood, state or country. Some of them ask
questions by email. I haven't the foggiest idea about
how many fans this group counts. However, during the
DOT COM tour in 1999, I almost could follow the
band's touring by monitoring daily the visitors of my
site.
Most of the regulars are people who are in their
thirties, forties or fifties. But the amount of
emails I have been receiving since 1998 from people
who are in their late teens or twenties is so
significant, that I tend to assume that a new
generation is discovering Tull. They show themselves
very interested and have a great appetite for
information. Some of them even launched their own
Tull-site: (check e.g. The Whistler In
The Gallery)
Now let's see what this Tull-community eventually
produced.
*
Quality Tull-sites
Below you find my short reviews of 13
sites that have something special to offer. In
selecting, I tried to keep the overlaps of contents
as limited as possible, and though most of them offer
more, I focus on the speciality that makes them so
attractive.
1.
Tull's Virtual Home:
| Title |
The Offcial Jethro Tull
Website |
| URL |
http://www.j-tull.com/ |
| Country of origin |
UK |
| Webmaster |
Andrew Giddings, Tullwebber@aol.com |
| Speciality |
News, information on the band's
members, tourdates. |
| Other features |
The band's equipment, links,
press kit, pics, discography, management
& production, merchandise, email
addresses. |
| Update frequency |
every two months or so |
| Launch date |
January 1999 |
| Comments |
The site was intended
to provide the fans with actual information,
but doesn't stand up to it. A band of this
class and merit should IMO have a
professionally hosted and maintained website,
that is updated every two weeks. Andy
Giddings is just too busy and design and
contents both could be improved. |
2. Video clips for who wasn't there
| Title |
Laufi's Tull World |
| URL |
http://www.laufi.de/ |
| Country of origin |
Germany |
| Webmaster |
Marco Laufenberg, laufi@laufi.de |
| Speciality |
Real Media video & audio
clips |
| Other features |
Tour dates & reviews,
CDR-trading, bootleg guide, photo gallery,
Tull Conventions, Martin Barre Band,
information on German Fan Club Beggars' Farm |
| Update frequency |
every two months |
| Launch date |
January 22 1998 |
| Comments |
This huge site offers a
lot of information and is well-structured.
The initially download takes some time due to
the use of Java-script on the homepage. One
of my all-time favouirites. |
3.
Tull-collectors' heaven
| Title |
Collecting Jethro Tull |
| URL |
http://www.collecting-tull.com/ |
| Country of origin |
Norway |
| Webmaster |
Dag Sandbu, dsandbu@online.no |
| Speciality |
Most complete discography and
bootleg & collectibles guide available. |
| Other features |
Picture gallery, history of the
band, Tull on the web |
| Update frequency |
weekly |
| Launch date |
1998 |
| Comments |
It might take some time
to find your way around on the biggest
Tull-site there is, but it certainly is
rewarding. This one is my personal favourite,
which I visit every other day. |
4.
Tull's history in the music press
| Title |
Jethro Tull Press |
| URL |
http://www.tullpress.com/ |
| Country of origin |
UK |
| Webmaster |
Andrew Jackson |
| Speciality |
Articles in the music press
about Tull from 1967 to 2001. |
| Other features |
The original pictures that go
with the articles were added too after being
optimised for screen display; miscellaneous
pictures and press adverts are also
included,search engine. |
| Update frequency |
weekly |
| Launch date |
2000 |
| Comments |
A very interesting site
that not only sheds a light of Tull's genesis
and development over the years, their albums
and concertsbut also on how the press
regarded them back then. |
5.
The ultimate Tull concert & set list Database
| Title |
The Ministry Of
Information |
| URL |
http://www.ministry-of-information.co.uk/ |
| Country of origin |
UK |
| Webmaster |
Neil Thomason, n_r_thomason@hotmail.com |
| Speciality |
"Where did they play, when
and what?": the ultimate reference when
it comes to Tull tours, concerts and the
setlists from 1968 to 2001 ever published
(and still growing). |
| Other features |
The most detailed and very
interesting interpretation of "A Passion
Play", trading, links. |
| Update frequency |
weekly |
| Launch date |
2001 |
| Comments |
Wonderful exclusive
design and brimmed to the full with
information. |
6.
How to turn your computer into a Tull-machine
| Title |
Witch's Promise |
| URL |
http://tinpan.fortunecity.com/ayers/87/main.html |
| Country of origin |
USA |
| Webmaster |
Sam Thirouin, scthir@1st.net |
| Speciality |
Jethro Tull desktop stuff:
screensavers, logo screens, skins, desktop
themes |
| Other features |
links |
| Update frequency |
last update August 17 2001 |
| Launch date |
March 1999 |
| Comments |
Châpeau for Sam's
graphical talents. |
7.
Audio files: Tull on stage
| Title |
The Clasp, a Tull fan's
community |
| URL |
http://www.digitull.com/ |
| Country of origin |
India |
| Webmaster |
Varun Krishna, varunk@digitull.com |
| Speciality |
MP3 files of Tull concerts from
1969 to 2001. |
| Other features |
personal email and webspace,
forum |
| Update frequency |
temporary no updates |
| Launch date |
1998 |
| Comments |
A great example of what
fans' contributions eventually can produce.
It takes some time to get access to the
files, because submitting to Visto and
specific Visto groups has to be done first,
but it's really worth while. |
8.
Lyrics & annotations gallore
| Title |
Cup Of Wonder - The
Annotated Jethro Tull Lyrics Page |
| URL |
http://www.cupofwonder.com |
| Country of origin |
Netherlands |
| Webmaster |
Jan Voorbij, jan.voorbij@gmail.com |
| Speciality |
Annotations to over 95% of the
Jethro Tull songs and introductions to each
album Tull has released over the years. |
| Other features |
Album list, song list, book
reviews, concert reviews, essays, links,
unreleased tracks, search engine and mailing
list. |
| Update frequency |
weekly |
| Launch date |
November 18 1998 |
| Comments |
It's not appropriate to
comment on my own site in this article,
except that this huge site is a labour of
love, inspired by the idea to give something
in return for over 30 years of profound
musical and lyrical joy, granted for free
(well, ... sort of). A bit sprawling, so it
takes some time to find your way around. |
9.
Tull photographs: a history in images
| Title |
My Jethro Tull Photo
Site |
| URL |
http://www.maxquad.tullfan.com/ |
| Country of origin |
USA |
| Webmaster |
Bruce Mironov, bc-mironov20@home.com |
| Speciality |
Great concert photographs, made
during tours from 1975 to 2000. |
| Other features |
Links |
| Update frequency |
every two months |
| Launch date |
June 2001 |
| Comments |
Beautiful pictures of
which many are of sheer professional quality.
In fact a visual history of the band. |
10.
Meeting with & talking to other fans
| Title |
My Jethro Tull Club |
| URL |
http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/myjethrotullclub |
| Country of origin |
Denmark |
| Webmaster |
Emil Engelund, emilte@hotmail.com |
| Speciality |
Mailing list (well, sort of)
where 400 fans exchange information,
opinions, gig reviews and where people can
react immediately to eachothers postings. |
| Other features |
Pics, member list, chatting,
links |
| Update frequency |
daily, since this is a mailing
list |
| Launch date |
December 1999 |
| Comments |
Discussion and
information exchange. Emil managed to
organise chats with several Tull celebrities. |
11.
Tull collectors' reference
| Title |
The Jethro Tull Archive
& Reference Centre |
| URL |
http://www.electrocutas.com/ |
| Country of origin |
UK |
| Webmaster |
Pete McHugh, pete@electrocutas.com |
| Speciality |
Posters, handbills, flyers,
tourprogrammes, CD- & promotional
singles, full tour date history, and other
collectibles. |
| Other features |
Video webcast, unofficial
CD-archive, tour dates |
| Update frequency |
daily, weekly |
| Launch date |
1999 |
| Comments |
Pete managed to realise
a very interesting collectibles site that
serves prefectly well as reference. |
12.
CD-Tree of live recordings
13.
Guitar tabs of Tull songs
| Title |
The Jethro Tull Guitar
Page |
| URL |
http://www.geocities.com/pacojimenezz/jethrotull/home.html |
| Country of origin |
Spain |
| Webmaster |
Paco Jimenez, pacojimenezz@hotmail.com |
| Speciality |
Guitar tabs to dozens of
Tull-songs, albumwise ordered. |
| Other features |
links |
| Update frequency |
monthly |
| Launch date |
March 10 2000 |
| Comments |
Paco writes these tabs
himself but also receives dozens from fans
from all continents. His collection is
rapidly growing. A dream for every
guitar-playing Tull-fan. The design could
have been better, but navigation is fast. |
And
now for the future
Coming at the closing point of this
article, I would like to recommend any future
Tull-webmasters to pick a single aspect of Jethro
Tull that has'nt been covered yet. It will bring you
many visitors because it will present information
that isn't available yet, or to fragmented to study
it properly. Here are some suggestions:
· Ian's stage personae over the years
· Stage banter: humour, the Tull way
· Musicological information
· Early Tull: the formative years
· Details on equipment & tour management
· Details on the recording process over the years
· Tull cover bands & bands and artists
influenced by Tull
· ….?
Well, that's all for now. I hope the recommended
sites will offer you a lot of information and most of
all: pleasure. And while you're there, why not give
the webmasters a virtual pat on the shoulder in their
guest book?
IJsselstein
NL, October 5 2001
|
Introduction 