Jethro Tull – Bungle in the Jungle (1974)
If Steve Miller had recorded it, everything would have been fine. Inflation would have remained stable, the Habs would have won the Cup, Riggs, uh, okay, nope he still would have gone down like the Hindenburg. Life always does what it’s supposed to.
As it happened, Maurice le Pompetus d’Amour didn’t record it. Rather, the very troubadours that gave us the nearly-atonal Aqualung and an FM single in 10/8 meter (Living in the Past) included this fig newton on their follow-up to a pair of number one LPs (bungle #1), and then released it as a single in both the UK and US (bungle #2), where it got swallowed whole by a brand new segment who wondered ‘which one is Jethro?’.
Lacking everything that made Tull the godfathers of folk-rock and subbing in its stead a flat square rhythm, power chords and a positively silly, cringeworthy lyric, Bungle in the Jungle absolutely horrified both stalwart fans and critics alike. While War Child itself did well on the success of the 45, future albums never again hit the heights or secured the caché of Thick as a Brick and Passion Play. By the end of the 70s, Tull was a nostalgia act, Ian Anderson its aging mascot. This delivery was the catalyst.
Worst, the band’s legacy has suffered. Their greatest pieces of music have had no stickiness whatever and the fine albums that followed – Songs from the Wood is one – are now seen as the downside of their peak.
If Bill Buckner had scooped up that rolling grounder, he’d doubtless be in the Hall of Fame today. If Billy Squier hadn’t, uh, okay, nope he’d still have gotten torched. Like the Hindenburg.
