Jethro Tull: Too Old To Rock & Roll: Too Young To Die

Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson has always said that this album was not meant to be autobiographical about him as an aging songwriter, since he was still young at the time. He says the point of the album was to illustrate how his style of music can fade from popularity with every other fashion and fad, but he is determined that if he sticks with it, it will all come back and the style will rise again. The original idea for the album was to make a rock musical, similar to the Kinks in the mid-1970s, such as Preservation Act 1 (1973), Preservation Act 2 (1974) and Schoolboys in Disgrace (1975). The film follows an aging and retired rock star named Ray Lomas who wins money on a decadent quiz show, but finds that society has changed so much that there is no one like him anymore, and that he has no way to enjoy his money the way he did in the 1950s. He then decides to commit suicide by motorcycle accident, but fails and ends up in a coma in a hospital for an indefinite period of time. When he awakens, he finds that society has changed again and his style of dress and music are now popular again. In addition, the advanced medicine he is treated with, after disfiguring his face and damaging his body in the accident, makes him twenty years younger. He has become an overnight sensation among young kids who now try to dress and act like him. However, much of this story is only explained in a cartoon strip included with the album. The actual score of the album does not follow the strip exactly, omitting details or changing the plot in some cases.