Jethro Tull

In their early days slogging through London's club scene, the band had trouble getting repeat bookings, so they resorted to a clever bit of musical disguise. They'd show up under a new name almost every week, hoping club managers wouldn't realize it was the same group that played seven days earlier. Among the aliases they reportedly tried were: The Blades, Navy Blue, Ian Henderson's Bag o' Nails, and Candy Coloured Rain. One of them was borrowed from an 18th century agricultural pioneer who popularized the seed drill: Jethro Tull. They happened to be using that name the week the Marquee Club invited them back. A residency followed, record labels took notice, and suddenly the quirky historical moniker was permanent.

Along with David Bowie and Alice Cooper, Tull popularized "Theatrical Rock" during the 1970s.

They won the first ever Grammy for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance in 1989 for Crest Of A Knave. Many Tull fans felt they did not belong in this category. When Metallica won the Grammy in that category in 1990, they were so upset for losing to Tull the year before that during their acceptance speech, one of them sarcastically said: "We would like to thank Jethro Tull for not being nominated this year."