The one band that Jeff Lynne picked over ELO
There’s no reason to think that Jeff Lynne could have made ELO any more perfect than it is.
As much as Roy Wood may have helped the band become the symphonic juggernaut that they were in their early days, it didn’t take long for Lynne to hit upon the formula that would become one of the biggest musical forces in classic rock history. But even though there were countless songs that Lynne put on the hit parade, he felt that other bands needed to have the same amount of recognition that he did when he reached the top.
Then again, isn’t that what every single rock and roll band tries to do? As much as people like the idea of becoming the king of the mountain, there are moments when they want all their musical friends to have the same kind of success that they do. That’s not normally what’s in the cards for everybody else, but it’s not like all of Lynne’s musical friends were exactly hurting for chart success, either.
Any other singer would have been grateful to even come within a few feet of any member of the Traveling Wilburys, but Lynne was only too happy to help make his friends’ albums that much better. He had that knack for making each instrument pop out of the mix whenever he produced ELO records, and no matter what the song needed, he could always find that little extra spice to add to any of George Harrison’s or Tom Petty’s songs when the time called for it.
But they were singles acts, and not every band is looking to break into that kind of market. No one was complaining when The Grateful Dead “failed” to have massive hit singles whenever they made records. In their case, the touring lifestyle was all they needed, but even in an age where the album genre reigned supreme, Lynne had some reservations about Led Zeppelin not getting the respect they deserved.
Admittedly, Jimmy Page never cared for the charts to begin with, and since the critics always had a standoffish relationship with Zeppelin, he was more than happy to make the music he wanted to hear. The public was going to decide in the end, but when Lynne was interviewed about the state of the music world, he felt that it was one of the greatest injustices that Zeppelin was not given the time of day.
At this point, ELO were slowly becoming an institution, but Lynne felt that Zeppelin deserved to be on the charts much more than him, saying, “The charts here are pretty sick. You’ve only got to compare our charts with the American ones and you can see it’s a bit of a joke. I mean Zeppelin, I’ve got to say it again, they should have been number one straight off. They’re the only band I would wish to get to number one – even before us.”
While Physical Graffiti was still fresh off the assembly line when Lynne made that comment, it’s not like the rest of the pop market was ready for what Zeppelin was doing. The album is among the finest pieces that Zeppelin ever made, but even in an era where singalongs like ‘American Pie’ were topping the charts, it’s strange to think that a song like ‘Kashmir’ would have somehow found its way onto the hit parade at the same time as ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’ or anything that KC and the Sunshine Band were putting out.
But even if Zeppelin deserved a much better fate, it wasn’t like Page was losing sleep over it or anything. They were going to become the biggest band in the world whether they had hits or not, and it’s not like they were wondering what they could do for singles when they were selling out Madison Square Garden.
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