John Lennon Endorsed ELO in 1974, Referring to Them as “Son of Beatles”

Electric Light Orchestra carried the torch of The Beatles while straying away from becoming a carbon copy. It’s what makes ELO so important to the 1970s. The Beatles broke up in 1970, so we never got to see what the band would become. At the time, pop music was shifting toward disco, which would dominate the rest of the 1970s. It’s safe to say the Fab Four might’ve dabbled in disco themselves, had they stayed together. That’s where ELO comes in. They were the brilliant blend between 1960s mop-top melodies and disco elements with their use of strings and four-on-the-floor beats.

ELO formed out of the breakup of The Move, a Birmingham-based rock group. Roy Wood, who would go on to form Wizzard, was the guitarist of The Move. In the late 1960s, future ELO mastermind Jeff Lynne was in the group The Idle Race. After two studio releases with the group, he left and joined The Move. Bev Bevan, future ELO drummer, was also in The Move. They scored nine top 20 UK singles in only five years. Though they never successfully broke into the US market, bands such as Cheap Trick cite The Move as a major influence and covered their songs.

Jeff Lynne, Roy Wood, and Bev Bevan sought to experiment more with orchestral arrangements. They left The Move behind and created a new group called Electric Light Orchestra. They released their self-titled debut album in 1971, with Lynne and Wood handling the majority of the instruments. Wood contributed the majority of the orchestral instruments, including cello, oboe, bassoon, clarinet, recorder, and more. Their first single, “10538 Overture”, peaked at No. 9 in the UK.

ELO Was Praised for Picking up Where The Beatles Left Off

Due to managerial issues, Roy Wood left the group after the release of ELO 2 in 1973. He then formed the band Wizzard, which had a massive Christmas hit in 1974, “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day”. Jeff Lynne and Bev Bevan carried Electric Light Orchestra, along with additional members such as keyboardist Richard Tandy.

ELO’s third release, On The Third Day, was praised by John Lennon himself in 1974. In Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon, a radio interview revealed his love for ELO. “We’re going to play Electric Light Orchestra, from last year. ‘Showdown’, which I thought was a great record, and I was expecting it to be No. 1, but I don’t think the UA (United Artists) got their fingers out and pushed it.”

Lennon went on to say, “I call them Son of Beatles, although they’re doing things that we never did, obviously. I remember the statement they made when they first formed was to carry on from where The Beatles left off with ‘I Am The Walrus,’ and they certainly did.”

Throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, Electric Light Orchestra penned a string of top-10 albums and singles.

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