Sunday Legend 2016

[Smeble]

People underestimate how big ELO were, they were bloody massive. And don't forget Jeff Lynne's links to the Beatles, he produced a lot of George Harrison's solo stuff, including his final album and indeed he finished it once Harrison had died. 

And of course he was part of the traveling wilburys, not a shabby bunch to be associated with.

ok none  of this has any influence on whether non fans will like their songs.

but don't underestimate how big a booking this is, even if it's not actually ELO, but if ACDC can get away with still be called that then we can allow Jeff to use ELO.

[bombfrog]

I'm 37 and I'm not old enough to remember them really, I was only alive for 2 years of the 1970s. Most of my friends have heard of them but only around half knew they did Mr Blue Sky and we're talking about people who love their music and have been coming to Glastonbury for over 10 years .

None of that really matters though. Not being old enough hasn't stopped me knowing the back catalogue of The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix or Led Zepplin has it? It also didn't stop me knowing about 5 Lionel Richie songs and 3 or 4 Dolly Parton Songs. They're just bigger acts.

[CaledonianGonzo]

53 minutes ago, dentalplan said:

I wouldn't say the songs are novelty songs but the whole attitude surrounding each of those bookings made it a bit of a novelty. As in, people will say they're off to see Dolly or Lionel "for a laugh" and dress up like them with accentuated features and what not. ZZ Top will probably have a fair bit more of that than ELO.

I think that's just a factor of an entertainer having a larger than life personality or easily identifiable / replicable stylistic attributes.   Folk dress up as the Peppers when they go to see Macca.  Conversely,  Jeff Lynne's just pretty anonymous.

[Michaels denim shorts]

Another one for the only know mr blue sky camp here. I tried the greatest hits back in October & had much the same face as S2H. 

Think we can safely say the legends slot isn't gonna steal the show Dolly style this year. Something tells me crowd control isnt going to a be a problem, I won't be there 

[Gnomicide]

6 of us going this year (ages 18 to 50ish), none bothered with Dolly or Lionel, we'll all be at ELO.

[mr gumby]

7 minutes ago, bombfrog said:

I'm 37 and I'm not old enough to remember them really, I was only alive for 2 years of the 1970s. Most of my friends have heard of them but only around half knew they did Mr Blue Sky and we're talking about people who love their music and have been coming to Glastonbury for over 10 years .

None of that really matters though. Not being old enough hasn't stopped me knowing the back catalogue of The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix or Led Zepplin has it? It also didn't stop me knowing about 5 Lionel Richie songs and 3 or 4 Dolly Parton Songs. They're just bigger acts.

Fair enough. I'm only 4 years older, but maybe that's just enough to make a difference. I just about remember a time when ELO were being played on Radio 1, perhaps they'd been consigned to Radio 2 by the time you were getting into music, so they just weren't on your radar early on. 

[ghostdancer1]

of 30 or so on our fb Glasto group, only 2 seem to actually care about seeing them, with several "never heard of them" responses, a few "i've heard the name but don't know any songs", and a few "yeah i know that blue sky one".

pretty much all in late-20s/early-30s.

[CaledonianGonzo]

I must say, that the way that Mr Blue Sky seems to dominate most people's thinking does surprise me. I've never thought of them as one hit wonders. Just the opposite, in fact. 

[FloorFiller]

a part of me hopes there isn't anything of worth to go see at the same time as them because the couple of songs i have aquatinted myself with/recognised are great and i can imagine would be fantastic live (Mr Blue Sky, Evil Woman, Don't Bring Me Down and Sweet Talkin' Woman). guess I've got a while to listen to the rest and see if it's worth my while

[LeeGalvin]

I know 5 or 6 of their songs, but just played some of their bigger hits to my wife (35 by the way) and she only knew 4, including Xanadu. Does she now want to go and watch them? Absolutely not.

[stuartbert two hats]

Poll run a few months ago found a small, but seemingly real connection between age and familiarity with ELO.  The youngsters know ELO better than I would have predicted.

 

 

[Justiceforcedave]

I'm 31 and I fucking love em!

[eFestivals]

9 hours ago, stuartbert two hats said:

Poll run a few months ago found a small, but seemingly real connection between age and familiarity with ELO.  The youngsters know ELO better than I would have predicted.

 

 

you've been proving for months how big some of your knowledge gaps are.

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

Like I said in Mr Two Hats thread, I thought I only knew Mr Blue Sky, but knew a few others. None are that memorable and I'm not that fussed about seeing them. Nothing too bad, nothing to great.

Speaking to my dad last night (he is 55) he said.. "I never liked them, none of my mates liked them. They were like a really shit Beatles. It sounded bland to me in the 70's"

Not a fan.

[stuartbert two hats]

14 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

you've been proving for months how big some of your knowledge gaps are of really shit, forgettable 70s acts.

 

Can't disagree with that.

[stuartbert two hats]

It's the equivalent of someone born in the late 90s not being familiar with the Stereophonics or Shen Seven. Ocean Colour Scene were massive you know?

[CaledonianGonzo]

I was trying to think of an 80s or 90s equivalent, but I don't think that quite cracks it.

Maybe in the 80s something like The Police or Eurythmics....?

[Harry49]

4 minutes ago, stuartbert two hats said:

It's the equivalent of someone born in the late 90s not being familiar with the Stereophonics or Shen Seven. Ocean Colour Scene were massive you know?

Blimey never knew Stereophonics etc were this big

 

 From 1972 to 1986, ELO accumulated twenty Top 20 songs on the UK Singles Chart, and fifteen Top 20 songs on the US Billboard Hot 100. The band also holds the record for having the most Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 hits, 20, of any group in US chart history without having a number one single.^[6][7] However, the band did reach #1 on the Radio & Records chart with "Shine a Little Love" in 1979.^[8][9]

ELO collected 19 CRIA, 21 RIAA and 38 BPI awards,^[10][11] and sold over 50 million records worldwide during the group's original 13-year period of active recording and touring.  During 1979 Jeff Lynne also turned down an invitation for ELO to headline the August 1979 Knebworth Festival concerts. That allowed Led Zeppelin the chance to headline instead.

 

 

 

 

 

[dentalplan]

Aren't we past the point of doing the "do people know ELO well enough?" thing? I know it was a discussion before to gauge whether they were well known enough to do something like the legends slot, but at this point people might as well give them a listen and/or move on to something else.

[eFestivals]

14 minutes ago, stuartbert two hats said:

It's the equivalent of someone born in the late 90s not being familiar with the Stereophonics or Shen Seven. Ocean Colour Scene were massive you know?

and you said those 70s bands were shit?

 

 

[Woffy]

2 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

I was trying to think of an 80s or 90s equivalent, but I don't think that quite cracks it.

Maybe in the 80s something like The Police or Eurythmics....?

Prince for me. Utterly and totally passed me by and didn't register on my radar at all. I knew he was out there, was aware of some awful shouty Purple Rain song associated with a film that looked shit but just...whaaa, huh?

I was obsessed by a certian Manc miserablist and honing my angst at the time. So I was pretty busy.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Probably only of interest in terms of what size of crowd they'll attract - namely, a big one, bigger than Kenny Rodgers and Ray Davies but probably less big than Dolly, Chin or Paul Simon.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Prince was the 80s Bowie.

[dentalplan]

Prince was the 80s Moby.

[Harry49]

1 minute ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Probably only of interest in terms of what size of crowd they'll attract - namely, a big one, bigger than Kenny Rodgers and Ray Davies but probably less big than Dolly, Chin or Paul Simon.

Spot on.

Shameful really that Ray Davies didn't pull a crowd as big as Dolly and Lionel. Wonder if it had been the Kinks it would have been more popular?