 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2009) |
| "Rock 'n' Roll Is King" | ||||
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| Single by Electric Light Orchestra | ||||
| from the album Secret Messages | ||||
| B-side |
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| Released | June 1983[1] | |||
| Recorded | 1983 Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum, the Netherlands | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length |
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| Label | Jet | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Jeff Lynne | |||
| Producer(s) | Jeff Lynne | |||
| Electric Light Orchestra singles chronology | ||||
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| Secret Messages track listing | ||||
10 tracks
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| Music video | ||||
| "Rock 'n' Roll Is King" on YouTube | ||||
"Rock 'n' Roll Is King" is a song written and performed by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) released as a single from the 1983 album Secret Messages. With this song the band returned to their rock roots. It features a violin solo by Mik Kaminski.
The song went through many changes during recording and at one point was going to be called "Motor Factory" with a completely different set of lyrics. The single proved to be ELO's last UK top twenty hit single, and reached No. 19 in the US in August 1983.
In an interview in the King of the Universe fanzine, Dave Morgan, who was with ELO at the time, described his involvement with the recording as such:[4]
I sang on quite a few tracks, I sang on 'Rock 'N' Roll Is King'. I played on that one, but it wasn't called that, it was something about something about working at Austin Longbridge! It was full of car plant sounds, you could hear it going clank, clank, clank, like somebody hitting a lathe with a hammer, and Jeff went away and made it into 'Rock 'n' Roll Is King', wiped off everything we'd done, no, there was still some backing left in there, It was much better how he finished it off than it was before.
- ^ Strong, Martin Charles (1995). The Great Rock Discography. Canongate Press. p. 264. ISBN 9780862415419.
- ^ Mathews, Kevin. "Electric Light Orchestra: Secret Messages". PopMatters. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
the rock 'n' roll homage of "Four Little Diamonds" and "Rock 'N' Roll Is King"
- ^ Considine, J.D.; Coleman, Mark; Evans, Paul; McGee, David (1992). "Electric Light Orchestra". In DeCurtis, Anthony; Henke, James; George-Warren, Holly (eds.). Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York: Random House. p. 111.
- ^ Morgan, David. "Dave Morgan Interview - 4th March 1999". Welcome to The ELO Network (Interview). Interviewed by Alan Heath. Retrieved 28 May 2020.