{"id":814993,"date":"2026-03-09T19:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T19:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/814993\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T19:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T19:06:14","slug":"the-unknown-songwriter-who-changed-rock-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/814993\/","title":{"rendered":"the unknown songwriter who changed rock history"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Roy<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ AVRO \/ Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision)<\/p>\n

Mon 9 March 2026 16:00, UK <\/p>\n

While he hasn\u2019t stood the test of time as many of his glam rock<\/a> peers, Roy Wood was the face of 1970s rock in the UK\u2019s Top of the Pops land.<\/p>\n

Whether you like it or not, you\u2019ll be subjected to one bona fide hit every wintertime once the fake snow and tinsel adorn your local Tesco Express, the annual tradition of Wood\u2019s Wizzard bunch blasting \u2018I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday\u2019 like a jingle-belled whirlwind against Slade\u2019s unkillable \u2018Merry Xmas Everybody\u2019 festive pummeller.<\/p>\n

Even his most committed fans would confess that Wood sits somewhere in the middle of glam\u2019s spectrum between sophisticated and silly. On one end was Ziggy Stardust\u2019s exotic, alien allure or Roxy Music<\/a>\u2019s retro-futurist shimmer, on the other, Mud and The Sweet\u2019s dreary camp larkabout.<\/p>\n

Wizzard sat in touching distance of both sides, possessing wild hair and silver star make-up that looked like Wood had raided the fancy-dress box last-minute before his Top of the Pops mime.<\/p>\n

The fact was, glam was only the latest chapter of Wood\u2019s brief but prolific career in pop. At just 17 years old, he formed Birmingham band The Move in 1965 after jumping around various local groups, captaining the psychedelic beat outfit as lead guitarist and principal songwriter with Carl Wayne on vocals. At such a young age, Wood was displaying seriously ambitious popcraft, slathering their numbers with hefty layers of orchestral washes and string arrangements.<\/p>\n

Sharing bills with The Jimi Hendrix Experience \u2013 Wood and fellow Move member Trevor Burton singing backing vocals on Axis: Bold as Love\u2019s You Got Me Floatin\u2019 \u2013 The Move would enjoy a string of hits during their initial tenure, \u2018Night of Fear\u2019, \u2018I Can Hear the Grass Grow\u2019, and \u2018Fire Brigade\u2019 all breaking the UK Top five, and 1968\u2019s \u2018Blackberry Way\u2019 topping the charts. Soon enough, one Jeff Lynne would be invited into the band\u2019s fold for 1970\u2019s Looking On, sowing the seeds for the pair\u2019s next rock venture.<\/p>\n

Big orchestral dollops and sci-fi sheen would animate Lynne and Wood\u2019s Electric Light Orchestra<\/a>. Launched while the duo were still in The Move, along with Bev Bevan, ELO would grow as one of the defining British bands of the decade after Wood\u2019s departure, but he\u2019d lend an instrumental hand on shaping 1971\u2019s eponymous debut LP, writing and singing on half the record and co-pioneering their \u2018baroque-and-roll\u2019 bluster.<\/p>\n

Wood could already sense the glitter in the air. Leaving ELO after their first album, Wood kickstarted the Wizzard\u2019s glam-stomp theatre, aping his beloved Phil Spector\u2019s Wall of Sound technique for a whirlwind pop sound replete with multiple cellos and percussion. Both \u2018See My Baby Jive\u2019 and \u2018Angel Fingers\u2019 would see Wizzard top the UK Singles Charts.<\/p>\n

After the glam party died a death, all went a little quiet for Wood, maintaining a fairly low profile, trying his hand at experimental music and jazz, as well as enjoying the tidy revenues his Christmas monster generates every year. Wood can rest on his laurels, however, boasting an impressive 15 Top Ten hits with The Move and Wizzard before even turning 30.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ AVRO \/ Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision) Mon 9 March 2026 16:00, UK…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":814994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3936],"tags":[42910,77,269,206350,16,15],"class_list":["post-814993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-electric-light-orchestra","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-the-move","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116200786559209544","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=814993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/814994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=814993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=814993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=814993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}