# Electric Light Orchestra Question
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-light-orchestra-question/824077
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [November 6, 2018, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-light-orchestra-question/824077 "2018-11-06T15:22:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2018, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-light-orchestra-question/824077/1 "2018-11-06T15:22:34Z")
A friend just asked me: what does the “light” in Electric Light Orchestra refer to? Does it mean electric lights? Or a light orchestra, as in ‘light rock?’ I’d never thought of it that way before, but is ‘light orchestra’ a pun? Sort of like the “Electric Light Rock Band?”
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2018, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-light-orchestra-question/824077/2 "2018-11-06T15:32:06Z")
According to [this (uncited) site](https://www.songfacts.com/facts/electric-light-orchestra):
> [@](#):
>
> They took their name because they combined electric rock instruments with orchestral instruments. “Light Orchestras” were small orchestras popular in England in the '60s.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2018, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-light-orchestra-question/824077/3 "2018-11-06T15:36:08Z")
I always assumed that the “light” referred to the orchestra. A quick check of Wiki seems to support this.
_In the late 1960s, Roy Wood—guitarist, vocalist and songwriter of **The Move** —had an idea to form a new band that would use violins, cellos, string basses, horns and woodwinds to give their music a classical sound, taking rock music in the direction to “pick up where The Beatles left off”._
Light orchestra being one missing some components of a regular concert orchestra. “Electric” should be self-explanatory. 😃
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2018, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-light-orchestra-question/824077/4 "2018-11-06T15:37:35Z")
As a longtime ELO fan, the cite that DCnDC has shared has always been my understanding, as well. Yes, it’s a play on words, combining “electric light” with “light orchestra.”
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2018, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-light-orchestra-question/824077/5 "2018-11-06T15:53:30Z")
Also, while “[soft rock](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_rock)” was apparently a known term (contrasted with “hard rock”) in the late 1960s / early 1970s, when ELO was founded, I’m not sure if “light rock” was widely used at that time. Performers like the Bee Gees, Neil Diamond, and the Hollies apparently were among those who would have been classified as soft rock in that era.
Plus, if one listens to the songs from their first album, like [10538 Overture](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-RFwFjaVAk), they definitely weren’t “soft rock” at that point. As silenus notes, they were inspired by the experimental use of orchestral instruments by the Beatles, on songs like “Strawberry Fields Forever,” and their sound on their first few albums (sort of psychedelic, sort of prog-rock) definitely reflects that.
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### Author:  [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2018, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-light-orchestra-question/824077/6 "2018-11-06T16:06:10Z")
Interesting. “Light orchestra” was not a common term for me growing up, so I guess the pun was lost on me.
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### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2018, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-light-orchestra-question/824077/7 "2018-11-06T16:30:20Z")
I always thought, in those primitive days before the internet, that it was “Electric Light” Orchestra, not Electric “Light Orchestra”. Sort of steampunk before it existed.
ELO Kiddies, ELO kiddies
What ya gonna do when the light orchestra starts playing?
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2018, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-light-orchestra-question/824077/8 "2018-11-06T20:05:58Z")
Now let’s talk about\* The Alan Parson’s Project.\*
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2018, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-light-orchestra-question/824077/9 "2018-11-06T20:13:57Z")
First, no apostrophe. Second, isn’t he the guy who developed the laser at Cambridge?
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2018, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-light-orchestra-question/824077/10 "2018-11-06T20:32:16Z")
That was Frank Zapper.
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### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2018, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-light-orchestra-question/824077/11 "2018-11-06T22:28:13Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#):
>
> That was Frank Zapper.
That’s “no apostrophe”, not “no, Apostrophe”.
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2018, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-light-orchestra-question/824077/12 "2018-11-07T03:41:19Z")
This thread is going to be an Overnite Sensation.
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2018, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-light-orchestra-question/824077/13 "2018-11-07T04:06:12Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#):
>
> I always thought, in those primitive days before the internet, that it was “Electric Light” Orchestra, not Electric “Light Orchestra”. Sort of steampunk before it existed.
Understandable since both of the first two albums featured pictures of lightbulbs.
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### Author:  [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2018, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-light-orchestra-question/824077/14 "2018-11-07T10:23:53Z")
**Electric Light Infantry** perform marches and martial music.
**Electric Light Brunch** does high tea music.
Traveling songs are done by **Electric Light Rail**.
**Electric Lighthouse** specializes in sea chanties.
You can hear harsh electronic music from **Electric Light Industry**.
**Electric LightWeight** plays teeny-bopper pop.
Bert & Ernie & Miss Piggy formed **Electric Light Company** , the \*Sesame Street \*house band.
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2018, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-light-orchestra-question/824077/15 "2018-11-07T11:03:56Z")
Huh, I’d always assumed “light” meant effects in the stage act.
Many of the 70’s acts included pyro, smoke, lasers and other theater effects. Anything to sell tickets and entertain.
Interesting that ELO had a different meaning.
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2018, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-light-orchestra-question/824077/16 "2018-11-07T12:02:54Z")
It wasn’t until I reached adulthood that I got the pun in the name of the show _The Electric Company_ - “company” as in a theatrical troupe. Double punnage for the name of the associated children’s group on the show, “Short Circus”.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2018, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-light-orchestra-question/824077/17 "2018-11-07T15:24:33Z")
> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> Huh, I’d always assumed “light” meant effects in the stage act.
>
> Many of the 70’s acts included pyro, smoke, lasers and other theater effects. Anything to sell tickets and entertain.
Eventually, ELO certainly did – their tour to support their 1977 album “Out of the Blue” featured [an enormous stage built to look like a flying saucer](https://ksassets.timeincuk.net/wp/uploads/sites/55/2015/11/2014ElectricLightOrchestra_ELO_Getty84881132_10191114-1.jpg), and lots of lasers. But, that level of concert staging came about years after they had picked the name, and I’ve never seen anything to suggest that it was in any way the impetus for the name.