Trivia / Roy Wood

• Artist Disillusionment: Apparently one of the main reasons he's stopped recording and releasing albums is that he's just very disillusioned with the workings of the music industry, although he still tours frequently.
  • This is only a mild example, as he arguably doesn't need to tour due to the continued revenue from "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day", yet tours anyway, so he's not completely disillusioned with music, just the music industry.
• Black Sheep Hit: When your most famous song is a Christmas song, this is inevitable.
• Creative Differences: The main reason Roy fell out with Jeff Lynne and left Electric Light Orchestra. They've made up since however.
• Creator Backlash: Roy clearly doesn't like On The Road Again that much considering he didn't want it released.
• Dye Hard: Well-known for having masses of brightly coloured hair during his Wizzard days (just see the main page image for proof), and still dyes it red and purple today, although it's a much more subdued look than in The '70s.
• Executive Meddling: The reason Main Street didn't see a release until 2000.
  • This is also the only reason On The Road Again got released at all, as Roy was unhappy with how it turned out and didn't want it released.
  • Boulders was remastered in 2007 without Roy's involvement, much to his annoyance.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: Due to only having a very limited initial vinyl release and hardly ever being reissued on CD, On The Road Again can be difficult to track down.
  • Until 2019, Mustard was hard to get a copy of, as the last time it was reissued was on CD in 1999 and, unlike most of Roy's output, wasn't available on streaming services. Fortunately, as of October 2019 it now is available on CD again.
    • It still hasn't become available on streaming services, even though the harder to track down On The Road Again has.
  • None of his albums have had a vinyl reissue unfortunately.
• Money, Dear Boy: Has quipped that "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day" is "my pension money".
• No Export for You: On The Road Again was only released in the Netherlands, the USA and Germany, as Roy was unhappy with how it turned out and didn't want it released at all, although his record label managed to get it released in those countries.
• The Pete Best: Poor old Roy has ended up becoming this for Electric Light Orchestra, despite being the co-creative lead along with Jeff Lynne for their first album (as well as the sole creative leader for their previous project The Move). He was, however, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of ELO in 2017.
• Promoted Fanboy: Roy is a big fan of Brian Wilson and considers him to be one of his main influences. In 1976 he was able to perform saxophone on their single "It's OK" from their album 15 Big Ones.
• Reclusive Artist: Pretty shy and rarely gives interviews, and hasn't released any music (discounting occasional singles or featured appearances) since 2000 and any new music since 1987. Does tour quite frequently though.
• Schedule Slip: From being extremely prolific throughout The '70s to hardly releasing anything in the 40 or so years since the decade ended.
• What Could Have Been: What if Jeff Lynne had been the one to quit Electric Light Orchestra instead of Roy? ELO would likely have had a very different career path if this had happened.
  • There's also the question of what could have been released if he'd continued to record albums after the end of The '70s.
  • Roy came close to having one of his songs be the UK's entry for Eurovision in 1972. "Songs Of Praise" was to be performed by The New Seekers, however they ended up performing "Beg, Steal Or Borrow" instead. "Songs Of Praise" became the opening track of Boulders.

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