Five astoundingly successful supergroups formed in the 1970s

Emerson, Lake and Palmer - ELP

One of the ultimate supergroups Emerson, Lake and Palmer, or ELP, were highly successful in the 1970s. Keith Emerson from The Nice, Greg Lake from King Crimson, and Carl Palmer from Atomic Rooster came together in 1970 to form ELP. They were the first prog rock supergroup to emerge. 

Emerson and Lake had decided to pair up and were looking for a third member when Carl Palmer’s name came up. At one early stage, it was suggested that Jimi Hendrix might also be part of the new band, but stories of a possible HELP didn't come to fruition. They did pretty well, as a trio and left their mark on the music world. 

Several albums such as Tarkus and Brain Salad Surgery sold very well and took their at times complex music to a wide audience. Over time though the three musicians diverged further in style and output, to the extent that it became much harder to write music to play together. This came to a head with their 1977 album Works Vol.1. 

The trio all had a side each of this double disc release for their solo work and there was just one disc side for ELP together. It was the start of the end for the band. Although that album wasn’t well received it did contain perhaps their most well-known track “Fanfare For The Common Man”. That's been used on many sports programs over the years and is likely to be heard at some point on the current Paris Olympics 2024 coverage. 

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