{"id":632819,"date":"2026-05-09T12:23:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T12:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/632819\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T12:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T12:23:09","slug":"remember-when-the-need-for-a-b-side-led-to-the-creation-of-the-worlds-greatest-supergroup-in-1988","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/632819\/","title":{"rendered":"Remember When the Need for a B-Side Led to the Creation of the World\u2019s Greatest Supergroup in 1988?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In terms of pure star power, we will likely never again see a supergroup like The Traveling Wilburys. Amazingly, their recorded output, albeit limited to two albums, somehow managed to honor the legacies of the individual members.<\/p>\n

To think it was only a happy accident that they formed. If it weren\u2019t for one of the members needing a B-side in 1988, who knows if this monumental quintet would have united in the same way?<\/p>\n

Pre-Wilbury Activity<\/p>\n

You could say that The Traveling Wilburys were bound to happen, but just needed a push. The five men all had deep connections before forming the group. Jeff Lynne had just produced George Harrison\u2019s Cloud Nine album, and he was in the midst of producing records for both Tom Petty and Roy Orbison.<\/p>\n

Bob Dylan had recently toured with Petty, while he, Harrison, and Orbison went way back as three of the leading lights of 60s music. And Petty had become close friends with Harrison in the years leading up to that fateful day in 1988.<\/p>\n

George Harrison had fleetingly discussed with Petty the possibility of one day forming a supergroup. But it never made it past the hypothetical stage. Luckily, they all happened to be in Los Angeles at the same time for a serendipitous collaboration.<\/p>\n

Getting Together<\/p>\n

Harrison wanted to release the song \u201cThis Is Love\u201d from Cloud Nine<\/a> as a single, and it would turn into a minor hit. His record company wanted a B-side that they could put out on an extended single in Europe. Given the assignment, Harrison decided he\u2019d find a studio the next day, write the song, and record it all at once.<\/p>\n

He was discussing this plan with Lynne while the two were eating dinner with Orbison. Orbison asked if he could come to the session with them. Needing a studio, Harrison remembered that Dylan had a home studio in the area. They called Dylan, and he gladly obliged.<\/p>\n

Harrison wanted a particular guitar for the session, but Petty had recently borrowed it. Not only did Petty bring the guitar, but he also stuck around for the hang. Everybody was in place. Now all they needed was a song.<\/p>\n

Getting a \u201cHandle\u201d<\/p>\n

George Harrison and Jeff Lynne wrote the music for the song they\u2019d be recording on April 3, 1988. While trying to think up lyrics, Harrison looked around at his environs and noticed that Dylan had a container in the studio with the words \u201cHandle With Care\u201d on it. The song had a title, and the rest of the words fell in from there.<\/p>\n

Harrison decided it would be a waste if all that talent were there and they didn\u2019t participate. He and Lynne wrote vocal parts for all the assembled musicians. They finished the recording of \u201cHandle With Care\u201d that day.<\/p>\n

When the record company heard the finished results, they knew they had something special. Harrison and company knew it as well. Instead of a B-side, \u201cHandle With Care\u201d would become the first single for the freshly formed Traveling Wilburys.<\/p>\n

Photo by Dave Hogan\/Hulton Archive\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In terms of pure star power, we will likely never again see a supergroup like The Traveling Wilburys.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216,2156,65750],"class_list":["post-632819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-rock-music","tag-the-traveling-wilburys"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}