Throughout the 1970s, no style of popular music was more controversial than progressive rock, and no progressive rock band was more controversial than Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Initially attracting attention for their unusual keyboards-bass-drums configuration, ELP became hugely popular on both sides of the Atlantic. Fans saw ELP as fulfilling the promise of post-Beatles rock, imaginatively fusing rock, jazz, and classical elements with cutting-edge technology, breathtaking virtuosity, and a monumental stage show. Critics saw ELP as a bombastic assault on rock's working-class and oppositional roots.

In this, the most comprehensive study of the work of any rock band ever written, Edward Macan unravels the enigma that is Emerson, Lake and Palmer.