Jeff Lynne, co-founder of Electric Light Orchestra, wrote "Can't Get It Out of My Head" in 1974 after his father, Philip Lynne, criticised his earlier work for lacking a "hummable" tune that people could whistle and remember. The remark followed the commercial disappointment of ELO's third album, On the Third Day, and prompted Lynne to deliberately craft a melody built around memorability without abandoning the band's ambitious, orchestral sound. The episode marked a pivotal moment in Lynne's development as a songwriter and in ELO's evolution from a boundary-pushing but commercially inconsistent act into one capable of mainstream success.

The resulting track appeared on ELO's 1974 album Eldorado and went on to break into the US top ten as a single, while the album itself reached number 16, a significant improvement on the band's previous chart performances. The article frames this as vindication of Philip Lynne's blunt advice, suggesting that ELO's later commercial breakthroughs stemmed from the band striking a balance between experimental production and accessible, memorable songwriting.