It was 1987, and George Harrison hadn’t scored a hit in six years. Prior to that single, recorded as a tribute to John Lennon, it had been eight years of moderate to non-existent chart action. No one expected much out of the former Beatle at this point, least of all his current record company, Warner Bros.

After his long-term contract with EMI finally expired in 1974, Harrison signed with Warner, but the second half of the 70s didn’t reach previous highs, and the 80s — aside from the one big hit in 1981 — had gone poorly. The label rejected Harrison’s 1981 album (forcing him to subtract some songs and add new ones) and barely bothered to promote his 1982 follow up, which resulted in a long break from recording.

So it shocked everyone when Harrison released “Got My Mind Set On You” in the fall of 1987 and the song shot to the top of the charts in January. Two different videos were produced and they played non-stop on MTV. All of a sudden, it was George-mania.

Warner subsequently marketed the hell out of the newly-released Cloud Nine album and helped turn it into Harrison’s best-selling and most critically acclaimed album since the early 70s. In order to keep the promotional push going, in the spring of 1988 Warner Bros. arranged a meeting with George in Los Angeles and asked him to write a new song to add as a B-side for a European single. He said he’d see what he could do.

Okay, that’s the setup. Now let’s assemble the crew, Ocean’s 11 style.

After the meeting, George had dinner with his producer, Jeff “Evil Woman” Lynne, and Roy “Pretty Woman” Orbison, who was currently working on his comeback album with Lynne producing. George asked Jeff if he wanted to help whip up a song the next day for this B-side and the former face of ELO happily agreed. Orbison asked if he could tag along.

But where would they record this track on such short notice? Well, Bob Dylan happened to be in town and his garage contained a makeshift studio. George wrote most of the song the next morning, but before recording he just needed to run over to Tom Petty’s house to pick up the guitar he had left there. He invited Petty to join the party, too.

Our characters were now gathered together in place.

The song in question was still unfinished so everyone in attendance began chipping in with lyrics. Off the cuff spontaneity ruled the day. When Dylan asked Harrison what the song was called, George looked around the garage and spotted a box marked “Handle With Care.” Titled.

Having written a part for Orbison to sing, Harrison now added parts for Dylan and Petty. The group laid down a basic track that afternoon and evening, added a few overdubs the next day, and Harrison took the tape and played it for Warner executives.

Who turned it down.

Not because they didn’t like it, but because they actually thought it was far too good to waste as a B-side on a European only promo single. “Handle With Care” sounded like a hit.

Nobody had any idea what to do with the song so Harrison huddled up with Lynne and suggested the quintet reconvene to record a full-length album. All of the parties involved loved the idea. Not wanting to take themselves too seriously, the group named themselves Traveling Wilburys and each took on an alias: Nelson (Harrison), Otis (Lynne), Lucky (Dylan), Lefty (Orbison), and Charlie T. (Petty) Wilbury. Only a month after the initial recording session, the new band knocked out an album during a ten day period when all five had time off.

Released as a single in October of 1988, “Handle With Care” hit the Top 10 across the world. It only climbed to #45 in the US but did hit #2 on the Album Rock chart and received frequent airplay on radio and MTV. The hastily assembled band enjoyed the project so much they recorded a second album two years later. And it was all made possible because — in opposition to the music biz cliché — a record label did hear a single.

So enjoy the sweet smell of success….. with Traveling Wilburys.