The Moody Blues (music group)

The Moody Blues is an English progressive rock band. Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that combines conventional rock and roll with elements of classical music and other forms of musical experimentation, typically with a high level of technical proficiency. Founded in Birmingham, England, in 1964, the Moody Blues quickly established itself as a unique musical voice among the many British rock bands that formed during that time.

The Moody Blues continued recording and performing into the twenty-first century. The band has sold more than seventy million albums worldwide and has produced such hit songs as "I’m Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)," "Tuesday Afternoon," and "Nights in White Satin."

Early Years

The Moody Blues was formed in 1964 in Birmingham, England, by singer and guitarist Denny Laine; singer and flute and harmonica player Ray Thomas; bass guitarist Clint Warwick, keyboardist Mike Pinder, and drummer Graeme Edge. The Mitchell and Butlers brewery supported the band’s initial shows in Birmingham, and so the musicians originally called themselves MB5.

These early performances garnered the attention of music manager Tony Secunda, who quickly organized an English tour for the group. The tour was successful, and after only a few months, the band members, now calling themselves the Moody Blues, secured a record deal with the English label Decca Records.

The Moody Blues’ first single, "Steal Your Heart Away," was released in September 1964 to lackluster reception. The band’s next single, "Go Now," was released that November and soon became a popular hit. The Moody Blues released a standard pop/rock album, The Magnificent Moodies, in 1965, but it did not perform well. This original lineup of the band never again produced another hit song.

By the spring of 1966, frustrated with the group’s lack of success, Warwick left the band. Laine followed him that August. Bassist John Lodge eventually replaced Warwick, while guitarist Justin Hayward succeeded Laine. It was the introduction of these two new members that ultimately changed the fate of the Moody Blues, infusing the band with the progressive and psychedelic rock sound for which it would become famous.

Mainstream Success

Lodge and Hayward then began writing most of the Moody Blues’ songs, a change that quickly set the band moving in a new musical direction. They began experimenting with merging psychedelic rock with classical symphonies to produce musical works of art rather than standard pop/rock songs.

The lyrics to the group’s planned new album would center on the progress of a day, from daybreak to night. The band’s rock instrumentation would be bridged by classical orchestration so that each song seemed to flow into the next. The result was the 1967 album Days of Future Passed, which produced the hit singles "Tuesday Afternoon" and "Nights in White Satin." Although the album confused the group’s record company, Days of Future Passed was critically and commercially well received in both England and the United States. The Moody Blues had become a sensation, and their audiences were soon demanding more.

For the band’s next album, 1968’s In Search of the Lost Chord, Pinder employed a mellotron, a type of electric keyboard, to control and distort the sounds of his bandmates’ instruments. The album became another major hit, spawning the single "Ride My See-Saw." Thereafter, the mellotron became a key element of the Moody Blues’ psychedelic sound.

Over the next four years, the Moody Blues produced five additional hit albums: On the Threshold of a Dream (1969), To Our Children’s Children’s Children (1969), A Question of Balance (1970), Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1971), and Seventh Sojourn (1972). Each sold millions of copies worldwide and led to sold-out concerts.

However, by 1972, the pressure of recording and touring had finally caught up with the band, and that year, they began what would become a five-year hiatus. All five musicians recorded successful solo albums during this period, and relations among them remained amicable.

Reunion and Subsequent Years

In 1977, the Moody Blues reunited and began planning a new album. The result was 1978’s Octave, which sold well but was not a massive hit like the group’s previous albums. Pinder was displeased with the album and left the band after completing it. He was replaced with Patrick Moraz, the former keyboardist of the English rock band Yes.

During the 1980s, this lineup of the Moody Blues recorded such popular albums as Long Distance Voyager (1981), The Present (1983), The Other Side of Life (1986), and Sur la Mer (1988). Although these records sold well, particularly The Other Side of Life, which included the top-ten hit "Your Wildest Dreams" and introduced the band to younger listeners, critics had begun to refer to the Moody Blues as a nostalgia act from a bygone time. The band’s later albums attracted barely enough attention to be reviewed at all. Despite this, the group’s back catalogue of albums continued selling millions of copies, and legions of ardent fans continued attending the Moody Blues’ concerts.

Moraz left the Moody Blues by the late 1980s. The remaining four members recorded the albums Keys of the Kingdom (1991) and Strange Times (1999) before Thomas left the group in 2003. The Moody Blues then became a trio consisting of Hayward, Lodge, and Edge. This lineup recorded the Christmas album December in 2003 and then began touring the world with ever-changing keyboard players. The Moody Blues continued to tour and to release compilation and live concert albums into the 2010s.

In 2017 it was announced that the Moody Blues would be nominated into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018, after their first nomination for the honor. The group had been eligible since 1989, and was listed in a Rolling Stone readers' poll in 2013 as one of the top ten bands deserving of induction. On January 4, 2018, founding member Ray Thomas died at the age of seventy-six. He had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2013.

Bibliography

"The Band." The Moody Blues. The Moody Blues. Web. 12 Feb. 2016. http://www.moodybluestoday.com/the-band/

"Clint Warwick." Independent. Independent Print Limited. 2 June 2004. Web. 12 Feb. 2016. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/clint-warwick-730513.html

"Discography." All Music. All Media Network, LLC. Web. 12 Feb. 2016. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-moody-blues-mn0000404434/discography

Eder, Bruce. "The Moody Blues: Biography." All Music. All Media Network, LLC. Web. 12 Feb. 2016. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-moody-blues-mn0000404434/biography

"The Moody Blues." Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, 2018, www.rockhall.com/nominee/moody-blues. Accessed 3 Jan. 2018.