Moody Blues

Ahhh. Nights in white satin, never reaching the end; letters I’ve written, never meaning to send…. Such are the haunting and wind-blown words as sung by The Moody Blues. It was 1972 (though the Moodies had been doing their genius thing for eight years by then). Our Dad was driving us to the elementary school where we would wait for the school bus to take us to respective regional high schools. The crooning swoon was only matched in intensity by the swirling snow outside the truck. I was hooked. And so were, evidently, many others, for The Moody Blues melodious and mystical chant made it to number five on the charts.

The Moody Blues were one of the top bands for the years that saw rock and roll turn to a reflection of and a quiet or noisy rebellion against the movements of the seventies—the Vietnam War, the assassinations of our most righteous and spiritual of civil rights leaders, and the religious and international upheavals. The Moody Blues kept us sedated and passionate, with “The Story in Your Eyes” and “Every Good Boy Deserves Favor.” They kept us alert and engaged, with such numbers as “I’m Just a Singer in a Rock and Roll Band” and “Steppin in a Slide Zone,” the latter of which hit the charts (the top of the charts) in 1978. And they allowed us dreamy romance with songs like “The Story in Your Eyes,” “Driftwood,” and one of the most popular songs of all time, of course, “Nights in White Satin.”

To those of us who grew up in the seventies, indulged in the most brilliant of music and lyrics, the Moody Blues are legendary rockers…along with The Who, Dylan, The Stones, and many more. And so they may not be all that remarkable for the x-ers or the babies in generations to follow. But, wait. The Moody Blues are remarkable in one more way: they are STILL, after thirty-plus years, performing, cutting albums (well, burning CDs, blah, blah), and being played on the air.

Their concert tickets are on sale as we write and you read this, and if you are very lucky, you can acquire a coveted Moody Blues T-shirt. Then again, if you are as devoted a follower as us hippy throwbacks, you can go to ebay, do a search, and get their original LPs (that black vinyl disc stuff), their posters (of them then and now), and their new CDs!!!

“And I love youuuu…Ohohhhahhhh….”