History Music / TheMoodyBlues

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* StageNames: Denny Laine was born Brian Hines. Also, Clint Warwick was born Albert Eccles. Before joining the Moodies, Ray Thomas was known as El Riot, leading the band the Rebels in which John Lodge was also a part of.

** "Nights in White Satin" is sometimes misspelled "Knights", by people who evidently don't realise that this song is the album closer from a concept album about a Tuesday in the life of an everyman, and so represents the night that follows the day.

* StageNames: Denny Laine was born Brian Hines. Also, Clint Warwick was born Albert Eccles.

* SeventiesHair: The video for "I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)" was filmed in 1972, and features all five Moodies with 1970s hair ''par excellence''. Justin Hayward and John Lodge have clean-shaven faces but shoulder-length hair (Justin's was straight, John's was curly), while in increasing order of length, Ray Thomas, Mike Pinder, and Graeme Edge match hair past their shoulders or longer with thick, bushy full beards.

Faced with critical maulings and a lawsuit from Moraz in 1992, the Moodies took a hiatus from recording, instead continuing to tour. This time, they performed with an orchestra, finally allowing them to fully recreate much of their early work on stage. Eventually they got back into the studio to record their latest all-original album, 1999's ''Strange Times''. This was a huge improvement, cutting down on the 1980s excess and giving emphasis to guitars instead of keyboards, creating a pretty decent comeback. Thomas retired in 2002, and the band again continued as a trio of Edge, Hayward and Lodge (with unofficial fourth member, flautist Norda Mullen), cutting their latest album, the [[ChristmasSongs Christmas album]] ''December'', in 2003. Clint Warwick died in 2004 from liver disease. The Moodies continue to tour to this day. In December 2017, they were announced as inductees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

* '''Ray Thomas''' - flute, percussion, tambourine, backing and lead vocals, harmonica, horn, keyboard, saxophone, oboe, french horn, bass flute, woodwinds (1964–2002)

The band enjoyed a boost in commercial fortunes with their 1986 album ''The Other Side of Life'' and another Hayward tune and U.S. Top 10 single, "Your Wildest Dreams". Unfortunately, this and their followup, 1988's ''Sur La Mer'', are probably their weakest albums yet - producer Tony Visconti and synth programmer Barry Radman were introducing the use of sequencers, samplers and drum machines in order to remain contemporary in the musical climate of the '80s, pushing the Moodies towards a boring, anemic SynthPop sound. Hayward and Lodge's compositions were becoming increasingly lightweight and not as deep musically, and since the music they were producing did not fit at all with a flute, Thomas continued the process of becoming a LesserStar (going so far as to be mixed out of ''Sur La Mer'' entirely, though this was partly due to illness). While these albums and 1991's ''Keys to the Kingdom'' remained good sellers, critics were bashing the Moodies by this time, and Moraz was expressing dissatisfaction with being in the band, eventually leaving in 1991. The other members continued on as a four-piece, supported by live keyboardists.

The Moody Blues are a LongRunner PsychedelicRock and ProgressiveRock band from Birmingham, England, founded in 1964.

Faced with critical maulings and a lawsuit from Moraz in 1992, the Moodies took a hiatus from recording, instead continuing to tour. This time, they performed with an orchestra, finally allowing them to fully recreate much of their early work on stage. Eventually they got back into the studio to record their latest all-original album, 1999's ''Strange Times''. This was a huge improvement, cutting down on the 1980s excess and giving emphasis to guitars instead of keyboards, creating a pretty decent comeback. Thomas retired in 2002, and the band again continued as a trio of Edge, Hayward and Lodge (with unofficial fourth member, flautist Norda Mullen), cutting their latest album, the [[ChristmasSongs Christmas album]] ''December'', in 2003. Clint Warwick died in 2004 from liver disease. The Moodies continue to tour to this day.

* IntercourseWithYou: "So Deep Within You" and "Deep" both have lyrics that are not-so-subtle, and the moans heard in the latter song do little to help matters. Same goes for "Say What You Mean, Part II", where the words spoken are rather... Well, let's just say suggestive. Some other songs have hints of this, too.

* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: "No More Lies" and "Love is On the Run" are a couple of these examples.

Ray Thomas, John Lodge and Mike Pinder had all been members of various amateur bands, before Lodge left to go to college. The remaining two recruited band manager-turned-drummer Graeme Edge, guitarist Denny Laine (real name Brian Hines; later of Music/{{Wings}}) and Clint Warwick (real name Albert Eccles) on bass to form the Moody Blues.[[note]] There is some disagreement on the origins of the name; they called themselves the M&B Five in the hopes of getting local brewers M&B (Mitchell & Butler) to book them into their client pubs in and around Birmingham, and when that didn't pan out, Mike Pinder claims that he was inspired by Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo" to turn the initials "MB" into "Moody Blues". However, Denny Laine is equally convinced that he was the one who came up with the name since they were, at the time, a blues band and he had a moody onstage persona.[[/note]] Originally, they were mostly a white R&B band in line with most of UsefulNotes/TheBritishInvasion bands of this period. Under a recording contract with Decca Records, they first had success with the single "Go Now" (originally written by Larry Banks and Milton Bennett and recorded by Banks' then-wife, Bessie Banks), which was a top 10 hit in the United States and, in fact, remains their only #1 single in the UK. Their debut album ''The Magnificent Moodies'' was released in 1965, but they had trouble following the success of "Go Now" with an additional hit, and in 1966, Warwick and Laine both left.

The three following albums, ''In Search of the Lost Chord'' (1968), ''On the Threshold of a Dream'' (1969, which was their first UK #1 album) and ''To Our Children's Children's Children'' (1969, another ConceptAlbum inspired by the then-recent moon landing), were also successes, featuring several more hit singles, and lacked the full orchestra, instead relying on the mellotron. However, this full, symphonic sound, heavily reliant on overdubbing, was too difficult for them to reproduce in concert, so they stripped down their sound a little more for 1970's ''A Question of Balance'' and 1971's ''Every Good Boy Deserves Favour'', which were also huge successes, the former yielding a #2 hit in "Question", and they and the final album in their classic period, 1972's ''Seventh Soujourn'', all produced several Top 40 singles. However, five years of touring and recording had taken their toll on the band, and they felt they were running out of ideas. They eventually went on hiatus and would not record for another five years.

The band got back together in 1977 to record a new album, ''Octave''. However, Pinder had married and started a family in the interim, so he declined to go on tour with them. Besides this, there was a fire at the studios they were using, and a landslide after rain marooned them in Pinder's home where they were using his home studio, causing tension to rise. Eventually, Pinder left the band, and on tour he was replaced by Swiss ex-Music/{{Yes}} keyboardist Patrick Moraz. Their follow ups, ''Long Distance Voyager'' (1981) and ''The Present'' (1983), were also successful, but they lacked their trademark lush, symphonic mellotron-led sound, replaced with a more modern feel. Similarly, Hayward, who had also been the primary composer of their hit singles including "Nights in White Satin" and "Question", was forced by marketers to have one of his songs lead off each album, and they were now more aimed at getting radio airplay. With Hayward and Lodge now acting as the primary composers, Ray Thomas was being pushed off to the side, and because of all of this the quality of their albums suffered from this point onwards, particularly in Pinder's absence.

The band enjoyed a boost in commercial fortunes with their 1986 album ''The Other Side of Life'' and another Hayward tune and U.S. Top 10 single, "Your Wildest Dreams". Unfortunately, this and their followup, 1988's ''Sur La Mer'', are probably their weakest albums yet - producer Tony Visconti and synth programmer Barry Radman were introducing the use of sequencers, samplers and drum machines in order to remain contemporary in the musical climate of the '80s, pushing the Moodies towards a boring, anemic SynthPop sound. Hayward and Lodge's compositions were becoming increasingly lightweight and not as deep musically, and since the music they were producing did not fit at all with a flute, Thomas continued the process of {{Garfunkel}}-isation (going so far as to be mixed out of ''Sur La Mer'' entirely, though this was partly due to illness). While these albums and 1991's ''Keys to the Kingdom'' remained good sellers, critics were bashing the Moodies by this time, and Moraz was expressing dissatisfaction with being in the band, eventually leaving in 1991. The other members continued on as a four-piece, supported by live keyboardists.

Faced with critical maulings and a lawsuit from Moraz in 1992, the Moodies took a hiatus from recording, instead continuing to tour. This time, they performed with an orchestra, finally allowing them to fully recreate much of their early work on stage. Eventually they got back into the studio to record their latest all-original album, 1999's ''Strange Times''. This was a huge improvement, cutting down on the [=Synth Pop=] excesses of the 1980's and giving emphasis to guitars instead of keyboards, creating a pretty decent comeback. Thomas retired in 2002, and the band again continued as a trio of Edge, Hayward and Lodge (with unofficial fourth member, flautist Norda Mullen), cutting their latest album, the [[ChristmasSongs Christmas album]] ''December'', in 2003. Clint Warwick died in 2004 from liver disease. The Moodies continue to tour to this day.

* BadassMoustache: For most of the Moodies' heyday, Ray Thomas had a moustache and a clean-shaven chin (compared to Mike Pinder and Graeme Edge, who had full beards, and John Lodge and Justin Hayward, who had no facial hair at all),[[note]] By the time of ''Seventh Sojourn'', Ray had grown a beard as well, as seen in the video for "I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)".[[/note]] and it helped make him look the part of rock music's second-most famous flautist (after fellow moustache sporter [[Music/JethroTull Ian Anderson]]).

* CanonDiscontinuity: Few people remember ''The Magnificent Moodies'' nowadays, the only album of the Denny Laine era. The album is always ignored whenever the Moodies' catalog gets remastered/reissued, and songs from the album are almost never included on compilations, despite "Go Now" being a Top Ten hit.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: ''The Magnificent Moodies'' sounds ''nothing'' like the sound people associate with the Moody Blues.

* LongRunnerLineUp: ''Four'' different lineups qualify under Type 2.

* RecordProducer: Tony Clarke helmed all of their albums from ''Days of Future Passed'' through ''Octave'', and played a significant role in shaping their classic sound.

Ray Thomas, John Lodge and Mike Pinder had all been members of various amateur bands, before Lodge left to go to college. The remaining two recruited band manager-turned-drummer Graeme Edge, guitarist Denny Laine (real name Brian Hines; later of Music/{{Wings}}) and Clint Warwick (real name Albert Eccles) on bass to form the Moody Blues.[[note]] There is some disagreement on the origins of the name; they called themselves the M&B Five in the hopes of getting local brewers M&B (Mitchell & Butler) to book them into their client pubs in and around Birmingham, and when that didn't pan out, Mike Pinder claims that he was inspired by Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo" to turn the initials "MB" into "Moody Blues". However, Denny Laine is equally convinced that he was the one who came up with the name since they were, at the time, a blues band and he had a moody onstage persona.[[/note]] Originally, they were mostly a white R&B band in line with most of the BritishInvasion bands of this period. Under a recording contract with Decca Records, they first had success with the single "Go Now" (originally written by Larry Banks and Milton Bennett and recorded by Banks' then-wife, Bessie Banks), which was a top 10 hit in the United States and, in fact, remains their only #1 single in the UK. Their debut album ''The Magnificent Moodies'' was released in 1965, but they had trouble following the success of "Go Now" with an additional hit, and in 1966, Warwick and Laine both left.

* TheBritishInvasion: One of the first bands to hit the US, as a matter of fact.

** Ray Thomas, having already fallen afoul of MisplacedWildlife in "Dr. Livingstone I Presume" by putting polar bears at the South Pole, trips over this trope in the very next line when he refers to "Antartic" eels. Presumably those would be eels that [[TheBigListOfBooboosAndBlunders aren't hinged in the middle]].[[note]]In BritishEnglish at least, "artic" (short for "articulated") is a common slang term for the kind of truck where the propulsion unit is separate from the cargo space, and the two joined by a hinged connector[[/note]]

Ray Thomas, John Lodge and Mike Pinder had all been members of various amateur bands, before Lodge left to go to college. The remaining two recruited band manager-turned-drummer Graeme Edge, guitarist Denny Laine (real name Brian Hines; later of Music/{{Wings}}) and Clint Warwick (real name Albert Eccles) on bass to form the Moody Blues. Originally, they were mostly a white R&B band in line with most of the BritishInvasion bands of this period. Under a recording contract with Decca Records, they first had success with the single "Go Now" (originally written by Larry Banks and Milton Bennett and recorded by Banks' then-wife, Bessie Banks), which was a top 10 hit in the United States and, in fact, remains their only #1 single in the UK. Their debut album ''The Magnificent Moodies'' was released in 1965, but they had trouble following the success of "Go Now" with an additional hit, and in 1966, Warwick and Laine both left.

* BadassMoustache: Ray Thomas.

** Lyrically, the album starts off and ends with the five poem lines in "The Day Begins" and "Late Lament".

* BookEnds: ''Days of Future Passed'' starts off and ends with the five poem lines in "The Day Begins" and "Late Lament".
-->Cold-hearted orb that rules the night\\

Ray Thomas, John Lodge and Mike Pinder had all been members of various amateur bands, before Lodge left to go to college. The remaining two recruited band manager-turned-drummer Graeme Edge, guitarist Denny Laine (real name Brian Hines; later of Music/{{Wings}}) and Clint Warwick (real name Albert Eccles) on bass to form the Moody Blues. Originally, they were mostly a white R&B band in line with most of the BritishInvasion bands of this period. Under a recording contract with Decca Records, they first had success with the single "Go Now", which was a top 10 hit in the United States and, in fact, remains their only #1 single in the UK. Their debut album ''The Magnificent Moodies'' was released in 1965, but they had trouble following the success of "Go Now" with an additional hit, and in 1966, Warwick and Laine both left.

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: From "How Is It (We Are Here)?": "Man's mighty mine-machines..."

* GadgeteerGenius: Mike Pinder had worked in the factory that made the Mellotron. HE was able to make modifications to his as well as repair the temperamental instrument, which was notoriously prone to breaking down on tour.

* LyricalColdOpen: "Go Now".
* MisplacedWildlife: "Dr. Livingstone I Presume" had Captain Scott encountering polar bears -- evidently the writer failed to realise that "Antarctic" comes from the Greek for "no bears".

* TheNotRemix: ''Days of Future Passed'' was remixed in 1978 due to the original master tapes deteriorating.

* RougeAnglesOfSatin: "Dr. Livingstone I Presume" refers to "Antartic" eels. Presumably those would be eels that [[TheBigListOfBooboosAndBlunders aren't hinged in the middle]].[[note]]In BritishEnglish at least, "artic" (short for "articulated") is a common slang term for the kind of truck where the propulsion unit is separate from the cargo space, and the two joined by a hinged connector[[/note]] Also "Nights in White Satin" is sometimes misspelled "Knights", by people who evidently don't realise that this song is from an album about a Tuesday.

Ray Thomas, John Lodge and Mike Pinder had all been members of various amateur bands, before Lodge left to go to college. The remaining two recruited band manager-turned-drummer Graeme Edge, guitarist Denny Laine (Brian Hines; later of Music/{{Wings}}) and Clint Warwick (Albert Eccles) on bass to form the Moody Blues. Originally, they were mostly a white R&B band in line with most of the BritishInvasion bands of this period. Under a recording contract with Decca Records, they first had success with the single "Go Now", which was a top 10 hit in the United States and, in fact, remains their only #1 single in the UK. Their debut album ''The Magnificent Moodies'' was released in 1965, but they had trouble following the success of "Go Now" with an additional hit, and in 1966, Warwick and Laine both left.

* '''Albert Eccles (Clint Warwick)''' - bass, backing and co-lead vocals (1964–66, died 2004)
* '''[[Music/{{Wings}} Brian Hines (Denny Laine)]]''' - guitar, backing and lead vocals, harmonica, piano, keyboard (1964–66)

* GadgeteerGenius: Mike Pinder had worked in the factory that made the Mellotron and was able to make modifications to his as well as repair the temperamental instrument which was notoriously prone to breaking down on tour.

Warwick was briefly replaced by Rodney Clark, but it didn't last, and their best-known line-up was formed when Pinder, Thomas and Edge reunited with Lodge and joined up with guitarist Justin Hayward of the Wilde Three. This line-up released two more singles, "Fly Me High" and "Love and Beauty", which also found little success. However, the latter was a definite move towards their classic sound, featuring the symphonic sounds of Pinder's mellotron and using Thomas' flute as more of a featured instrument. From here on, the Moodies would become a full-blown PsychedelicRock band.

* ProgressiveRock: Arguably the first major prog group.

Warwick was briefly replaced by Rodney Clark, but this didn't last, and their best-known line-up was formed when Pinder, Thomas and Edge reunited with Lodge and joined up with guitarist Justin Hayward of the Wilde Three. This line-up released two more singles, "Fly Me High" and "Love and Beauty", which also found little success. However, the latter was a definite move towards their classic sound, featuring the symphonic sounds of Pinder's mellotron and using Thomas' flute as more of a featured instrument. From here on, the Moodies would become a full-blown PsychedelicRock band.

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: "Man's mighty mine-machines..."

* TheBandMinusTheFace: Averted. They were originally a well-respected but only moderately successful white R&B band. After lead singer Denny Laine left (along with bassist Clint Warwick), the band brought in Justin Hayward and John Lodge, switched to symphonic rock, and became massively popular.
** Mike Pinder wasn't exactly as popular as the two aforementioned members, but it's generally perceived that they lost something with his departure following ''Octave''.

* LongRunnerLineup: ''Four'' different lineups qualify under Type 2.

* '''Albert Eccles (Clint Warwick)''' - bass, backing and co-lead vocals (1964–1966, died 2004)
* '''''Graeme Edge''''' - drums, percussion, timpani, tabla, tambourine, [=VCS3=] (1964–1974, 1977–present)
* ''Justin Hayward'' - guitar, backing and lead vocals, piano, keyboard, sitar, cello, mandolin (1966–1974, 1977-present)
* '''[[Music/{{Wings}} Brian Hines (Denny Laine)]]''' - guitar, backing and lead vocals, harmonica, piano, keyboard (1964–1966)
* ''John Lodge'' - bass, guitar, backing and lead vocals, cello, double bass, harp, keyboard (1966–1974, 1977-present)
* [[Music/{{Yes}} Patrick Moraz]] - keyboard, synthesizer (1978–1991)
* '''Mike Pinder''' - keyboard, piano, organ, backing and lead vocals, mellotron, harpsichord, guitar, cello, autoharp, tambura, [=VCS3=], celesta, synthesizer, chamberlin (1964–1974, 1977–1978)
* '''Ray Thomas''' - flute, percussion, tambourine, backing and lead vocals, harmonica, horn, keyboard, saxophone, oboe, french horn, bass flute, woodwinds (1964–1974, 1977–2002)

* 1993 - ''A Night At Red Rocks With The Colorado Symphony Orchestra''

* TheBandMinusTheFace: Averted. They were originally a well-respected but only moderately successful white R&B band. After lead singer Denny Laine left (along with bassist Clint Warwick), the band brought in Justin Hayward and John Lodge, switched its focus to symphonic rock, and became massively popular.

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin / NewSoundAlbum: As heard on ''The Magnificent Moodies'', the Moody Blues really ''were'' a blues-based band to start with. Then came the Justin Hayward era, and the switch to the familiar soft-rock sound.